English book has chosen the higher key, as in the case of Carey's "National Hymn" (our "America"), to which the Englishman chants his patriotism a full major third higher than the American, singing in the key of A instead of our F. Thus in the matter of keys, as in other elements of hymnology, the Wesleyan Church has followed, more closely than we, the advice of John Wesley, who urged that Methodist hymns be sung in a high key in order to reach the full vigor of expression.

As we have noted, however, the range of melody should not exceed the average compass of the ordinary soprano in the congregation. The octave from E to E in the treble clef is the limit of comfortable singing for the usual congregation; and melodies that keep well within this limit have at least the benefit of simple range to help them attain popularity. "The Star-Spangled Banner" might, indeed, be our national song, were it not for its uncomfortable range of an octave plus a fifth. Our tune "Ewing" for "Jerusalem the golden," with an octave plus a third, leaves many a singer stranded high and dry before the sixth line is sung, while the greatly inferior tune "Martyn" to "Jesus, Lover of my soul" can be easily sung by a small child. The compass of the three lower voices need not affect the choice of key; but, by skill in harmonizing, these parts should be confined to certain average limits, the alto within the octave from A to A, the tenor within E and E, and the bass within G and C.

Trained choirs can comfortably exceed these limits, but not congregations.

The Hymnal may be used as a profitable textbook in the study of the smaller forms of music. The form of nearly all of our hymn tunes is known as the period form. In its simplicity, a period consists of two phrases of four measures each, or eight measures in all. While the musical phrase in its regular form consists of four measures, it may be extended to five, six, or seven measures, or contracted to three, or in certain meters to two, the end of the phrase being denoted by a cadence (the resolution of the harmony into a common chord on the keynote).

Of these many phrase-forms there are abundant examples among our hymn tunes, and to determine to a nicety the nature of each phrase is a mental exercise profitable and interesting to the student who has mastered the principles of phrase-formation.1

The phrase, however, is not a complete musical form. The period, or one-part form, is the unit of complete form in music. When regular it consists of two phrases, such as we have described. Nearly all of our hymn tunes are in the period form, and, owing to the variations in its two component parts, the period form assumes a variety of lengths and shapes in our psalmody. There are some examples of two-part forms, especially among the English hymn tunes. Among these may be classed most of

1 Gf.

"The Homophonic Forms of Musical Composition," Percy

Goetschius.

the tunes with refrain, the second part being the refrain. A very few of the tunes are in three-part form, the third part being a repetition of the first part, as "The Good Fight" (418).

These three compass all the forms exemplified regularly in our Hymnal. Some of the tunes seem to bear evidence of the composer's lack of familiarity with the laws of form. Still others are difficult to analyze, as "Ein' Feste Burg."

As an æsthetic principle, repetition is regarded as pleasing in art. This is especially evident in music and architecture, although poetry and painting and the other arts also frequently illustrate this principle. Many of our hymn melodies make effective and pleasing use of repetition. Only a few of the tunes repeat exactly both melody and harmony of the first phrase, as "Ein' Feste Burg" (101), "Holy Spirit, faithful Guide" (193), and "Maidstone" (469), the last example repeating not only the first eight measures, but also the second four at the end. Repetition to be most effective must be not exact, but should be combined with variation. In larger forms of music this variation is wrought out in rhythm, in form, in orchestration, and a thousand possible embellishments; in the simple hymn tune by (1) difference at the end of the repeated phrase, or (2) in the harmony; or by imitation of the melody, (3) in contrary motion, or (4) in the sequence.

(1) In the hymns Nos. 8, 36, 60, 127, 194, 195, 615, and 689 may be found a repetition in the melody of most of the phrase, but a difference at the

end of the repeated phrase, and often in the few notes preceding and preparing the cadence. Sometimes in a repeated melody the variation extends farther back than this, as in Nos. 27, 53, 66, 78, 431, 621, 640, 675.

(2) A repetition in the melody with a change in the harmony is becoming more and more the custom to-day, especially in the English tunes. Many composers of the older school would have made no harmonic change in repeating the melody; and even in the contemporary tunes this has been consistently avoided by some composers, as, for example, Richard Redhead. Nevertheless, it adds to the richness of the music, and is æsthetically good usage. In illustration of this, note the beautiful effect which the composer has produced by clothing the melody of a phrase in different harmony, when repeated in the following hymns: Nos. 30, 84 (second half), 97, and also where only a part of the phrase is repeated, as in Nos. 15, 77, 109, 199, 324, 406, 463 (first), 545 (first).

(3) Imitation is sometimes made by inverting the melody. While there are no examples in the Hymnal of a whole phrase being repeated in contrary motion, parts of the melody are often repeated in inverted form. The "Italian Hymn" (2) is planned throughout upon this principle. The thirteenth measure is but an imitation of the first and seventh upside down; the tenth and twelfth a repetition of the fourth; the fifteenth a repetition of the ninth and the eleventh, to each of which measures, together with the first

note of the following measure, the second and third are similarly related. Thus, ten out of the twelve active measures of this melody are involved in the principle of repetition.

(4) The most interesting form of imitative repetition is that of sequence (literally "following"), wherein the melody is repeated not upon the same notes as before, but upon other notes that lie one or more tones higher or lower than the original phrase or figure. In many hymns the melody of the very first figure is repeated in sequence, as in Nos. 161, 522, 566, 591, 603, 704. In others, not only the first figure, but also other figures, are thus repeated: Nos. 10, 62, 118, 298, 574, 578, 709. In still others the figure to be repeated in sequence begins the second half of the tune: Nos. 48, 130, 382, 387, 456, 518, 525. Sometimes the figure is so small as to lie within the compass of one measure, and is repeated in sequence several times in other measures: Nos. 63 (measures 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, and also in the tenor part), 157, 192 (measures 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11), 224 (measures 8, 9, 10, 11), 362 (measures 7, 8, 9), 452 (measures 9, 10, 11), 515 (measures 9, 10, 11).1

The tune "America" (702) illustrates both sequence and inverted imitations. Hymn tunes Nos. 57, 68, 640, and many others, illustrate both repetition and sequence. In fact, such frequent use is made of repetitions in various forms that there is scarcely a tune in the Hymnal that does not employ them to

1 (The number of the measures is computed from the beginning of the first full measure.)