Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/631

SONG. to the determination of permanent form in music; but its influence on the contemporary music also requires notice.

It has already been shown that the composers of other countries, in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, took secular tunes as themes for their masses, motets, and other sacred works. The German composers did the same to a certain extent, but they more commonly employed the secular tunes in their secular polyphonic works. Nevertheless, as regards church music, the Volkslied occupied a higher place in Germany than elsewhere; for it is not too much to say that more than half the melodies of the chorale-books were originally secular. Heinrich von Lauffenberg, in the 15th century, systematically set his sacred words to secular tunes; but the Reformation made the practice very much more common. The Reformers wished the congregations to join as much as possible in the singing of hymns, and with that object they naturally preferred melodies which were familiar to the people. A well-known example of the combination of sacred words and secular melody is the song 'Isbruck, ich muss dich lassen,' set by Heinrich Isaak in 4 parts in 1475, with the melody in the upper part—a rare arrangement at that time. After the Reformation this tune was adapted by Dr. Hesse to his sacred words 'O Welt, ich muss dich lassen'; and in 1633 Paul Gerhardt wrote to it the evening hymn 'Nun ruhen alle Walder,' in which form it still remains a favourite in all Lutheran churches. After many transformations, the old love-song, 'Mein gmüth ist mir verwirret,' now lives in one of the most beautiful and solemn chorales of both the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches, namely, 'Haupt, voll Blut und Wunden,' which Bach has introduced so often in his Passionmusik according to S. Matthew. Again, 'Ich hört em frewlein klagen,' was adapted to 'Hillf Gott, wem soil ich klagen'; 'O lieber Hans versorg dein Gans,' to 'O lieber Gott, das dein Gebot'; and 'Venus, du und dein Kind' to 'Auf meinen lieben Gott.' Many dance-songs, especially the so-called 'Ringeltänze,' were likewise set to sacred words. It should however be understood, that even after the adoption of the Ionian mode in the Volkslied, and the consequent settlement of our modern tonality, a certain proportion of Volkslieder continued to be written in the old ecclesiastical modes. Most of those which the church used were originally written in the old tonal system. Such as are still sung in churches have nearly all undergone a change; but there are a few exceptions, like the hymn 'Ach Gott thu' dich erbarmen,' which, according to the modern chorale-books, is still sung in the old Dorian mode, although J. S. Bach, when using it, changed it into the modern D minor scale. In its original secular form it stands thus:

Until the end of the 16th century the common, though not invariable characteristics of the Chorale and Volkslied were—the melody or cantus firmus in the tenor, the key or mode steadily adhered to, a diatonic intervallic progression, and a note given to every syllable. Both were for the most part written in white notes, because, until Philippe de Vitry introduced notes of less value towards the close of the 16th century, breves and semibreves were the only notes employed. But we must beware of misconception as regards tempo, for according to our modern notation, the semibreves should be regarded and written as crotchets.

Whatever else may be affirmed of the Chorale, this at least is clear, that it gained rather than, lost by the adoption of secular melodies; they emancipated it from stiffness and formality, they gave it heart and living warmth. So far removed from irreverence were the secular melodies, and so appropriate to the sacred text, that the music is generally more expressive of the words in the Chorale than in the Volkslied. But perhaps the true explanation of this