The 1960 Westminster Hymnal

Ttony (of The Muniment Room) has kindly sent me the preface for the 1960 Westminster Hymnal, by +David Mathew, Bishop to the Forces.  As he says: 'it makes sense to keep discussion of modern hymnology in one place.'

He also adds some reflections of his own on it, which I include after the Preface, and also the Contents page, for purposes of comparison.

(In case you have been too indolent over Christmas to follow the story so far, the previous posts here, about PRAISE THE LORD, 1966,  and here about the original preface to the Westminster Hymnal, 1912, are relevant).

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PREFACE

BY

THE MOST REV. DAVID MATHEW

The revised Westminster Hymnal is intended to contain a representative selection of the body of Catholic hymn-writing in English. In the view of the Committee appointed after the Low Week meeting of the Hierarchy in 1936 the norm of a Catholic hymn is the ancient Office hymn of the Church. This view has guided the Committee in their choice. The late Sir Richard Terry was in process of forming a collection of melodies in preparation for the book. This collection has been completed and edited by the Rev. W. S. Bainbridge, and it is hoped that both words and music will help to raise the standard of Catholic vernacular hymns.

Care has been taken in regard to the translations from the Latin.  Many of these versions have been amended or replaced and the Committee considered that there was no objection in principle to the occasional use of a non-Catholic translation when this possessed outstanding merit. The encouragement which the Holy See has given to the development of the liturgical spirit among the laity was borne in mind in the choice of hymns. At the same time it is hoped that this new edition will be considered to include a truly representative selection of popular Catholic hymnology.

Among the hymns chosen a few are of Mediaeval English provenance, like the Veni Sancte Spiritus ascribed to Cardinal Langton and the Ave vivens hostia of Archbishop Peckham. It is fitting to begin with the acknowledgement of this debt to the See of Canterbury in the Catholic ages. William Dunbar's Christmas hymn represents the last years of the unbroken Catholic life, and among the Elizabethan writers who are included stand two martyred Beati, the Earl of Arundel and Robert Southwell. Verstegan represents the exiles of the end of the Elizabethan time and Sir John Beaumont stands here for the later Jacobean Catholic world. Crucial in the development of the English Catholic literary tradition is Jerusalem, my happy home, attributed to Laurence Anderton, alias BrereIy. In this hymn there breathes the tough, quick gaiety of the driven generations and their assurance of spiritual victory.

A very different spirit enters with the work of the Caroline converts Richard Crashaw and John Austin. They form a preparation for those hymns over which there hangs the name and touch of Dryden. The closing years of the seventeenth century are marked by Blount's translation of the Vexilla Regis.

The hymns included from the Primer of 1706 reflect, very soberly the integrity of the old Catholic spirit, so determined and yet terrestrially so unhopeful. In this connection it, is worth noting that the translation of O filii et filiae, which was first published in the evening office of 1748, does not in any way suggest the mood of Bishop Challoner. It is too faithful to the letter of the Latin original. The last hymn from the generations which grew up before Emancipation is that for the Vespers of the feast of St Michael and All Angels, which mirrors the confident, staunch faith of Provost Husenbeth.

It is always surprising to recollect that the first of modern English Catholic hymns, Hail, Queen of Heaven, the Ocean star, should have been composed so long ago by Dr Lingard. Coming next to this work in time is Cardinal Wiseman’s paean Full in the panting heart of Rome, with which he ushered in the rather different hymns of the convert Tractarian clergy. Among these Cardinal Newman and Canon Oakeley were the senior. It is curious that Faber, Caswall, Aubrey de Vere and Campbell should all have been born in the same year.  Bishop Chadwick, who represented the old Catholic writing, and Fr. Aylward, the Dominican translator of the Lauda Sion, were a few months older. Exigencies of space have forbidden the present compilers to make a wider selection from Fr. Faber and Fr. Caswall, who have left upon so much of Catholic hymn-writing the imprint of their thought and metaphor. Under another aspect the translation of Dem Herzen Jesu Singe, by Fr Albany Christie S.J., was very typical of the taste of just this period.

With Gerard Manley Hopkins' translation of the Adoro te and that solitary hymn of Digby Mackwork Dolben we reach an approach which is very much more modern.  But all the warmth of one school of one school of Tractarian converts comes through in Lady Catherine Petre's simple verses. The hymns of the next period are familiar to every Catholic childhood, Daily daily, sing to Mary, and Fr. Vaughan's God of mercy and compassion, and Fr. Stanfield’s Sweet Sacrament divine. Those who join the Church in later life find this range of hymns quite strange to them.  At the same time, the feeling and manner of J. M. Neale's Jerusalem the golden, With milk and honey blest, which is included in this edition, is at least equally alien to those who have been reared in the atmosphere of the homely Catholic services of the last fifty years, with their loud and draughty singing.

