 |
|
|
CAROLS FOR USE IN CHURCH DURING
CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY, EASTER, ASCENSION, AND HARVEST.
BY
R. R. CHOPE, M.A., VICAR OF S. AUGUSTINE'S, SOUTH KENSINGTON, ETC.
THE MUSIC EDITED BY HERBERT STEPHEN IRONS, Late Organist of Southwell
Minster, &c.,
AND ARTHUR HENRY BROWN, IV Organist of Brentwood, &c.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY S. BARING-GOULD, M.A., Rector of Lew-Trenchard,
Author of "The Lives of the Saints," &c., &c.
. .
LONDON:
M CLOWES & SONS, LIMITED, 94, JERMYN STREET, S.W.1.
Voor de index, klik hier
INTRODUCTION.
In the 11th and 12th centuries, the South of Europe was deeply infected
with Manicheism. The Paulicians, expelled Asia Minor by the Empress Theodora,
in A.D. 842, settled in Bulgaria, among the valleys of the Haemus. Bulgaria
became permeated by them. Bulgarian Christianity disappeared under them,
never again to acquire active life. The swarm of heretics increased in
the absence of persecution, and, through conversion of the semi-Christianised
natives, Bulgaria could not contain them or their doctrine. A stream forced
a way round the head of the Adriatic, and spread over Northern Italy and
Southern France. In the 11th century scarce a city in Italy was free from
a colony of Manicheans ; the country-people were deeply infected with
their doctrine. At the accession of Innocent III., Manicheism was almost
undisputed master of Southern France. In Italy it was called Paterinism;
in Provence, Albigensianism. In the meantime another stream had entered
Germany, and troubled the empire.* The Beghards (a corruption of Bulgarian)
carried their doctrine through Northern Europe, and laid the seeds of
the revolt of the Hussites under Zisca with the Flail.
Western Manicheism, whether that of the Patrines, Albigenses, or Beghards,
+ held that matter was evil; the world, the flesh, were the work of the
Demiurge, the maker of this world, and God of the Jews and of the Old
Testament, and therefore with no good in them; whereas the Gospel was
the revelation of the Good God, who was the author of spirit. The fall
of man was the entrance of soul into relation with body; the emancipation
of the soul from its carnal chain was salvation. In such a religion the
Incarnation had no real place; and we find, accordingly, that the Flesh-taking
of the Word was formally denied by all the sects of Manicheism throughout
Europe. Christianity in Southern France had disappeared before Manicheism.
It was professed only by the clergy and a few followers; nobles and common
people were united in their profession of the Duality of Matter and Spirit,
in the opposition of the God of the Creation to the God of the Gospel.
Italy was threatened with the same apostacy. The award of the Crusaders,
under Simon de Montfort, swept it out of Provence. A more peaceful band
of Crusaders marched against the heretics in Italy, and overcame them.
This band was called forth by the great Francis of Assisi. His great community,
ramifying through every class, by means of the Third Order, caught all
earnest religious souls, and bound them by enthusiasm to his Rule. The
tide which had set in this direction of Paterinism turned and flowed into
the Franciscan Order, which met the peculiar wants and prejudices of those
whom Manicheism had previously enticed, in a very remarkable manner.$
S. Francis could not fail to be struck with the neeessity of bringing
home to the hearts and imagination of the vulgar the great doctrine of
the Incarnation. This was the foundation-stone of Christianity. It was
because they stood loosely upon it, that the people had fallen such a
* Their Greek origin is distinctly asserted: "Illi vero qui combusti
sunt (those at Cologne) diaerunt nobis in defensione sua, hanc haeresin
usque ad haec tempora occultatam fuisse a temporibus martyrum in Graecia."
Muratori Antiq., Ital. v. 83.
+ "All these he distinguished by the common name of Bulgares, whether
they were Paternians, Iovinians, or Albigenses." Matt. Paris, sub.
ann. 1238.
$ The Franciscan Order suffered in the long run from the influx of half-converted
Manichees, who formed in its ranks a great schism, constituting the body
of the Fraticelli-heretics who had to be put down by very summary means.
ready prey to Manicheism. The Incarnation had been set forth by theologians,
for the commonly-taught orthodox, in the sublime song of the "Quicunque
vult"; it must be brought down to the level of the lowest, if they
were to grasp it with unshaken enthusiasm. He had brooded over this difficulty
for some time. At last he saw his way out of it. In the
winter of 1223, S. Francis was at Rome, seeking the confirmation of his
Rule. On the 29th of November, the Order was sanctioned in full form,
by Honorius III., by Papal Bull, and
letters commendatory to all the bishops of Christendom. Then, when Francis
had received, the confirmation of his life's work, he fell at the feet
of the Pope, and made one more request,
and that of a different character. He asked to be allowed to introduce
into churches, which he was permitted to use, certain ceremonies at Christmas,
which had suggested themselves to him as likely to seize upon the popular
imagination, and impress the unlearned folk in a way which sermons and
catechisms were unable to effect. This also was granted him.
