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Views from the Choir Loft

When Hymn Names Don’t Match

Jeff Ostrowski · January 28, 2019

OR FIVE LONG YEARS, we sorted thousands of hymn tunes into “meter sets” as preparation for the Brébeuf Hymnal. The end result was about 4,500 files, meaning I can instantly pull up and compare all the various texts (and harmonizations) for any hymn. When one begins to study hymnody, one quickly discovers that multiple names are often assigned to the same tune. Even worse, many of the (pre-1950) Catholic hymnals omitted tune names altogether! In particular, in America after the Great War, many hymnal editors changed “German sounding” tune names, causing great confusion. 1

We often encounter hymn tune names that are “shared”—and not in a good way. I am talking about hymns like WALTHAM, which refers to one melody in Hymns Ancient and Modern (#324) and a totally different melody in the New English Hymnal and a totally different one in the Episcopal 1940 Hymnal (#259). The same is true for WELLS, which refers to one melody in the New Westminster Hymnal but a completely different melody in the New English Hymnal. There are many more examples: FULDA, ST GEORGE, ST BERNARD (cf. Hymns Ancient and Modern #188), and so forth.

If someone calls a hymn by a different name, don’t be too hasty to reprimand, because frequently there is no “correct” name for the tune. However, we can all agree that calling the same tune by multiple names in the same hymnal is unacceptable. George Ratcliffe Woodward has a good reputation when it comes to hymns, but look what he did here:

85571-ALTERNATE-Als-Christus-Mit-Seiner-Lehr-HYMN


Now look what he called the tune in another section of the same hymnal:

85572-Als-Christus-Mit-Seiner-Lehr-HYMN


For the record, here’s how the Brébeuf Hymnal harmonizes it:

85570-Maker-Of-The-Starry-Sphere

Carefully examine these two melodies (“BOYCE” and “HALTON HOLGATE”):

90369 HALTON HOLGATE BOYCE


Look at the bass line, if you don’t see it.

HALTON HOLGATE is also called “SHARON” and JERSEY.

Perhaps the worst offender is “ICH BEGEHR NICHT MEHR,” which has a billion different names (including St. Leonard) and is used with different meters. Needless to say, there are numerous variants, with different passing tones, etc.

Here are some opinions I have vis-à-vis hymn tune names:

Unhelpful & Unspecific Names:

Easter Hymn
Epiphany
Lovely
Nature
National Hymn
Shepherds in the field
Veni Sancte Spiritus
French Carol
Sunrise
Harvest
Italian Hymn
Gloria
Truth from Above
Psalm 6
Simple Chant

Weird Looking Names:

Praises
Bow Church
Duke Street
Farley Castle
Monkland
Strength and stay
Pilgrims
Metzler’s Redhead No. 66
Redhead No. 46

Unprepossessing or Inelegant Names:

Oswald’s Tree
Toplady
Marching
Knickerbocker
Geronimo
Little Cornard
Pike
Old Bath
Batty
My Dancing Day
Stars of Ice
Long is our Winter

Hard to Pronounce Names:

Hyfrydol
Khanta Zagun Guziek
Lux Eoi
Edgbaston
Gerrans
Wallet Will Ich
Wir Pflügen
Ins Feld Geh
St Aëlred
Trochrague
Cwm Rhondda

Do you agree?



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   For more on this subject, Google “Germanophobia.”

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Affordable Hymnal for Catholic Parishes, Jean de Brebeuf Hymnal, The Names Of Hymn Tunes Last Updated: May 11, 2020

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Jeff Ostrowski

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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