Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-08-19
NEWS or MUSIC
NEWS OF MUSIC
Stote of Church Music
Viewed in New Book
By DAY THORPE

The history Of the art of
music shows that by far the
greater part Of it has been
written either specifically for
the church or with unmistak-
able religious connotations.
4 For centuries the church
was a patron of music without
rival, and even during the
times when its largesse was
curtailed and its interest
swaned it still exerted an UNI
@paralleled influence on COM
posers of every faith.
Il From the anonymous COM
posers of plainchant through
Palestrina, des Pres. Isaac,
! Byrd, Handel, Bach, Beetho-
ven, Tchaikovsky, Berlioz and
Rossini. to the contemporaries
Hindemith, Barber and Stra-
Svinsky. we have had a cease
less flow of religious music
surprising all symphonies. OPP
eras, string quartets and other
profane pieces in quantity and
unsurpassed in quality.
Throughout the years. in
addition, we have seen created
a tremendous literature of re-
ligious popular music--hymns,
art songs, and sentimental
ballads like The Rosary" and
1.-THE Lords Prayer" written
in many cases by men whose
names have been forgotten in
the natural course of events or
have been blotted out with a
tear by the divine forgiving-
ness of the recording angel.
Quality Falls Into Decline
In modern times the quality
of music written for and per-
formed in church has fallen
into a decline. While there are
many individual churches and
even communities in which
service music is held in high
esteem and practiced with the
greatest art, it seems unlikely
that we will soon return to the
golden age of church music
which was the 18th century, or
even the silver age. the two
following.
The reasons for the adul-
teration of church music and
its comparative lack Of pres
tige are many; the most cru
cial is the ever-increaSing
democracy of the churches. In
the days Of Palestrina the SUI
perior culture of the church
could be imposed upon the
people, while today the church
tends to be only one Of many
institutions seeking the sup
port Of mankind, and finds it
self encouraging recognition by
the most denote means.
Paul Hume, music editor of
the Washington Post and
Times-Herald, in his new book,
Catholic Church Music" feels
keenly the low estate into
which Catholic church music
has fallen. The book, dedi-
Gated to the Pope, and de-
clared officially to be free
of doctrinal or moral error"
is not a history of the music
of the Catholic Church nor
an apology. but rather a
practical handbook for the
music-loving Catholic who
wants to improve the music of
his parish. 1t is written
against a wide background of
personal experience supple
mented by the information
elected by questionnaires sent
to a large number of Catholic
Churches throughout the
United States,
Mr.. Hume makes q begin
ming by attempting to show
how far from any ideal of good
music are the liturgical por-
tons and congregational
hymn-singing in the average
parish church-not only is the
music usually bad. but the per-
Torrance is often far from
what should be expected in
praise Of the greater glory of
God. While pointing out that
castigation of his own does
not imply that the music in
Protestant churches is better
(NIr. Hume. like John Gunther,
is inside only one place at a
time), he does rather ruefully
admit that in Washington he
rarely hears a note Of great
Catholic music in a Catholic
church, but must go for per-
fcrmances Of high standards
to the National Presbyterian
Church, the Washington Ca
thedral. st. Johns Episcopal
Church, and "a Unitarian
church whose name escapes
me-"
Problems Taken In Turn
Then, after pointing out that
improvement of church music
is, for the Catholic, not some
thing which can be marked on
the agenda as optional. but
which has been unequivocally
demanded by three popes, Mr..
Hume takes the parish church
musician by the hand to show
how each obstacle may be
overcome.
The apathy or hostility of
the clergy. the resistance to
change of the congregation,
what music to sing and where
1t can be bought, how to train
a choir. how to make the best
OF an electronic organ. the
problem of hymns, the voice
Of the congregation. music for
weddings, music in school
each point is persuasively
argued.
Two forces are apparent in
Mr.. Hume's approach to the
regeneration Of Catholic