When he made this petition, he was bound for the village of Grecia, a
little place not far fmm Assisi, where he was to spend Christmas.
•What follows shall be told in the words of his latest English biographer
*:-
"In this village, when the eve of the Nativity approached, Francis
instructed a certain grave and worthy man, called Giovanni, to prepare
an ox and an ass, along with s manger and all the common fittings of a
stable, for his use, in the church. When the solemn night arrived, Francis
and big brethren arranged all these things into a visible representation
of the occurrences of the night at Bethlehem. The manger was filled with
hay, the animals were led into their places; the scene was prepared as
we see it now through the churches of Southern Italy-a reproduction, so
far as the people knew how, in startling realistic detail, of the surroundings
of the first Christmas. And it may be interesting t0 the modern traveller
to know, when he looks on at the quaint Christmas celebration of the Ara
Cm1i at Rome, or is led with fond pride by some poor Italian through a
succession of narrow lanes to see the Pra'sepio (or cradle) in the parish
church or convent chapel, that the scene on which he looks {a an appeal
to the popular imagination first originated by Francis in the church of
his Umbrian village six hundred years ago.
" The original occurrence is full of that honest and literal simplicity
which pervades every scene in which we find the humble apostle. The population
of the neighbourhood rose as one man to the characteristic call. They
gathered round the village church with tapers and torches, making luminous
the December night. The brethren within the church, and the crowds of
the faithful who came and went with their lights, in and out of the darkness,
poured out their hearts in praises to God ; and the friars sang new canticles,
which were listened to with all the eagerness of a people accustomed to
wandering jongleurs and minstrels, and to whom such songs were all the
food to be had for the intellect and imagination. No doubt the mystic
songs of Francis were among those sacred ballads ; and thit in the crowd
there were many who could take up the chorus of the glowing hymn, `In
fuoco amor mi mise' (' Love sets my heart on fire'), or could answer in
those oft-repeated refrains,' Amor, amor, Jesu; in the words which the
Brothers Minor were used to 'sing about the rural ways. In the midst ,of
'this glowing and agitated scene, Francis himself stood rapt by the side
of the manger, in which his faith could picture to itself the first cradle
of his Lord. . . We are told that Francis stood by this, his simple theatrical
(for such, indeed, it was-no shame- to him) representation all the night
long, sighing for joy, and filled with unspeakable sweetness. His friend,
Giovanni, looking on, had a vision while he stood apart, gazing and wondering
at the saint. Giovanni saw, or dreamed, that a beautiful infant - a child
dead or in a trance - lay in the manger which he had himself prepared
; and that, as Francis bent over the humble bed, the babe slowly awoke,
and stretched out its arms towards him. It was the child Christ, dead
in the hearts of a careless people, dead or lost in the slumber of a wicked
world, but waking up to new life, and kindling the whole slumberous universe
around Him, at the touch and breath of that supreme'tove which was in
His servant's heart."
S, Francis was remarkable, not only for originating these cribs of Bethany,
now seen in every Roman Catholic church throughout the world, and in many
a Lutheran 'Christmas home, but also in being the first to feel the power
of his vernacular tongue, and to use it for
Mrs. Oliphanty ".S. Francis of Assisi," X4cmvdlau, p. 223-4.
sacred song. The first rude effort to use Italian for popular hymns and
carols was made by S. Francis. His" Song of the Creatures" was
the beginning of a national poetry which, sixty years later, reached a
climax in the Divine Comedy of Dant.e. S. Francis set the example introduced
a new power. It was felt at once. There is something as touching in the
story of his first introduction to the people of divine psalmody in their
own tongue, as there is in the narrative of his institution of the praesepio.
In an ecstasy he had composed an Italian hymn of praise to God, a sort
of Benedicite, in which he calls on a11 creatures to glorify their Creator.
