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By the end of the 19th century changing aesthetic tastes in Britain meant that much of Victorian Hymnody was no longer meeting the musical and liturgical needs of worship leaders. See The Victorian Web. One factor which contributed to this situation was the preponderance of new texts, particularly translations from the Latin and German. In addition there began a fascination with old tunes such as Metrical Psalm tunes from before 1700 and ancient liturgical tunes such as plainsong. Historical scholarship and proto-musicology brought about a rediscovery of ancient traditions; folksong research led to the "discovery" of beautiful indigenous tune and many worship leaders wanted to incorporate all of these into the contemporary liturgy. Biblical higher criticism was growing in religious academic circles and eventually became the theological underpinning of the late 19th century. Generally, the scientific community smugly felt that all the interesting problems had been solved (with only a few loose ends to tidy up). This attitude so much went along with the Victorian ideal as expressed musically by the Part Song: comfortable and contented. However, the storm clouds of scientific, social, and artistic revolution (not to mention the "Great War") were just over the horizon. In the last quarter of the 19th century, a group of British composers began writing tunes in a larger, more expansive style which proved to be the progenitor of a new type of 20th century tune. Two composers in particular stand out:
Although the ever-present Hymns Ancient and Modern published these and other similar tunes in its 1905 edition, they are known to us today mainly through the success of the The English Hymnal (1906). Robert Bridges published the Yattendon Hymnal in 1899 which became a bridge between between the Victorian hymnody of the 1st half of the century and the modern hymnody of the last half. In this collection he preserved and restored many old British tunes, particularly metrical psalms, chorales, and plainsong tunes. Although his original intention had been to supply texts to these tunes from standard hymnals, he soon discovered that no existing texts matched the meters of his collected tunes and consequently, he set about translating texts from the Latin, German, and Greek. Several of these are now considered to be among the finest hymn texts in the English language:
The Yattendon Hymnal was not a financial success (it was large, unwieldy and very expensive; however, it laid the ground work for Percy Dearmer and Ralph Vaughan Williams in their compilation of The English Hymnal (1906). The English Hymnal (1906) is important in the development of 20th century English hymnody for a number of reasons: Other important hymn collections after the English Hymnal and before about 1955:
The period 1955 - 1970 was a time of "crisis" in British hymnody and church music. There was much experimentation with hymns (and other church music) in a popular style, specifically to attract youth. Here are some of the most important contributors: The Church Light Music Group, of which Geoffrey Beaumont is the most well known:
[In addition to the 20th Century Folk Mass, between 1955 and about 1970 other POP-music masses were created, particularly in the USA. Here is a short list:]
Another important movement in Great Britain after the The Church Light Music Group was a folk music revival lead by Sidney Carter (b. 1915).
By about 1963, British hymnody had become somewhat "stagnant"
as evidenced by Erik Routley's comment in an article in The Hymn concerning
the New English Renaissance.
However, after about 1970, there was an "explosion" of new
English hymns which continues today. |
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Site last updated: February 15, 2007