It is, perhaps, invidious to refer to living authors, but no student of this book can fail to realize the great debt that it owes to Monsignor Knox. From among the work of Catholic writers who have died within this century there are hymns by Francis Thompson, Gilbert Chesterton, Lionel Johnson and Canon Gray, and by the authors who wrote under the pen name of Michael Field. A hymn with an

Interesting background is that translated by Catherine Winkworth from the original of Johann Schleffer, Angelus Silesius. It is our hope that the supplement of Latin hymns will be welcomed. The constant and so varied translations from Latin liturgical sources throw a light upon the backbone of our Catholic tradition.  A clear and consistent unity marks the whole body of catholic hymnology. Native and redolent of the soil, yet so influenced in their style by changing taste, there was one factor constant in these writers. Serene or didactic, unflinching or flamboyant, they were all faithful to the See of Rome.

+ DAVID MATHEW

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Ttony comments as follows: 

Two things stand out (to me at least): the structural unity with the 1912 edition (contents attached) and the continuing expectation that hymns are not part of Mass.

The preface is remarkable in the way it explains the chronology of the hymns, adding an extra dimension to the understanding of anybody who reads it. The compare and contrast between Jerusalem the Golden and Sweet Sacrament divine is really interesting as well: we think of a difference between Anglicanism and Catholicism that Catholics don't sing, but still, in 1960, Catholics did sing, but sang different hymns. The key is in the expression "the atmosphere of the homely Catholic services of the last fifty years, with their loud and draughty singing": whatever "draughty" means in this context, I know what "loud" means.  (And I can't believe that the Bishop meant Mass when he talks about "homely Catholic services": he means Parish Benedictions, Novenas, Holy Hours, Mens' Confraternity, Children of Mary etc.)

NB that Mgr Knox was brought in to improve the translations from the Latin: not to cast them out because they were of dubious merit.

Getting Nerdy About Hymnals...

Yesterday I posted the  Foreword and Preface of PRAISE THE LORD (sic).  Already two of my best-informed readers have commented, and I think there is more to say about Catholic hymn-singing.

To continue the exploration, and by way of comparison, here is a link to a .pdf of the Westminster Hymnal, which includes a Preface (1912) by John Cuthbert, +Newport, and a Musical Editor's Preface by Sir Richard Runciman Terry, the leading hymnologist of his day, and the composer of many popular hymn tunes. 

A few things immediately strike one. The first is that +Cuthbert sees hymns as adding to the 'devotion and decorum of extra-liturgical worship and popular services.' Presumably that means pilgrimages and processions, school assemblies and parish jamborees and so forth.

A second thing is that Terry uses the start of his preface to lament and correct many popular mistakes made in singing the hymns. That suggests that Catholic hymn-singing was rather more widespread than I had thought. Popular errors in the oral tradition cannot arise unless people are singing!

A third thing that struck me was the ordering of the book - which was 'prescribed by the bishops' Committee.'  It is interesting to contrast the approach taken in 1912 with that in 1966, to the arrangement of hymns.

Here is the Westminster Hymnal (1912):

And here is PRAISE THE LORD (1966)

The change is clear: the second hymnal is designed for use in the liturgy, and gone are huge numbers of hymns for popular devotion.

I was also interested in Terry's view on the pitching of hymns compared with Trotman's. Terry writes: 'Experience has shown that the difficult tunes for a congregation are those in which the melody lies at a high pitch throughout, and not those which contain an occasional high note. Ewing's well-known tune to 'Jerusalem the golden' is a case in point. It takes the congregation to F sharp (top treble line), yet it is invariably sung with lusty vigour, and remains one of the most popular tunes in English speaking countries. The keys chosen for the tunes of this book have been those which secured the requisite brightness, while placing the tune as a whole within the range of the average singer, to whom it should not cause strain or fatigue.'

Trotman, on the other hand, writes: 'A hymnal is intended primarily for congregational use and experience shows that the keys originally chosen for many hymns are uncomfortably high for the average congregational voice, especially men. For this reason many hymns have been transposed down so that except in unavoidable cases, no tune goes above D. Sometimes this results in slightly muddy harmonies, but this is outweighed by the comfort which the average singer gains by a pitch well within his capability.'

