400 RANGE OF THE MINOR KEY. to the want of refined and delicate sensibility, partly to the habit of associating minor tunes only with sad and funereal occasions, and partly, also, to the want of that deep religious experience which teaches what it is to cry unto God out of the depths of penitence, of spiritual desertion, and of irrepressible longing. Music is like a magnetic needle. The major and minor scales are its positive and negative poles. And there is in the mind a sort of musical polarity corresponding to these poles, but changeful, and differently affected at different times by the presence of either of them. At one time it attracts what at another time it repels. The resounding strains of Zion could not be sung in Babylon. And there are seasons of darkness and of spiritual captivity in the experience of many a Christian, when a bright and gleeful song is "as vinegar upon nitre." The rich minor tune is the song with which a heavy heart is in quickest sympathy. But the range of the minor key is not limited to mournful and pathetic expression: it extends to all the softened and subdued feelings which belong to Christian experience. Many hymns that are prayers, are most appropriately sung in it. Humility and confession belong to it. Reverence before the infinite Majesty is very impressively uttered by it. Nor have we exhausted its powers even then; for, while it is eminently fitted to express all the lowly attitudes of the mind, it is by no means to be confined to them. Upon this point there is great and gross misapprehension. It is a common impression that there is a weakness in this key, which unfits it for use except when the soul is bowed down and bereft of strength. It has served us so often at such times, that we think SABBATH HYMN AND TUNE BOOK. 401 it can do nothing else. But, in truth, it has a strength and dignity which do not yield to the major by one particle. It is not vivacious, and not naturally cheerful, but neither is it always sad. It is sedate, thoughtful, majestic. It has its tremulous plaint and its sympathizing wail; but open its deeper registers, and you hear successions and combinations of tone, whose grandeur lifts the soul. It can stoop to soothe us in our troubles, or it can open its broad wing and rise with us to the loftiest forms of adoration. The highest sublimity often seeks its aid, and is at home amid its solemn chords, like proud keels in the bosom of swelling waves. § 13. Illustrations of the preceding Remarks. The tunes in the Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book, appear to have been prepared with a steady eye toward the principles which we have now laid down. It has not fully adopted these principles, but it has made a decided advance towards them. Probably it has advanced far enough in this direction for the present; quite as far as will be appreciated by congregations whose taste has been exclusively formed upon the prevailing choir tunes. What we have to say in commendation of this book will be spoken of its leading characteristics, and not of every individual tune in it; for evidently there are tunes here which were not introduced upon their merits, but merely because of the popular demand for them. On the whole, however, the book furnishes many illustrations of the principles which we have endeavored to advocate. 402 EXAMPLES OF GOOD TUNES. 1. It demonstrates that there can be for the people a collection of simple, easy tunes which are, nevertheless, in the highest degree respectable as musical compositions. See, for examples, the following list:-Alpheus, Sidney, Holbein, St. Michael, St. Nicholas, Kepler, Nilo, Barrow, Holland, Strand, Pekin, Elbe, Wall, Deal, St. Nicolai, Arnon, Tiber, Kelvin, Monmouth, Huron, Bingham, Erfurt, Phuvah, Blois, Theon, Butler, Lyne, Bethany, Agnol, Brent, Stanley, Galena, Dunfermline, Sherman, Nazareth, Berry, Beckford, Canonbury, Bonn. These are tunes whose merits will not be called in question. Though generally simple, they are scientific in their structure, and will stand the ordeal of musical criticism. Quite a number of old and familiar tunes, of equal merit, are not included in this list. 2. Eminently characteristic of this book are the strength and spirit of its tunes. These are their marked and leading traits. While nothing is light or gay, or secular and undignified in them, they have an awakening and inspiriting quality which eminently fits them for the service of praise. The following are examples: - Owen, Theon, Welt, Paul, Kepler, Field, Marden, Ryle, Mamre, White, Hull, Roland, Mead, Erskine, Beckford, Alfred, Alford, Otley, FleetStreet, May, Wayne, Goodwin, Longwood, Cooper, Orion, Tyng, Bedford, Durham. Some of these are muscular and bold. There is another class, not less enlivening in their influence, perhaps, than these, but characterized rather by a bright and joyous tone, asKitto, Wales, Tully, Oak, Kelvin, St. Nicolai, Knight. In this enumeration, mention is made chiefly of new tunes, as the old ones are already known. The predominance of such tunes as these in this collection will EXAMPLES OF MINOR TUNES. 403 infuse a new spirit into our psalmody, wherever the book is used. It will awaken a new interest in the singing, as a part of worship, and will incline scores of persons to sing whose voices would never be heard in such tunes as Barby, Blendon, Shirland, Park-Street, Stonefield. We shall have strains more like what might have been struck from the impassioned harp of David, when he said, "My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee;" "I will offer in his tabernacle. sacrifices of joy." 3. There is a good proportion of tunes in the minor key in this book. They are about forty in number, and some of them are used twice. They are of rare excellence. They will help the spirit of devotion, and will exert a refining influence. For good examples of minors, see Agnol, Lyne, Bingham, Strand, Stanley, Brent, Hereford, Stello, Calvary, Noel, Vane, Tyne, Cole, Wall, Elliot, Galena, Malva, Canonbury, Akland. Strand is a tune whose beautiful melody is made very effective by unisonous singing. 4. A somewhat new feature of this book is the frequent use of double tunes. In these tunes, two stanzas are sung in immediate connection with each other, without any pause between them, and without any interlude. An increased animation in singing will be a consequence of this; and as the tunesare quick-moving, long hymns may be sung in them, without abridgment, and with less repetition of the same strains of music than in single tunes. For good double tunes, see Alfred, Agnol, Rayford, Rayner, Roland, Kepler, Deal, Byrd, Bendon, Ormond, Glen, Cole, Malta, Grove, Malva. 5. Great pains has been taken in this work to provide 404 MELODIOUS TREBLES. pleasing melodies. We doubt whether Dr. Mason has ever, in any of his previous publications, devoted so much care to this point. It appears to have been a motto with him, "The melody is the tune." He has endeavored to furnish melodies which could stand, as such, independently of the other parts; and he has presented them in such bold relief, that those who have an ear, even if they cannot sing by note, will easily discover them and follow their lead. Repeated tones, in which there can be no melody, are generally avoided, and tunes in the chanting style (with but one or two exceptions) have been omitted. The bass, standing next in importance to the leading melody, has received special attention, and has been enlivened with more melody than basses usually contain. In consequence of this, the two remaining parts have a narrower function to perform, and many who now sing them will prefer to sing upon the treble,—a thing which, in congregational singing, is not only admissible, but greatly to be desired. Alterations will be found in the bass of several old tunes, as Canterbury, Nuremburg, Dedham, Arlington, Wilmot, Sicily, Stephens, Lanesboro', Hebron, Dover. The object of this is evidently twofold. First, that the harmony may be more complete when the treble and bass only are sung; and second, that the bass may always be kept below the treble, although the treble be sung an octave below its pitch, as is the case when it is sung by men's voices. For an example of this, see the small notes in the bass of Hamburg. 6. The large number of tunes in sextuple measure, is another peculiarity of this book. Respectable tunes in this movement are usually so popular, that they need |