And when he thought it was finished, he heard that a quarrel had broken
out in Assisi between the bishop and the magistrates about some petty
matter, and the bishop had laid an interdict on the town, and the magistrates,
in turn, had outlawed the bishop. S. Francis was deeply affected by this
miserable unchristian strife ; and finding that it dragged on unhealed,
his heart ;lowed within him, and he added a verse to his hymn:
And praised is my Lord
By those who, for Thy love, pasdon afford,
And meekly bear the wrongs of men.
Blessed are those who suffer thus in peace,
By Thee, the Highest, to be crowned in heaven."
Then " he commanded his disciples to go boldly and seek the great
people of the town, and beg them to meet at the bishop's palace."
The name of Francis was so potent that it was instantly obeyed. The angry
magistrates met in the hall of the indignant bishop in sullen silence,
and the few humble Franciscan friars stood between them. Instead of delivering
a harangue, a homily from S. Francis, they lifted up their voices, and
sang his " Carol of the Creatures." At the sound of the words,
in their own Italian tongue, the hearts of bishop q,ud magistrates grew
soft; and when the last verse was sung, they rushed into each other's
arms, and asked pardon mutually.
Such was the origin of vernacular Italian religious hymns. The companions
and disciples of S. Francis continued his work, and their labours have
found a modern eloquent historian in M. Ozanam.*
The prmsepio, creche, on krippe, called forth the first carols. There
may have been stray Christmas hymns in the vernacular before, but it was
not till the Christmas crib was set up in Minorite chapels, and from thence
spread to all Christian churches, that they burst forth throughout the
length and breadth of Western Christendom. The representation called for
the carol, and the carol, becoming familiar, was sung where there was
no crib. *
The Franciscan Manger of the Holy Night assumed another form in the Christmas
mysteries, theatrical performances representing the Nativity. These were
sometimes performed in churches, but probably not often. At Bayeux, in
1351, Jean. de Montdesert, cure of S. Malo, in Bayeux, was fined by the
Chapter for having had the " Mystery of the Birth of Christ"
performed in his church on Christmas Day, 1350. These mysteries contained
carols - popular carols - introduced into them to enliven the acting.
In the "Mystere de l'Incarnation et Nativite de Notre-Seigneur Jesus
Christ," $ probably of' the year 1474, published by the Brothers
Parfait,§ God the Father orders Gabriel to go to Mary, and announce
to her that she is to become the mother of Messiah. Then follows the rubric:---,'
Adonc chantent le premier vers de la chanson qni suit; et puis les jouers
d'inatrumena derriere les Anges repetent iceluy vers, et tandis les Anges
qui tiennent les instrumens font maniere de jouer. Aprés les Anges
* " Les Poetes Franciscains."
t In Yorkshire (West Riding) the children still carry about Christmas
boxes, lined with coloured -paper, in which are figures of the B. Virgin
and Child; they sing carols with them, and call them " Milly boxes
" (My Lady's box), but have lost all idea of their significance.
$ Larue : "Essais historiques sur leg bardes et jongleurs."
Caen, 1834.IL, p. 166.
§ Parfait: `° Histoire du Théatre franFois." Paris,
1735.
chantent le second vers, et puis les inatrumens repetent troia lignes;
apres les Angea chantent le tiers vers, et puis lea instrumeus tout le
premier et puis la fin." This is the carol:
An Au nouveau sceu de la Conception
Du Fils de Dieu, pour la R6demption ;
Qui veult faire d'humaine Cr6atu ------ re
Qui estoit cheüe en pé ---chié et ordu--re:
Chacun an ciel maine éxul----- tation.
Faisons grand bruit, chansons multiplions,
Toutes nos voix ensemble despleons
Nul ne se faigne, et chacun y ait cure.
TENOR. Au nouveau sceu.
CONTRA-TENOR. Au nouveau seen.
CONCORDANS. Au nouveau sceu.
"Des instrumens prenons ung million,
En encors plus, bref tout y employon,
Car aujourd'huy a uni sa facture
Avecques soy le hault Dieu de Nature,
Et a tousjours, sans séparation.
An nouveau sceu."
When Christ is born the angels again burst out into a carol, with instruments:,.
"An saint naistre du sacr6 Roy des roys,
Qui de present est en terre accomply :
Soyons joyeulx, A soit ce lieu rempli
De melodie, a haulte et clere voix:'
And then follows a round, with the refrain, " Loe soit Dieu."
Another mystery of the Nativity, published at Lyons, in 1539, states in
its title that it contains carols as well --" Chant Natal contenant
sept Noelz, ung Chant Pastoral, et ung Chant Royal, avec ung Mystère
de la Nativité, par Personnaiges, composez en imitation verbale,
et Musicale de divers Chansons, reciiillez sur 1'Escripture Saincte, et
d'jcelle illustrez." Whilst Joseph and Mary are on their way to Bethlehem,
they sing a carol, " sur le chant, Le plus sonvent taut il m'ennuye."
