A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Use

USE. A term traditionally applied to the usage of particular Dioceses, with regard to variations of detail in certain Plain Chaunt Melodies sung in the Service of the Roman Catholic Church, more especially in those of the Psalm-Tones. 'Heretofore,' says the Preface to the Book of Common Prayer, 'there hath been great diversity in saying and singing in Churches within this Realm, some following Salisbury Use, some Hereford Use, and some the Use of Bangor, some of York, some of Lincoln.'

The Roman Use is the only one which has received the sanction of direct ecclesiastical authority. In France, the most important varieties of Use are those observed in the Dioceses of Paris, Rouen, Reims, and Dijon; all of which exhibit peculiarities, which, more or less directly traceable to the prevalence of Machicotage [vol. ii. p. 186b] in the Middle Ages, can only be regarded as fascinating forms of corruption. The chief Use, in Flanders, is that of Mechlin; in Germany, that of Aachen. In England, notwithstanding the number of those already mentioned, the only Use of any great historical importance is that of Salisbury, or as it is usually styled, Sarum, which exhibits some remarkable points of coincidence with the Dominican Use, as practised in the present day; as, for instance, in the splendid Mixolydian Melody to the Hymn 'Sanctorum meritis'—printed in the Rev. T. Helmore's 'Hymnal Noted'—which differs from the Dominican version of the Hymn for Matins on the feast of Corpus Christi only just enough to render the collation of the two readings extremely interesting. The Sarum Use is, on the whole, an exceptionally pure one: but, unhappily, it excludes many very fine Melodies well-known on the Continent, notably the beautiful Hypomixolydian Tune to 'Iste Confessor.'

[ W. S. R. ]