I think Terry is right, on two counts. One is that the occasional high note is not a barrier to most congregations; the second is I think bright harmonies are preferable to muddy ones. Trotman seems to me, here, to be exemplifying that exultation of participation (in a particular sense) over quality that I frequently lament.

There is, of course, much more one could say: I await the wise and perceptive contributions of my readers with interest - and will doubtless return to this subject shortly.

PRAISE THE LORD

I had occasion to get out one of my old hymn books recently (I say mine, but actually, my brother stole it from Ealing Abbey many years ago, so its precise legal status is somewhat ambiguous). (I say stole, but it was his, as a member of the Ealing Abbey choir; I imagine he should have surrendered it on leaving; but even that isn't clear cut. He sort of left when he went to University, but then sang at Ealing in the vacations. I'm not sure when he finally left) (Anyway, all that is quite beside the point).

(Enough parentheses - Ed.)

It is a copy of Praise The Lord (Full Music Edition) edited by Wilfrid Trotman, and given the imprimatur in January 1966. And that is not beside the point: it was published just after the close of the Second Vatican Council, and before the New Rite of Mass was introduced.

Which makes the Foreword by Cardinal Heenan, and the Preface (unsigned, but almost certainly by the editor) particularly interesting to those of use who are trying to understood how the change in the liturgy was brought about, and the thinking (and the sequence of thinking) that accompanied it.

So without further ado (all capitalisation and italics are in the original):

FOREWORD

Some people are happiest at Mass kneeling quietly as they unite their thoughts with the priest and the rest of the congregation in offering the holy Sacrifice to Almighty God. They have every right to make up their own prayers or say the rosary. The ultimate object of the liturgy is the union of our souls with God.

But if everybody chose to follow Mass in this way the liturgy would become impossible. It is true that if there is a priest at the altar, the holy Sacrifice would be offered but the priest is at the altar to intercede for the people. The Church has always required the priest to have at least an altar server to represent the people. The ideal for which the Church is always striving is the active sharing by priest and people in the words and actions of the Mass.

That is why I welcome the hymn book PRAISE THE LORD. When religious exercises are varied they keep their freshness. There are many ways of assisting at Mass and all should be given their turn. I think that children and young people will delight in the hymns and psalms that are set out here. For older people the Mass could never be boring. But even half an hour is a  long time for a child to keep still. I am sure that this book will help many to grow in love of the Mass.

March, 1965.                 + JOHN CARD. HEENAN

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PREFACE

PRAISE THE LORD has been compiled and published in order to make available a worthy collection of hymns and psalms, suited to the requirements of a renewed liturgy, and especially for use during Mass. It is the first book to be issued in the English speaking countries that draws heavily on the hymn treasures of other denominations, and it is hoped that in a small way it may contribute to the cause of Christian Unity.

The method of selection has been straightforward: anything that was of doubtful merit has been omitted. Inevitably this has resulted in the exclusion of many 'old favourites', but it is difficult to make a case for retaining hymns that, although suited to the emotional needs of an earlier age, no longer meet the artistic requirements of the Church, and appear excessively sentimental.

A hymnal is intended primarily for congregational use and experience shows that the keys originally chosen for many hymns are uncomfortably high for the average congregational voice, especially men. For this reason many hymns have been transposed down so that except in unavoidable cases, no tune goes above D. Sometimes this results in slightly muddy harmonies, but this is outweighed by the comfort which the average singer gains by a pitch well within his capability.

PRAISE THE LORD is being published at a time when understanding of the liturgy is constantly increasing. In time parish priests and musicians will find they need hymns and psalms for occasions that are not catered for in this book. The editor will be very grateful to receive suggestions for improvements in future editions, especially from those who are actively engaged in the formation of parish worship.

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There is much of interest and note here, including the Cardinal's comments when placed alongside some of his others (eg to Waugh, and his famous intervention at the Council), and Trotman's many assumptions.  I will be interested in readers' comments, and may post further on this as time allows.

Hymns for our times (1)

You know how you sometimes wake up with a really bad idea and have to execute it just to exorcise it...

Lord of uncertainty,
Lord of all doubt,
Whose voice was so gentle, 
Who never would shout,
Who welcomed the moneychangers
And would not them judge:
Make me in your image
O Lord of the fudge.


Hymns for Our Times (1)

Others may follow (if you are unlucky).

My mother's carols

My sister has just managed to find a copy of a Carol book which has a couple of carols written by my late mother in it.