The annunciation to the shepherds is to the strain of an old Noel
"Pasteurs, qui veillez aux champs, (bis)
Oyez mes diets, et mes chants, (bis)
Je vous annonce la nouvelle
Joyeux pour vous: Dieu est né -------
Pour rachepter tous.
Allez et 1'adorez a genous."
They go to the stables singing a carol, the refrain of which is "
Gloria in excelsis Deo "; and, on reaching it, form round the crib,
and sing another on the tune of "Sauvez m'y done quand vous irez."
" Chantons Noël, quand nous irons
Garder nos brebiettes sur l'herbe,
Sur l'herbe."
Then David announces on his harp the coming of the Magi, and they arrive
and present their gift, each singing an eight-line verse, ending with
Öù est-il ne, afin que je l'adore ?
"which was the refrain taken up in chorus.
This is a remarkable specimen of a mystery composed out of carols. It
contains about 300 lines, and is wholly composed of songs and noels.
Another curious " Comedie de la Nat.ivite de Jesus Christ" was
composed by Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre,* and it also contains
popular carols. Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem, and search in vain for
shelter of three hosts, who refuse them what they ask on different pretexts.
One only takes in rich folk, the second only royalty, the third only those
who will fiddle and dance. Then Joseph and Mary retire to a stable, and
there the Saviour of the world is born. The angels declare His birth to
shepherds and shepherdesses, who come singing the following carol, with
chorus, to the stable •.
SOPHRON & PHILETINA. Dansons, chantons, faisons rage,
Puis qu'avons grace pour pardon.
CHORUS. Chantons Noel de bon courage,
Car nous avons Christ en pardon.
ELPISON & CHRISTELLA Saissons Adam, et son lineage,
Plus avee luy ne demeurons:
Quitons tons nostre vieil bagage,
Chevres, Brebis, Chiens, et Moutons;
CHORUS. Chantons Noel, &c.
NEPHALUS & DOROTHEA. Allons voir Marie la Sage,
Avec l'enfant de grant renom :
Dont les Anges en doux langage,
Nous on fait un si beau sermon.
CHORUS. - Chantons Noël, &c.
And so it runs on, sometimes a solo by Dorothea, Christella, Philetina,
Sophron, &c., sometimes a duet between shepherd and shepherdess, and
the chorus breaking in at intervals.
This singular piece begins, as will be seen, with an invitation to dance
as well as sing; and there can be little doubt that some of the carols
were sung to a measure accompanied by rhythmic motions of the body, a
sort of solemn sacred dance. S. Ouen, in his life of S. Eligius, couples
carols with songs and dances,j' but these accompanied "diabolical
songs"; the sacred carol was not then known. The name carol is possibly
indebted to the same derivative as quadrille and carillon, a song, or
dance, or chime, performed by four persons or bells arranged in a square.
The trace of the dance accompanying the carol lingers on to this day.
Originally the dance
was performed along with profane songs in churches. Religions dances-
were in vogue among the Romans. They were largely practised also among
the Keltic Druids, in honour of Ceridwen. When Christianity became the
religion of the nations which had practised these religious dances, the
Church found great difficulty in suppressing them. Two courses were open
to her--either to put them down wholly, or to wash them in pure water,
sanctify, and adopt them as drama both to teach and interest the multitude.
In some places she found it necessary to set her face determinedly against
them, whilst in other places she tolerated and even sanctioned them.
In 589, the Third Council of Toledo (can. 22) forbade the people dancing
through the vigils of saints' days. In 590, the Council of Auxerre forbade
secular dances in churches (can. 9) $ In 858, Gautier, Bishop of Orleans,
condemned the rustic songs and female dancers who performed in the Presbytery
on Festivals of the Church.
As early as the 9th century, Pope Eugenius II, prohibited dancing and
singing base songs
* Marguerites de la -Marguerite des princesses, tres-illustre reine de
Navarre." Lyons, 1547.
* " Nullus in festivitate S. Joannis . . solstitia, aut vallationes,
vel saltationes aut Caraulas
aut cantica diabolica exerceat." Vit. S. Elig., lib. ii. c. 15.
