Views from the Choir Loft

Five signs you might be a Hymn Geek

Veronica Brandt · July 26, 2014 ·

HERE SEEMS TO BE A LACK of a definitive list available to describe the Hymn Geek. I find mentions of Chant Geeks and Liturgical Geeks, but search for Hymn Geek and you get a hundred and one Geek Hymns.

Maybe this is fair enough. Hymns have a subordinate role to play in Sacred Music, and yet, as Sir R R Terry, inaugural Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral, observes:

“Of all forms of church music, the one which seems to have wielded an influence out of all proportion to its intrinsic worth is the vernacular hymn.” – Richard R Terry, 1927.

Hymns are influential, popular and full of history and trivial details, making a fertile ground for susceptible personalities to develop their geekish tendencies.

So, on to the list, signs that you might be a Hymn Geek:

1. You know the tune for Fr Faber’s O Purest Of Creatures and it’s not the Lourdes Hymn. (Speaking of the Lourdes Hymn, you are aware that the accent in the word Ave should be on the first syllable.)

2. There are hymns you have read in hymnbooks, but haven’t heard sung in a liturgical setting.

3. You can sort hymns by meter, age and country of origin.

4. You know Hyfrydol is not a cooking oil.

5. You care about verses being omitted.

I’m sure you can find many more manifestations of Hymn Geek-ness and I would love to hear them. The comment box is open.

About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. As editor, she has produced fine publications (as well as valuable reprints) dealing with Gregorian chant, hymnody, Latin, and other subjects. These publications are distinguished on account of their tastefulness. She lives in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her husband Peter and six children.

Could Pope St. Pius X Sing?

“On 12 March 1908, the complete publication of the Roman Gradual was issued by the Vatican Press. On that very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. A witness of the audience says that Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement pro aliquibus locis—it was the Introit of the new Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.” (Catholic Choirmaster, February 1915)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Julius Bas Accompaniment

A very prolific harmonizer of Gregorian chant in the early 20th century was Mr. Julius Bas. He often uses a very strange technique, wherein he employs rests to eliminate the Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Consider what he did with “Lumen ad revelationem” here:

* JPEG • Lumen ad revelationem

It seems quite lazy, and I’ve never seen anyone else use such a technique, although Dr. Peter Wagner often switched to parallel octaves when he ran out of ideas… (Yuck!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Hitting wrong notes

Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, used to say: “The organist can play 1,000 correct notes and one wrong note—and the only thing people will care about is the wrong note.” Last Sunday I hit some wrong notes, and felt bad. Then I remembered a story about Rudolf Serkin and started to chuckle. Charles Rosen (or was it Leon Fleisher?) told the story of Serkin playing a Beethoven Sonata in front of a large audience. The theme is all in octaves; but Serkin hit some wrong notes, and played parallel 7ths instead. This so unnerved him that every time the theme returned, he played the entire thing in parallel 7ths! We must remember that even the greatest hit wrong notes. Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav Richter, Egon Petri—they all hit wrong notes, which we can hear on recordings. (Josef Hofmann was an exception, but he was super-human so he doesn’t count!)

—Jeff Ostrowski