The Jersey City news., 1902-07-14
The Charm Of Congregation
al Singing in the Old
Dresden Catholic
Church.
ANCIENT GERMAN CHORALS
Difference Between Our Music
and That Used in the
South German Church

In his weekly letter to ST. Johns
Bulletin" the Rev. q. L. Stoddard,
Rector of st. Johns Church. describes
this week the service in the Roman Ca
tholic Church of Dresden, and recon-
mends its system of singing to his flock.
In his letter DR.. Stoddard says:
DRESDEN CHURCHES.
Near my hotel in Dresden there are
two large churches, one Roman Ca
thoIic Church and the other a Lutheran
Church, known as the st. Sophia Church.
Service is very early in Germany, the
chief service in Dresden being at half
past nine. / don't know what the st.
Johns people would say to that.
Il went first to the Roman Catholic
Church and found it full. though the
congregation was about half composed
of boys and girls, who looked as if they
came from schools or seminaries. The
churches here are not kept as nicely as
ours. They are often three hundred.
very often one hundred and fifty years.
old. and look broken and decayed. They
are also very plain within. SO with this
CATHOLIC SINGING.
But what impressed me most was
that the congregation sang. One does
not hear that much in Roman churches
in America, and it was all the more
agreeable to hear it in Germany. They
seemed to join in, in the Kyrie, Gloria,
Sanctus, and all the rest.
From there / went to st. Sophia
Church, which is very old. 1t is about
three times as large as st. Johns. Now
imagine the pulpit in st. Johns in the
middle of the nave. ON the north side
about where Mr.. Niese's pew is. and fac
ing south. Imagine all the pews from
the door to the pulpit facing the chan
eel Imagine all the pews between the
pulpit and the chancel turned round and
facing the pulpit. Imagine no gallery
on the side of the church where the pull
pit is. but on the south side picture gal
lery, but gallery all divided up into
little square boxes, like opera boxes.
Imagine the organ over the front door.
it Use in all the churches here, and a
choir of about one hundred boys, men
and women. Imagine the church full
and everybody singing, all sitting down,
but all singing. boys. old men, people who
had books and those who had no books.
GERMAN CHORALS.
The tunes seem strange. They are all
the old German chorals. Imagine the
tune, 'sOld Hundred" or the tune to 30
Sacred Head Once Wounded sung very.
slowly with pause after every line, and
you can imagine what the singing is like.
If choir only should sing these chorals,
or if one, two or three in the congrega-
tien should sing, the effect would be mel
ancholy. but where a great organ,
large choir, and a. great congregation
sing, the effect is wonderful. II is like
the breaking of surf of a mighty beach.
/ don't wonder that everybody joins in.
The hymns are not given out, as with
u.s. The organ begins, and the people
start in, just as they. do at our mission
when Mrs. Collard starts the organ, just
as if everybody knew every tune and
just the words which went to it.
Il think when | come back we shall
have more congregational singing in St.
Johns l don't know yet, but I imagine
that here they repeat the hymns very
often, and all the people know words and
music. | have now been to Lutheran
Church three times and have heard no
music but these chorals, nothing like a
chant. or re Deum or anthem, except
in one case where a hymn was sung by
choir alone to an elaborate setting.
However. l shall go some more and ask
questions, and then shall be wiser.
YOUR RECTOR"