The beautiful hymn, ' Wie scluin leuchtet der
Morgeusteim,' was derived from a love-song begin-
ning ' Wie sclion leucliten die Aeugelein, der Schonen
und der Zarten niein.' The people joined in the
movement most cntluisiastically ; and these grand
old 'clioralc' have had an abiding influence in Ger-
man domestic life, Church history, and literature,
most markedly, in the development of the musical
genius of that great nation. When the melody set
in our hymn-books to ' O, Sacred Head' is in-
stanced as one of these ' secular ' tunes (it being in
its original form a love-song^) it will surely be
seen that such a precedent cannot be regarded as
an argument for tiie vulgar secularity which has
been introduced into many liynui-books, upon the
plea of api^ealing to the ])eo])k', or the children.
A short digression on this widespread jiractice of trying to utilise secular elements in divine service may best find a place Jiere. First, then, it may be conceded that, with very few exceptions, no melody is incapable of serious treatment. Sometimes the change is effected by a metamorpliosis, as in the case of the pathetic melody, ' Oft in the stilly Night,' wjiicli was originally a straths)iey, the live- liest of dances ; but, most frequently, it is by a new setting. Too often, however, a secular melody and its setting are appropriated for sacred purposes intact, thus tending to obliterate the distinction which should be drawn between music fit for the Chin-ch and nuisic which only has its proper place outside. The most flagrant example of this is pro- bably the tune we all know set to 'When Mothers of Salem,' a tune familiar all over Germany, and to all visitors to German student clubs, as the most jovial of the jovial German drinking-songs. I shall not soon forget the sliock with which I once heard a young student — with more sense of the lunnour of incongruities tlian of the reverence due to sacred subjects and to the associations of his own childhood — substitute the German refrain, 'Crimbim-bam- bambuli, crimbambuli ' for the Saviour's words in the last line of that well-known hynm. The number of available tunes is quite large enough to allow us to dispense with those whieli, liowever great their ap- parent suitability, are familiar in the opera,^ or amidst other secular surroundings.* It is, likewise, an artistic mistake of the worst kind to appropriate melodies from symphonies * and other instrumental compositions '" for sacred purposes. Rut even these blunders are not so injurious to a riglit appreciation of music suitable to sacred words and occasions as are the too common examples of a meretricious style of so-called ' popular tunes.' I am tempted to quote examples, but it is difficult to select one worse than another, and humiliating to contemplate the deptjis to which so-called 'sacred' songs have de- scended. Those who wish will find only too many examples by looking into any 'revival' or children's hymnal. Franklin Peterson.
HAMISH MACCUNN.
THAT musical composition in the present day is becoming a reflex of the nationality of the composer is every day more apparent. Recently we had a visit from Tschaikowsky, who is looked, upon as the typical Russian composer ; followed by one from Greig, whose music breathes the very spirit of Scandinavia ; wliile Dvorak, wlio owes the recognition of his works to this country, is never more successful than when lie allows liis inventive faculty free play to express purely Slav characteristics. This fact receives further confirmation when we come to consider the compositions of the young Greenock composer, Mr. Ilamisli MacCunn ; for not only have the subjects treated been suggested by Scottish nature or poetry, but the themes and rhythm have quite a distinctively national charac- ter. This must surely be a matter for congratula- tion, as, among the immense quantity of music com- posed nowadays, one seeks almost in vain for new ideas or fresh inspirations — for music, in short, with some soul and vitality in it. We have too long been conijiosing our music on the lines of our favourite composer, quite forgetting that by doing so originality must be lost. What has been the foundation of the music of Reethoven, Mozart, Schubert, or Chopin, but the folk-song of their countries ; and should we in Scotland, who possess national songs equal to those of any motherland in the world, forget to study that lore, to imbue ourselves with its spirit, and thus cast off the trammels of the so-called Classic or Romantic Schools, and found a distinct national style .?
' Harmonised as such in five parts by Hans Leo Hasler as early as 1601, the name of the song being 'Mein G'miith ist mir vei'wirret.'
- ' Batti Batti,' 1 'VedraiCarino,' ' Leisc flehen ' (' Softly Sighs '), Der Freischiit:.
' Hofer's Tod : 'Crimbambuli,' ' Ach wie ist's moglich dann,' ' Now, O now, I needs must part,' and other songs and madrigals. ’Larghetto : (Beethoven's 2il Sytnfhoiiy). " Dead March in Saul (U.P. Hymnal, No. 237), Schumann's ' Nachlstuck.'
