The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-01-04

Anthems.
But there were three John Read
ings. John Reading (No. %, organist
of Winchester Cathedral, is by some
accredited as the composer of the
Christmas hymn. He was lay vicar
of Lincoln Cathedral in 1867, and
Master of the Choristers there in
1870. In 1876 he succeeded Randall
levitt at Winchester, which position
he held till 1881, when he was re-
placed by Daniel Rosengrave.
From 1851 to his death in 1892, he
was organist and music master of
Winchester College, and is said to
have composed the College "Graces"
including the celebrated Dulce domum,
printed in Harmonic Wykehamica, in
1903. His claim to the Adeste Fideles
rests on no evidence, and indeed it is
very doubtful if he composed Dulce
domum, which / may remark smacks
strongly of the flavor of Papa"
Haydn.
Just word as to the claim of John
Reading (No. 81. This composer was
organist of Chichester Cathedral from
1874 to 1920, and the only evidence
yet brought forward in support of his
alleged composition of the Adeste
Ffdeles is the similarity of name with
the other two above mentioned
Let us now come to the actual
manuscripts and printed copies of the
hymn from 1745 to 1845, after which
latter year the setting as at present
used came into general vogue. But
first l must dismiss a recent legend
to the effect that the air is to be
found in a sixteenth century Gradual
of the Cisterian Order, have exam
ined the Cistercian Gradual of various
dates within the sixteenth century,
and nothing approaching a modernly
constructed tune, such as is the Adeste
Fideles, is to be found therein. An
esteemed member of the Cistercian
community at Mount Melleray corro-
borates this statement, but internal
evidence alone would be tolerably
conclusive as pointing to the first
quarter of the eighteenth century
may further state that no tune even
remotedly resembling the hCristmas
hymn is to be found in the printed
composition of John Reading (No. y,
or yet in his ten autograph manuscript
volumes at present belonging to DR..
w. H. Cummings, of London.
The oldest existing manuscript of
the melody so far discovered is in a
volume of Masses and motets former
ly belonging to Father Peter Kenny,
S. j., the founder of Clongowes Wood
College, County Kildare, Ireland, con-
tanning autograph musical scores Of
various dates between the years 1740
and 1749. In this volume is an extra
ordinary musical tour de force, name
ly a 48-part Mass, arranged for twelve
choirs of four voices each.
Of somewhat later date is another
precious musical manuscript, now be-
longing to the Jesuit Fathers of the
English Province, at Stonyhurst Col
lege, near Blackburn, in Lancashire
This manuscript is beautifully penned
throughout by Father John Francis
Wade, and the date 1851 is clearly
given in the book, being written for
a certain Nicholas King. A third MS.
containing the words and music of the
Adeste Fideles is now in st Edmund's
College, County kildare, Ireland, con-
1850, and does not materially differ
from the Stonyhurst manuscript.
Whilst the Clongowes manuscript
! has merely the tune, the Stonyhurst
volume has words and music. In the
latter manuscript there are only four
veses,-the first, second, seventh, and
eighth of the full text; and the music
is given for each stanza, the hymn
being headed I'm Nativitate Domini
Hymnus," or, as it was more gener-
ally termed, Christmas Hymn" Thus
, in 1850 the original eight verses had
been reduced to the present cento,
but it is of interest to state that the
, Latin verses generally sung at the
same period in France were the first,
third, fifth and sixth. In December,
1901, an interesting setting of the
Adeste Fideles with the full text of
eight verses was published by Dom
{ Samuel Gregory Gould, o. S. B. Each
{ of the eight verses had an accompani-
ment by eight modern composers, in
Guiding Sir Walter Parrot and Sir
Hubert Parry.
The first printed version of the tune
is in an extremely rare volume of
: Hymns for aCtholic Service, published
in 1866 by Charles Barbandt, organist
J of the Bavarian Chapel in London.
J Sixteen years later, in 1882, the hymn
J tune appeared in little book entitled
An Essey on the Church Plain Chant,
published by an Irish Catholic in Lon
: don. This small volume, also very
rare, is in three parts, and the Adeste
Fideles was printed in Part II, which
J is described as containing several
Anthems, Litanies, Proses, and
Hymns, as they are sung in the Public
Chapels at London"
} 1t has been suggested that Samuel
Webbe, senior, arranged the music for
Coghlan's volume, and he certainly
} composed many of the pieces con-
: tanned in the second part; but his
claim as composer of the dAeste
Fideles cannot at all be entertained
J inasmuch as the air is to be met with
in 1745, when Webbe was but five
years of age Moreover, the tune was
simply taken from Barbandt's vol
ume, printed in 1866, doubtless with
the permission of Barbandt, who was
Wohho'o foooho~ haua ~