*" Non liret in Ecclesia choros excularium ... exercere."
in church. Even in 533, the Council of Orleans had forbidden the fulfilment
of vows made to sing and dance in churches, " for that such vows
anger God, rather than appease Him:'
In 1209, the Council of Avignon prohibited theatrical dances and secular
songs in churches. In 1212, processions danced round the churches of Paris,
and women danced in the cemeteries. In the 17th century, the apprentices
and servants of York were accustomed to dance in the nave of the Minster
on Shrove Tuesday; and Dean Lake was almost killed by the apprentices
for endeavouring to prevent their intrusion into the sacred building for
this purpose. There was a curious tenure in Wiltshire, by which the inhabitants
of Wishford and Batford went up
!it a dance annually to Salisbury Cathedral. On Tuesday in Whitsuntide,
till the French Revolutionary soldiers destroyed the Cathedral of S. Lambert,
at Liage, on that day a deputation of the inhabitants of Verviers danced
under the corona in the nave, headed by a cross. The deputation consisted
of certain magistrates and clergy of Verviers. To this day, a dancing
procession, chanting a curious carol, takes place at Echternach, in Luxemburg,
on Tuesday in
Whitsun week. It is called the Procession of the Jumping Saints-"
Springende Heiligen."
It consists of a long train of pilgrims, dancing three paces torwa.rd
and then backward. The pilgrims are headed by the clergy, all dancing.
They dance from the bridge over Sauer to the church, round the altar,
and separate at the cross in the cemetery. It is to this day a very popular
pilgrimage. In 1869, there were 8000 persons in the procession.*
Religious dances are also by no means infrequent in Spain. The following
is an account of a Shrove Tuesday performance in the Cathedral at Seville,
where it is gone through on that day, on the feast of Corpus Christi,
or on that of the Immaculate Conception. The account is from the Daily
Telegraph of February 22, 1875, and is part of a letter from the special
correspondent.
"It was my fortune on Tuesday afternoon to behold the performance
of an escuela de baile of a thoroughly exceptional and of a most surprising
nature. I never in my life saw such a sight before; nor, I suppose, am
l likely ever to see it again. It was in the Cathedral. The watchful Barlow
had warned me that something very curious indeed to view would take place
in the great Basilica either a little before or a little after six; and
that I was bound even to forego the table d'h.ote in order to witness
it. The sun was setting in the national Spanish colours, bright orange
and deep red, as we passed through the noble Moorish gateway-it dates
from the twelfth century-called the Puerta del Pardon, and crossing the
Patio de las Naranjas, a forecourt full of orange trees hundreds of years
old, entered
the Cathedral by the portal closest to the Giralda. When from day or even
twilight you lift the leathern veil of the doorway and pass into this
tremendous fane, you can at first perceive nothing whatsoever. The best
thing you can do is to shut your eyes, and allow yourself to be guided
onwards for a time. Then lift your eyelids cautiously, and turn your head
to either side, and you will begin gradually to discern the enormous columns
and the vasty bays around you. By degrees I found that the trascoro and
the central nave were full of people, nearly all ladies, who were not
kneeling, but sitting on the pavement in Oriental fashion, as is customary
in Spanish churches when something extraneous to the ordinary ecclesiastical
ritual is being performed. Carefully picking my way' through the recumbent
groups, I came at last within view of the sanctuary and the high altar,
which were all ablaze with lights. But there were no celebrants on the
altar steps, no acolytes, and not so much as a single minor canon in the
stalls, which I thought strange. The funcion was evidently not vespers.
What was it? Round the great lectern of the coro, with its huge illuminated
music book, every minim and crotchet as tall as drumsticks, were gathered
a dozen of the youngest choristers
singing away like so many dying swans. But it was no ordinary chant these
children, with their deliciously sweet and clear and silvery voices, sang.
It was something quicker, livelier, more ,jubilant, and, as it seemed
to me, more secular than anything I had heard before in a Catholic place
of worship, and the singing was accompanied by music quite as gleesome
from a band of wind and string instruments. The chaat culminated in, a
ringing exulting paean of joy; and then, to my utter amazement
* See a full account of it in 'Krier : " Die Springl>roeession
in Eohternac;h, T.uxemb., 1871." For further information on Religious
Dances, see an article, by the author of this Introduction, in 11 The
Sacristy," L, p. 63, seq.
