Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/772

756 the few copies struck off as specimens were distributed to select persons, and so, finding their way at once into careful hands, were the better preserved. The existing copies, so far as they have been compared, correspond exactly; and show that the work was complete, lacking nothing except the date, for which a blank space was left at the foot of the title page. The verse of this translation, which is in various metres, is in every way far superior to that of Sternhold's; but though the author has evidently aimed at the simplicity and directness of his original, he is frequently obscure. The suppression of the work, however, was probably not due to any considerations of this kind, but either to the enormous popularity of Sternhold's version, which was every day becoming more manifest, or, as it has been sometimes supposed, to a change in the author's opinion as to the desirability of psalm-singing. In any case, it is much to be regretted, since it involved the suppression of nine tunes, specially composed by Tallis, in a style peculiar to himself, which, if the work had been published, would at all events have once more established the standard of an English tune in four parts, broad, simple, and effective, and suitable for congregational use; and, from the technical point of view, finer than anything of the kind that has been done since. Whether it would have prevailed or not, it is impossible to say. We have seen how, in the case of Tye, the influence of Geneva triumphed over the beauty of his music; and that influence had become stronger in the interval. On the other hand, the tendency to florid descant, so hateful to the reformers, was absent from the work of Tallis. The compositions in this book are printed, in the manner then customary, in separate parts, all four being visible at once. They are in nearly plain counterpoint; the final close is sometimes slightly elaborated, but generally the effect—which is one of great richness, solemn or sweet according to the nature of the particular scale—is obtained by very simple means. Eight of the tunes are in the first eight modes, and are intended for the psalms; the ninth, in Mode XIII, is supplementary, and is set to a translation of 'Veni Creator.' Two of them have been revived, and are now well known. One appears in our hymnals as 'Tallis,' and is the supplementary tune in Mode XIII.; the other, generally set to Bishop Ken's evening hymn, and known as 'Canon,' is the tune in Mode VIII. With regard to the latter, it should be mentioned that in the original it is twice as long as in the modern form, every section being repeated before proceeding to the next. With this exception the melodies appear as they were written; but, as regards the three other parts, only such fragments have been retained as have happened to suit the taste or convenience of compilers. In the original, too, the tenor leads in the canon; this is reversed in the modern arrangement. The example here given, which is the tune in Mode I, is in a more severe and solemn strain than the two just mentioned. The treatment of the B—natural in the first half of the tune, and flat in the latter half is in the finest manner of Dorian harmony.

The instruction with regard to the tunes is as follows:—

"The tenor of these partes be for the people when they will syng alone, the other parts, put for greater queers, or such as will syng or play them privatlye."

The method of fitting the psalms to appropriate tunes is very simple. At the head of each psalm stands an accent grave, acute, or circumflex indicating its nature as sad, joyful, or indifferent, according to the author's notion: the tunes bear corresponding accents. The work is divided into three parts, each containing fifty psalms; and since it is only in the third