Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-02-28

Carnival
and Easter carols were mentioned.
and at least in modern times they are
also secular Carols were sung be-
tween scenes of the mysteries and
miracle plays which formed such a
strong feature of medieval religious
history They gained strong hold
on the affections of the people. In
England they are made much of at
! Yuletide. 1t is interesting also to
note the yearly custom practiced by
the shepherds of Sicily and Italy. The
/ Italian shepherds come down at
Christmas and carol with their pipes,
which are akin to the Scotch bagpipe,
through the streets of Naples, hating
! ct the shrines of the Virgin. They
90 this in commemoration of the car.
I, OILS that the angels sang and that those
early shepherds heard that night be
fore the birth of our Lord.
] The Lutheran Hymnody has great
er interest to the student of church
history than all preceding Christian
song. In literary excellence it is sur
passed by the Latin hymns Of the me-
dieval church. as well as the English-
American group; in musical merit it is
not better, but in historic Importance
the Luther hymns exceed all. His
lyrics were the models for hymns of
the Reformed German church for a
century or more.
We have seen that the musical sys-
tenn of the Catholic church was based
on the Gregorian chant which was per-
formed in Latin by the sacerdotal Of
flee. The music OF the Protestant
church on the other hand is founded
on the Congregational hymn. The one
is official unalterable,' The other
democratic and free,v and moreover
in the vernacular
Tracing the development OF congre-
gational singing. as we'll as causes
leading to the reformation; down to
the 10th century the only thing that
could in any way be called a popular
church song was sort of ejaculation
used by the Germans, sKyrie'' or
Christie Eleison," which they sang.
or shouted on all possible occa.
siGns. In singing It formally the
proper Gregorian tones in the
church service were used. Sometimes
many notes to one syllable were sung
and to this exuberance of melody
came the habit of using ether words
end out of this grew the incipient
German Congregational hymn. From
that time on hymns developed and
multiplied amazingly, reaching the
height of production in the 18th and
18th centuries during the intellectual
awakening which took place at the
time of the CTusades and Mime sing
ers. Certain heretics at this period
wrote hymns of more spiritual quail
ity, also Flagellants fanatics and SO
on Wacknagel in the second volume
of his collection mentions 1448 reli-
gious lyrics in the German tongue be-
tween S68-1518 Thehe pre-reforma-
ton hymns serve to throw light on
the religious condition of the German
mind at that time, revealing much
superstition but also Christian faith
and sanity living. but still the Ger
man spirit was filled with intellectual
and spiritual unrest. Huss' martyr
dem greatly affected Germany. He
also and : his followers produced 400
hymns about 20 years before Luther's
appeared and of much the same char
acter.
The world Transforming teachings
of Luther seemed to free the religious
impulse of the people He understood
Lis people and turned their enthus-
iasms into practical directions He
taught them that singing praise was
pleasing God and moreover that il
was a necessary act in public CON-
munion with Him. He made their
parts an official part of the liturgy.
These facts, says Dickinson, gave the
popular hymn its wonderful proselyt-
Ing power in the 18th century-the
latter gives it its Importance in the
history of church music = -..
THE Congregational song both SYM
holized and realized the principle oil
direct access OF the believer to the
Father and thus exempliffed in itself
alone the whole spirit of the worship
Of the New Church. That this act of
worship should be in the native Ian
guage of the nation was a matter of
course, and hence the popular hymn
set to familiar and appropriate mel
odv became at once the characteristic
and lituFgic expression of the emotion
II direct communion with God Con
se1uently at the founding of the new
church at Wittenburg it was net so
surprising that there was a mighty
outburst of song.
The underlying principles of the
Reformation gave the hymns their
character. The earliest hymns had
sherefore a militant ring quite IN con
snnance with the new note of free1lnnl