Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/174

 HARNEY

140

HARNEY

It was through the Venetian school, founded by Adrian Willaert (1480 or 1490-1562) and continued principally by the two (iabrielis, Andrea and Giovanni. that this trend was applied to the music of the Church.

The custom introduced by Willaert, and imitated by many other masters of the time, of writing and performing works for two or more choruses, which would alternate and occasionally unite in brilhant harmonic climaxes, met with such general approval that it spread over all Italy, invaded Home itself, and soon overshadowed the melodic or truly polyphonic form, so that it hastened the complete emancipation from the melodic principle as exemplified in the Ro- man school. With the Venetian masters the liarmonic effect had become the chief aim instead of being a result incidental to the melodic co-operation of the parts. But this school enjoyed only a passing favour. It was only a reflex of a departing glory, the effect of a cause which had been removed. In the meantime, Gregorian chant, now poorly performed at best, grad- ually fell into almost complete disuse. The human- ists, having lost the spirit of which it is the expression, decried it as inadequate, unsatisfactory, even barbar- ous, and advocated a return to Greek monodj'. In imitation of this, metrical poems were set to music for one voice with other voices or instruments as harmonic adjuncts. They insisted upon a style capable of ex- pressing every individual feeling antl every subjective state of the soul. In their writings they gave a philo- sophic basis for that which musicians had been prac- tising more or less for generations, but which now gained supremacy. With Gioseffo Zarlino's (1.517- l.'ilO) definition and introduction into practice of the dual nature of harmony, major and minor, a further step was made in the breach ■n'ith the past.

The diatonic modes were now definitively replaced by the two modern tonalities, the major and minor keys. Composers no longer conceived their creations melodically but harmonically. The thoughts and emotions, suggested and engendered by the sacred text and expressed in the diatonic melody, yielded to the subjective psychic state, harmonically expressed, of the composer. Introspection took the place of con- templation. The concept of harmony was no longer limited to the consonance as formerly imderstood. The chromatic scale and chords built out of its ele- ments found their way into use, and, with the intro- duction of the chord of the seventh (consisting of the tonic, third, fifth and seventh inter^•als of the scale) by Claudio Monteverdi (1.567-104.3) and the same m.a.s- ter's further innovation of .setting liturgical texts to what became known as the aria and the arioso forms, the abandonment of the former standard was com- plete. Secular forms, the oratorio, the opera, and purely instrumental music, now began that conquest of the mind and heart of man which we have ■wit- nessed since. This conquest was so rapid that as early as the end of the seventeenth century and for the next two hundred years the style in which even the greatest masters wrote for the Church was identical with that in which their secular works (operas, ora- torios, symphonies) were composed. The beginning of the nineteenth century witnessed the last stage of the degradation of church music. Every form of subjective feeling found its way into the temple by means of music. Not only were comparatively few works to be heard anywhere which were expressive of the spirit of the liturgj-, but even from the standpoint of art music written to liturgical texts had, with rare exceptions, fallen below the level of that composed for the theatre and concert hall. Gregorian chant was either entirely ignored or performed in a wTetched manner. Being dominated by the spirit of the world, as expressed through the multiform voice of secular music, men had no longer .any affinity with, or taste for, the simple diatonic chant.

A great change has taken place within the last fifty years. Three successive popes have urged and com- manded the restoration of the chant of the Church to its rightful place. Learned men have made the Cath- olic w-orld acquainted with its nature, form and .spirit. Model performances of the chant in many places throughout the world have revealed to the faithful its beauty and revived a taste for it. The restoration of the chant signifies the restoration of the objective standard as against the subjective. Not only has the chant come into its own again, but, through the mighty labours of men animated by the spirit of the Church, the great productions of polyphonj' have been made acce.s.sible so that the i)resent generation is en- abled to study the harmonic structures which were reared upon the diatonic modes in the fifteenth, six- teenth and seventeentli centuries. Within the last fifty years the diatonic modes have again become the basis for many works of polyphony which may be placed side b.v side with w'hat is highest and best in the great period of the art. The musical world to-day presents a striking illustration of the present moral and mental state of mankind. The principle of cultivating har- mony as an end in itself, rather than .seeing in it the incidental result of harmonious co-operation of many independent voices, has borne its full fruit. The ex- treme modern development of secular nuisic is but the legitimate offspring of the revolt against the diatonic principle; which revolt was the musical expression of the spirit of the Kcnaissance. Its strident and caco- phonous dissonances are but the manifestation of modern moral and social disorder. In its luxuriant harmonic combinations modern .sensuahty finds its outlet and indulgence. Opposed to this, as expres- sive of the spirit of the Church, we have restored to its rightful supremacy as servant of the liturgical word, the diatonic melody, which in its turn, is servetl by harmony.

WooLDRiDGE, Oxford History of Music (Oxford. 1901); Cou.ssEMAKER, Histoire de Vtmnnonie au mo]/cn-(iqe (Paris, 1S32); RiEMANN. Gcsctiichte der Musiktticorie f Leipzig. 1898); Jacob, Die Kunst im Dienste der Kirche (Landsnut, 1885).

Joseph Otten.

Harney, (1) William Selby, soldier, convert; b. near llaysboro, Tennes-see, U. S. A., 27 August, 1800; d. at St. Louis, Mi.ssouri, !) May, 1889. -Appointed to the U. S. army, 13 Feb., 1818, he served in the Black Hawk and Florida Indian wars, and with gallantry in the conflict with Mexico, after which he was made a brigailier-general. He tlien had command in the far West during the Sioux troubles of 1855 and there became the friend and admirer of the famous mission- ary, Father J. B. De Smet, S.J., who w.as of great assist- ance to him in making peace. Having .seized San Juan Island near ^'ancouver in 1858, a dispute with England over the Oregon boundary line followed his action. When the Civil War broke out he was in charge of the Department of the West at St. Louis, and while en route to Washington was captured and held prisoner for a short time by the Confederates. A brevet promotion as major-general for long and faith- ful services followed his retirement, 1 August, 186.3.

(2) John Milton, brother of foregoing, b. in Del.a- ware, 9 March, 1789; d. at Somer.set, Kentucky, 15 January, 1825. Their father, Thomas Harney, was an officer in the Revolutionary war. John Harney studied medicine and settled in Kentucky. After a visit to Europe he accepted an appointment in the navy and spent several years in South .America. On his return he edited a paper, became a Catholic, joined the Dominicans, then beginning their mission m Kentucky, and died in their ranks. He was the author of a number of poems printed in various magazines.

Reavis, The Life and Military Service of Gen. W. S. Harney (St. Louis, 1887); Encycl. of Am. Biug., a. v.

Thomas F. Meehan.