The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-09-08

Instant hOlii'o W lnC Neht AN'Aif tbla at
Jerusalem, they brought harp and tim
brel and trumpet and poured along the
great Judean highways a river Of har-
monN untilin and around the temple the
wealth of nations song and gladness
had accumulated. In our day we have
a division of labor in music, and we have
one man to make the hymn, another
man to make the tune, another man to
play 1t on the piano and another man
to sing it, Not so in Bible times.
Miriam, the sister of Moses, after the
passage of the Red sea, composed a
doxology, set it to music, clapped it on
a cymbal and at the same time sang it.
David, the psalmist, was at the same
time poet, musical composer, harpist
and singer, and the majority of his
rhythm goes vibrating through all the
ages.
There were in Bible times stringed
instrumental harp of three strings
playing by fret and bow, IA harp of ten
strings resounding only to the fingers
of the performer. Then there was the
crooked trumpet, fashioned out of the
horn of the OK or the ram Then there
were the sistrum and the cymbals,
| clapped I'm the dance or beaten in the
march. There were 1000 Levites, the
| best men of the country, whose only
business it was to look after the music
of the temple.
These 1000 Levites were divided into
two classes and OBLIGATED on different
days. Can you imagine the harmony
when these white robed Levites, before
the symbols of Gods presence and by
the smoking affairs and the candlesticlts
that sprang upward and branched out
like trees of gold and under the wings
of the cherubim. chanted the One
Hundred and Thirty-siNth Psalm of
David? Do YOU know how it was done?
One part of that great choir stood up
and ehanted: "Oh give thanks unto the
Lord, for He is good" Then the other
part of the choir, standing in some
other part of the temple, would come in
with the response: For His mercy en-
dureth forever" Then the first part
would take up the song again and say:
Unto him who only doeth great won
ders." The other part of the choir
would come in with Overwhelming re-
Spouse: For His mercy endureth for
ever" until in the latter part of the
song. the music floating backward and
forward, harmony graphing with har-
mony, every trumpet sounding. every
bosom heaving, one part of this great
white robed choir would lift the an
them: "Oh, give thanks unto the God
of Heaven!" and the other part of the
Levite choir would come in with the re-
Spouse: For His mercy endureth for
ever"
Butlam glad to know that all through
he ages there has been great attention
paid to sacred music. Ambrosius
Augustine. Gregory the Great, Charlie
magne, gave it their mighty influence
and in our day the best musical genius
is throwing itself on the alturs ot'God
Handel and Mozart and Bach and Du-
rante and Wolf and scores of other
men and women have given the best
part of their genius to church music
\ truth in words is not half so mighty
rs a truth in song, Luther's sermons
have been forgotten, but the Judgment
LYNN" he composed is resoundng yet
all through Christendom.
congratulate the world and the
hurch on the advancement made in this
prt-the Edinburgh societies for the
Improvement of music, The Swiss sing
ing societies, the Exeter hall concerts
the tricnnial musical convocatiou al
: Dusseldorf. Germany, and Birmingham
England, the controversies OF music n
Munich and Leipsic, the Handel anC
Haydn and Harmonic and Mozart so
> cieties of this country, the academies OF
music in New York Brooklyn, Boston
Charleston, New Orleans, Chicago anC
every city which has any enterprise,
Now, friends, how are we to decid
what is appropriate, especially to
church music? There may be Il grea
many differences of opinion. In som,
of the churches they prefer trained
choir; i'm others they prefer the melo
deon, the harp the cornet, the organ
in other PLACES they think these thing
are the invention of the devil. Som
would have musical instrumen
. played so loud you cannot stand it, an,
{ others would have it played so soft yol
| AduuOl NEAR II. E1ulllt Alllllh a liluolNtt
instrument ought to be played only il
the interstices of worship, and the
with indescribable softnesS, Will
others are not satisfied unless there b
y startling contrasts and staccato pa,
sages that make the audience iumI
= with great eyes and hair on end, a
-, from a vision of the witch OF Endol
- But, while there may be great yariC
- ties of opinion in regard TO music,
- seems to me that the general spirit q
- the word Of God indicates what ough
o be the great characteristics of churc
music
- And | remark in the first place,
" prominent characteristic ought to b
y adaptiyeness to devotion Music tina
y may be appropriate for a concert hal
- or the opera house, or the drawn
- room, may be inappropriate in churcl