Here is one.  It is sung to the tune of Let all mortal flesh keep silence, but without the repeat of the first line of melody.  That apparently is how it was originally written (a Picardy carol tune) and the editor commissioned my mother to write a lyric that honoured that. (In the book, the editor notes: The association of this tune with a solemn eucharistic hymn in English hymn books should not prejudice its interpretation here: it is a French peasant carol and should be sung simply and more or less in speech rhythm).  

For myself, I find it almost impossible to sing the tune without the repeated first line.

Anyway, here is my mother's lyric: 

God in highest heaven seeing 

All man's bitter grief and shame

Laid aside his power, his majesty, his bliss, 

To the rescue swiftly came.

God the Son, the Word eternal

Made himself a man on earth,

Entering a world that he himself had made

Through the lowly gate of birth.

There the baby lay in a manger

For his mother had no bed

Thirty years went by, and still the Son of God

Had no place to lay his head.

Yet he did not rest till, testing

Every depth of utter loss,

He, the Lord, was hanging, nailed through hands and feet

Stripped and dead upon a cross.

Jesus, Master, King of glory, 

Teach us loving you alone,

With a joyous will to follow you in peace

By the road that you have shown.

--

Requiescat in pace

Feast of the Annunciation

Due to 25th March falling in Holy Week, the Feast of the Annunciation is transferred to today (in both old and new Roman calendars).

Here is the Hymn Ave Maris Stella (in Mode 1, for those who are interested in such things: more on this in a future post, following a very valuable Chant Workshop this weekend, organised by the Gregorian Chant Network):

1. Ave maris stella,
Dei Mater alma,
Atque semper Virgo,
Felix caeli porta.

2. Sumens illud Ave 
Gabrielis ore,
Funda nos in pace,
Mutans Hevae nomen.

3. Solve vincla reis,
Profer lumen caecis:
Mala nostra pelle,
Bona cuncta posce.

4. Monstra t(e) esse matrem:
Sumat per te preces,
Qui pro nobis natus,
Tulit esse tuus.

5. Virgo singularis,
Inter omnes mitis,
Nos culpis solutos,
Mites fac et castos.

6. Vitam praesta puram,
Iter para tutum:
Ut videntes Iesum,
Semper collaetemur.

7. Sit laus Deo Patri,
Summo Christo decus,
Spiritui Sancto,
Tribus honor unus. Amen.

1. Hail thou star of ocean
Portal of the sky
Ever virgin Mother
Of the Lord Most High.

2. O! by Gabriel's Ave
Uttered long ago,
Eva's name reversing,
Established peace below.

3. Break the captives' fetters,
Light on blindness pour,
All our ills expelling,
Every bliss implore.

4. Show thyself a Mother,
Offer Him our sighs,
Who for us incarnate
Did not thee despise.

5. Virgin of all virgins

To thy shelter take us,
Gentlest of the gentle
Chaste and gentle make us.

6. Still, as on we journey,
Help our weak endeavour,
Till with thee and Jesus
We rejoice forever.

7. Through the highest heaven,
To the almighty Three
Father, Son, and Spirit,
One same glory be.
Amen.

(Translation: Rev. E. Caswall)

Latin Lesson - Alma Redemptoris Mater

This week we continue with the great Marian antiphons: this time, unseasonably, with the Alma Redemptoris Mater, which is sung from the start of Advent until the feast of the Purification (or Presentation: 2 February. I, of course, prefer the traditional title as it highlights Our Lady’s humility in adhering firmly to her Jewish culture: she the all-pure undergoing ritual purification in accordance with the Law).

So learn this by heart, ready to sing around the Advent wreath in a few months... Teach it to your children and to your children’s children...

Alma Redemptoris Mater

Here are the words, with an over-literal translation underneath, followed by Blessed John Henry Newman’s rather more polished translation.

Alma redemptoris mater, 

Fruitful mother of the Redeemer.

quae pervia caeli porta manes,

thou who remains the open gate of heaven, 

et stella maris succurre cadenti

and the star of the sea, help the fallen

surgere qui curat populo.  

people who strive to rise again.

Tu quae genuisti, 

Thou who gave birth

natura mirante, 

nature wondering,

tuum sanctum Genitorem.  

to thy holy Creator.

Virgo prius, ac posterius, 

Virgin before and after

Gabrielis ab ore, 

From Gabriel’s mouth

summens illud ave, 

accepting that Ave,

peccatorum miserere.

Have mercy on sinners.

