melody, strong in harmony, and set to the familiar words of the vernacular, instead of the Latin. Hymnsinging had already been employed to a limited degree among the Bohemian Brethren and other sects; but now it became universal throughout the Reformed Church. This may be regarded as the beginning of the modern hymn tune.

Among the oldest examples of the German chorale in the Hymnal are "Ein' Feste Burg" (101), ascribed to Martin Luther; "Munich" (151), rearranged by Mendelssohn from an old chorale; the "Passion Chorale" (151) of Hans Leo Hassler and the chorale of Nicolaus Decius, of which we have two arrangements, "Decius" (93) and "St. Peter" (97). The German composers of the seventeenth century followed the same general style of chorale writing in "Nuremberg" (103), by Johann Rudolf Ahle (1625-73); "Nun Danket" (30), by Johann Crüger (1598-1662); "Bremen❞ (476), by Georg Neumark (1621-81); and "St. Theodulph" (31), by Melchior Teschner (about 1613). By playing these tunes, even amateur musicians can easily recognize the elements common to the German chorales, distinguishing them from the work of other schools, by a dignity of movement and a Doric simplicity of harmony, expressing a calm but lofty state of religious feeling. No frivolous verses can well be sung to these stately measures, no thought can be appropriate, save that which finds deep root in the soul life.

Later composers have given to us genuine chorales of great worth, though in their day already observing the beginnings of a different type of hymn tune. The

Sources of the tune "Antioch"

From Chorus,

The tune "Antioch"

Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth re-ceive her King;

most recent of these, Arne Oldberg, a living American composer, has written for the Methodist Hymnal in the chorale style an excellent hymn tune, "Gilder" (14).

The great composer Händel (1685-1759) was a master in writing the chorale. The six hymn tunes in our collection from his pen, however, were not written as chorales, but are melodies taken from his larger works (see end of this chapter), rearranged in harmony, and in some cases so changed in melody that we could scarce expect the composer himself to recognize them. The great German master musicians, beginning with Beethoven, in many respects the greatest of them all, on through the brilliant leaders of the later romantic school, have been levied upon generously for our hymn tunes. We thus make use of eight melodies from Beethoven, four from Spohr, six from Mendelssohn, four from Haydn, three from Weber, two from Schumann, and two from Mozart, some of which have been traced in later paragraphs of this chapter to their original sources.

France and Geneva played an important part in the hymn tunes of the sixteenth century. Of these we have "Old Hundred" (16), a melody that has reached the widest influence. Its authorship is unknown. It is supposed, however, to have been adapted to Beza's version of the one hundred and thirty-fourth psalm for the Genevan Psalter, 1551, from a popular melody sung in France to the words, "Il n'y a icy celluy qui n'ai sa belle," and in Holland to the words, "Ik had een boelken intercorem, die ik met Harten minne." The tune "Flemming" (478) was also taken

from the Genevan Psalter, but its composer, Friedrich F. Flemming (1778-1813), was a native of Neuhausen, Saxony. Its resemblance to Webbe's "Glorious Apollo" has been noted by critics, though rarely provoking the charge of plagiarism. From Johann Georg Naegeli (1768-1836), who was born and died in Zürich, Switzerland, were taken "Dennis" (100) and "Naomi" (277). The former appears three times in the Hymnal, the latter four times.

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was born in Geneva, but through his brilliant work in Paris, beginning at the age of twenty-nine, his radical writings on music and his vigorous defense of the principles of the French Revolution, France may justly claim him and his music, from which we derive our popular melody "Greenville" (39). Of later French tunes, characterized by a charming sweetness of melody, we have the following examples: "Morning Hymn" (44), by François Hippolyte Barthélémon (1741-1808); "Gilead" (202), by Etienne Henri Mehul (1763-1817); "Rutherford" (614), by Crétien D'Urhan (1788-1845); "Messiah" (348), by Louis Joseph Ferdinand Herold (1791-1833); "Radiant Morn" (566), “Olney" (696), and a chant (738), by Charles François Gounod (1818– 93), one of the great names in the history of music.

From England has come by far the largest proportion of our hymn tunes. Thomas Tallis, or Tallys, the father of English Cathedral music, was born some time in the second decade of the sixteenth century and died in 1585. He was one of the greatest musicians of his age, and in England indisputably the greatest. His

most valuable legacy to succeeding ages was the perfecting of the English hymn tune. The most famous of these from his pen is in our collection and bears the name "Evening Hymn" (49), though elsewhere it is more often known as "Tallis's Canon." By a slow rhythm, a most effective contrapuntal harmony, and an easily flowing melody he has combined solemn grandeur with delicate beauty. Its form as a canon may be observed by playing the tenor part beginning with the fifth note, from which point the tenor sings the very same melody that was sung by the soprano one measure previous, thus:

Melody begins here.

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