I CERTIFY that this edition of the Psalter has been compared January 1, 1897. SAMUEL HART, Custodian of the Standard Book of Common Prayer. An Organ Edition of this Psalter, in double quarto, with large music type and letter-press, in uniform style with the Organ Edition of the "Church Hymnal" and the "Chant and Service Book," with the Organ Registration by Dr. A. H. Mann, Organist of King's College, Cambridge, England, and bound in flexible leather, may be had on application to the publishers. Price, $3.00. Copyright, 1897, by CHARLES L. HUTCHINS. 777 216 на C4 5 PREFACE. The General Convention of 1892, which witnessed the completion of the revision of the Book of Common Prayer, took action to bring an important portion of that Book into more general musical use, by the appointment of a Commission of "three Bishops, three Presbyters, and three Laymen, to prepare a system of pointing for the Canticles and Gloria Patri and the whole Book of Psalms, the same to be reported to the next General Convention for its approval and recommendation to the use of the Church." Subsequent action of the Convention empowered the Commission to make a pointing of the Canticles and Occasional Anthems and print the same as an appendix in the Hymnal, without waiting for further action on the part of a later Convention. The Commission as constituted by the Convention consisted of the Bishops of Maine, Pittsburgh and Georgia; the Rev. J. S. B. Hodges, D.D., the Rev. Charles L. Hutchins, and the Rev. George S. Bennitt; Mr. George William Warren, organist of S. Thomas's Church, New York, Mr. George Edward Stubbs, organist of S. Agnes's Chapel, New York, and Mr. Minton Pyne, organist of S. Mark's Church, Philadelphia. The result of the Commission's labours on the Canticles and Occasional Anthems was incorporated in all the editions of the new Hymnal which came into use early in 1894, and has been almost universally adopted throughout the Church. The Commission continued their work during the next two years, until they were enabled, by unanimous action, to present to the Convention of 1895 a pointing of the complete Psalter. In making its report to the Convention, the Commission express the hope that as this pointing "has the unanimous approval of the Commission it may also have the approval and endorsement of the Church as represented in this Convention." They say further: "They are aware that such approval and endorsement must be based chiefly upon a confidence in the competency of the Commission, and upon an assurance that they have given sufficient attention and care to their work. . . . With respect to the competency of the Commission, the general satisfaction given by their work upon the Canticles may perhaps afford sufficient evidence; and with regard to the degree of care and diligence bestowed upon this later work, your Commission beg to say that they have spared no pains to make the result satisfactory to all who approve of the principle by which, chiefly, they have been guided in the construction of their general scheme of pointing." "That principle or postulate is that the pointing of the Psalms for musical use in public worship should be, first of all, such as to fulfil the requirements of correct and intelligent reading. The construction of the ordinary chant to which the pointing must be adapted does not admit of a strict adherence to this rule in all cases, but it should be studiously adhered to so far as practicable. In the prosecution of their work, according to this principle, your Commission have had constantly before them and have constantly consulted the best and most widely used of the English pointed Psalters, and their own pointing has, in every verse of the whole Psalter, the authority. of at least a majority of the editors thus consulted." The approval of both Houses of the Convention was no less unanimous than had been the action of the Commission; and a resolution was adopted that "the pointing of the Psalter presented by the Commission be set forth as the authorized pointing for use in this Church." In preparing this musical edition of the Psalter the editor's chief object has been to make available for use the work of the Commission, believing that in this lies the only prospect of anything like uniformity in singing the Psalter in the American Church. The musical use of the Psalms is rapidly increasing, and it is only through uniformity of pointing that the people can have their proper and rightful share in this beautiful portion of the Church's worship. In the selection of the chants the editor has sought to give those whose value has been tested by long use, with some of more recent composition, whose merits will be at once recognized. Both single and double chants are given, and they should be used according to the character and construction of the Psalm. For a few Psalms which invite more elaborate treatment than the ordinary chant, special settings have been given, which may be used as seems expedient to the choirmaster. From an excellent paper on Chanting by the Rev. Dr. J. S. B. Hodges the editor is permitted to quote the following, which may be of service to choirs in the use of this Psalter. "The ordinary chant consists of two parts. In the first part are four notes; in the second six. Take, for instance, the melody of the following single chant: 6 Now this should be sung in strict time, faster or slower, as the case may be, but preserving the proportion of the length of the several notes. This is easy when there is only one syllable to one note. This may be considered the chant proper, and in regard to it there is no difficulty whatever. But before the chant proper there comes a recitation of a greater or less number of words, which of course will require a variable length of time. Now all will become perfectly easy if the rule laid down by the editors of the Cathedral Psalter be clearly understood; viz.: 'On reaching the accented syllable, and beginning with it, the music of the chant commences, in strict time, the upright strokes (in the pointed Psalter) corresponding to the bars (in the printed music.)' That is the turning point. The accented syllable is simply the beginning of the regular time of the chant, of the first bar of the chant. It does not mean that that syllable is to be long dwelt upon, or that it is to be sung louder than the rest; but only that it is the point of beginning of the steady time of the chanting. If this be distinctly understood, what follows will be easy. This accented syllable may be the only one before the first bar—as in the example just given. In that case it is to be held just the length of one bar. But there may be, between this accented syllable and the first bar, one, two, three, or even (rarely) four other syllables. How are they to be treated? Simply by dividing the time of the whole bar between the two, three, four or five syllables assigned to it, giving an emphasis, or accent, to the accented syllable; as in the following examples. Here it will be seen that the bar beginning with the accented syllable contains from one to five syllables. How are they to be treated? Not by dwelling on the accented syllable, but by a proper division of the time between all the syllables, as in good reading - as may be seen by the following examples: This really seems to give the key to the whole matter. Let all the syllables after (and including) the accented syllable have the time of one bar properly distributed among them, not necessarily dwelling on the accented syllable. The recitative part of the chant is of course to be sung clearly and 'after the manner of distinct' and good 'reading.' Arriving at the accented syllable, the time of the chant commences, and all will go on smoothly.” An asterisk EXPLANATION MARKS. ́) marks the place for taking breath. Commas should be observed only as in good reading. Can. (Cantoris) is the Gospel or north side of the choir. Dec. (Decani) is the Epistle or south side. Full signifies that both sides of the choir are to sing together, though not necessarily loud. The antiphonal construction of many of the Psalms requires that each half of the verse should be sung, unless otherwise indicated, by the Decani and Cuntoris respectively. But these marks (Dec. and Can.), which will be found in many of the chants, need not be strictly observed should the choirmaster think it advisable to disregard them. The direction "2nd part" is of force only when a double chant is used, and denotes that the verse to which it is prefixed is to be sung to the second half of the chant. In some Psalms it will be found more than once, because a particular verse is more closely connected in character with the one that precedes than with the one which follows it. (See Psalm 103.) If preferred, however, such Psalms can be sung in the usual manner. The inverted period (*) divides the words of a bar into two parts of equal duration. Either of two modes of dividing the words into two and one, or one and two-might be equally good; but it is important that all who sing shall divide in the same way. Verses which are preceded by an upright line (as in Psalm 8, verses 1 and 9) are to be sung in unison, the accompaniment being in harmony. Any mark of expression continues its influence until some other mark is given. |