Mother of the Redeemer, who art ever of heaven

The open gate, and the star of the sea, aid a fallen people, 

Which is trying to rise again; thou who didst give birth, 

While Nature marveled how, to thy Holy Creator, 

Virgin both before and after, from Gabriel's mouth 

Accepting the All hail, be merciful towards sinners.

Tell Out My Soul

I have long had an ambivalent relationship with this hymn by Timothy Dudley-Smith (one-time Anglican bishop of Thetford).

The lyrics, as far as they go, are fine, and the tune is eminently singable.

However, given it is a paraphrase of the Magnificat, it strikingly (and, I have heard, deliberately) omits Our Lady!

So I have decided to rectify this with a new verse.

I imagine T D-S's lyrics are copyright, though they are easily available on the internet...

Here is my proposed second verse:

Tell out my soul, His favour shown to me:

He has looked down upon my lowliness.

From this day forth all men will honour me

For He hath deigned to share His holiness.

It's not perfect, and anyone who can do better is welcome to try.

Given how hymnbooks change lyrics willy-nilly for various spurious reasons, I think it would be excellent for Catholic hymnbooks (at least) to include a Marian verse - that is of course, a better reflection of the Scriptural origins of the hymn. Anyone who knows a Catholic hymnbook editor, feel free to pass it on. All royalties waived...

Bowdler again

Another hymn Bowdlerised...

You know:

Sojourners in this vale of tears
We sinners make our prayers through thee,
Remind thy Son that he has paid
The price of our iniquity.

Well not any more. Now we have:

Sojourners in this vale of tears
We sinners make our prayers through thee,
Remind us all that we are saved
In spite of our iniquity.

What is that about? It's not a rejection of Our Lady's intercession, as each verse still concludes 'pray for me.'

I can only assume that it is some idiot not happy with the idea of Our Lord having to be reminded.

And I say idiot, because if that is the objection, the person concerned is both a theological and a scriptural dunce.

Of course Our Lord doesn't need reminding because He is forgetful. But to make that objection is to fail to realise that we almost always have to speak of God using human metaphors. Just this morning in today's Mass we had 'Is your anger for ever.' One can't read the Old Testament intelligently unless one grasps this basic fact...

And as ever, there was no acknowledgement of the Bowdlerising in the hymn book, which strikes me as both dishonest, and damaging of the reputation of the poor writers whose work they adulterate.

Of One Being with the Father?

Of whom might 'of one being with the Father' reasonably (let alone rightly) be said?

No prizes if you answer God the Son; God the Holy Spirit is also a correct answer.

But according to today's hymn at Mass, the correct answer is you - and anyone else dopey enough to sing without thinking what the words mean.

Yes today's hymn (or was it a gathering song, I forget now) ended with the extraordinary line:

'For I know that I am one with You.'

That is after already singing: " I want to do the things You do,' (like hold the world in being, judge the living and the dead...?)

Who sanctions these Protestant hymns with dubious lyrics for Catholic worship? And why?

Ant confessed she hadn't really noticed the words, which is fair enough.

The theory behind vernacular hymns was that we were meant to understand what we sing. However, we don't always pay that much attention - and that's part of the danger. These Protestant errors and idiocies can creep into our understanding, bypassing our critical faculties, by the simple process of singing them repeatedly without thought...

Wot no Bowdler?

I've complained recently about the re-writing of hymns to make them more suitable for modern sensibilities (eg taking the Catholic content out of them...)

But today we had 'Lord for tomorrow and its needs, I do not pray,' complete and uncensored: including the line 'help me to mortify my flesh....'

How did that slip past the Bowdlerisers?

Incidentally, I was reflecting on my own changed response to this hymn. When I was small, I thought all that 'just for today' stuff was very short-sighted, unambitious and.. well.. wrong. Surely I should want all these things all my life.

Now in middle age, just for today seems absolutely right: the focus I need to maintain on the present moment, trusting the rest to Our Lord....

No wicked men, no blasphemy....

We had it again at Mass today. That bowdlerised version of 'I'll sing a hymn to Mary.'

The last lines of each verse should be:

When wicked men blaspheme thee,
I'll love and bless thy name.

But in our hymn book they are now:

Oh may I imitate you
And magnify God's name.

A worthy sentiment, perhaps, but why change it?

Are there no wicked man any more? Do we no longer even believe in wickedness? Is there no longer any sin of blasphemy? (For to say simply that there is no blasphemy is clearly ridiculous).

And above all, why credit the lyrics to John Wyse without acknowledging that Thos Bowdler or his heir has got at them!