and bewilderment, the twelve young choristers beg-in to dance round the
lectern and before the high altar -absolutely, literally, and operatically
to dance. It was the escuela de baide without girl performers, and under
the highest ecclesiastical auspices. At the close of the proceedings the
choristers ranged themselves in line, and a regular and most harmonious
fantasia on the castanets was performed. Again, and once again, did the
band strike up, and the merry chant, ending with the exulting pa:r,n,
was sung, and twice and thrice did the sound of the castanets click through
the huge expanse of the mighty Cathedral of Seville. Then I waited to
see the little choristers file out of the choir, and down
the nave, out of the gate of Sau Cristobal to their school-house on the
other side. They trooped onwards, a demure band of plump, black-eyed,
swarthy little fellows, all clad in antique Spanish costume of crimson
and vellow doublets and trunk hose, rosettes in their shoes, highly-starched
ruffs, and rapiers and plumed hats. Now this spectacle anywhere out of
Spain, or, indeed, out of Seville, might have appeared utterly grotesque,
unseemly, and indecent. There it appeared quite natural, normal, and in
keeping with the surroundings. The castanet dance before the altar was,
I was told, a privilege enjoyed solely by the Cathedral of Seville, and
was indulged in only thrice a year."
While upon this subject I cannot refrain from quoting two very curious
instances of saints leapin- for joy in their ecstasy of devotion. One
is S. Joseph of Cupertino, an ecstatic Franciscan friar, who, one Christmas
night, arrayed for Benediction, heard the pfifl'erari performing Christmas
carols outside the church, and at once sprang to the altar, and thence,
at one bound, habited in cope, into the pulpit. On another occasion the
beautiful hymns made
him dance in the middle of the church. The other instance is S. Peter
Balsam, who was alone, as he thought, before a statue of the Virgin Mother
with the Divine Infant on her knee, and was so overcome by his emotion
that he began to dance before it. He was observed by a companion.
The EPIPHANY was also provided with its carols and mysteries, and peculiar
dramatical ritual in churches, to impress its significance on the popular
mind. The Magi were r*resented by choristers costumed fantastically, who
issued from different corners of the church,
as though from different regions of the globe, to meet before the altar.
In the Office Book of Rouen, it was ordered that after Terce, the middle
king should issue from the east side, the second from the right, the third
from the left side of the church. In one of the forms used by the performers,
which dates from the 12th century, one of the dramatis personx is an Englishman,
and he is thus addressed :
" Quid stas, quod stupes, has Britannice? "
to which he replies!' Sto, stupeo, stimulum quaero, ut pugnam bovem Gallicum."
* One of the performers was always black-this was Gaspar.* In a sequence
of the 16th century we have the following :
"Gaudete vos fideles, gentium pars electa
AEthiopum nigredo in Juda;am est translata." $
And the carol singers soon followed :
" Herodes sprach aus grossem Tratz,
Ey warumb ist der Hinder so schwarz ?
O Lieber Herr er ist uns wohl bekannt,
Er is ein Konig in Morenland."
'° Herod spake in great dismay, Why is the hindermost black? O, good
Sir, he is well known
to us; he is a king of the Moors' country." § To the present
day, on the Epiphany at S. Peter's, Rome, at the same moment, three pupils
of the Propaganda, of whom one must be a negro, say mass at three altars.
* "Collectanea et Gloses," Beda, Op. iii., 481-Colon. 1688-wrongly
attributed to Bede.
*"Jasper erat et ethiops niger, de quo nulli dubium."-John
of Hildesheim, p. 13.
$ Daniel, Hymn v., 180.
§' Docen, Miacei., i., 279.
In the rules of the Kremnitz Carol brotherhood, the first king is described
as "red," the, second as " black," and the third as
" green! " *
Epiphany carols are still sung in Get-many and Belgium by men or boys
dressed in character. In Holstein three peasants dress in white shirts-one
has a black face, and carries a fishing-rod with a gilt star suspended
to it, and they sing a carol beginning
' Wir, Kasper und Melcher, und Bsltser genannt,
Wir, sind die heiligen drei Kunig aus Morgenland."
In Saxony the star is composed of oiled paper, and a lamp burns inside
it. In the midst of the star a house is painted, and one of the windows
is made to open by means of a string, and, like the cuckoo in a clock,
a doll of Herod pops out and bobs his head, and then retires again. This
exhibition is accompanied by a curious carol, sung in parts, with question
and answer, Herod popping out of his window being supposed to be one of
the singers, his part being
chanted by the bearer of the star in shrill falsetto. In Hesse three men
in white, with blackened faces, sing before each house. At Miinstermaifeld,
in the Eifel district, a very
curious performance takes place. The story of the coming and adoration
of the Magi is performed dramatically, the dramatis personm being Herod
and his servants, the Jewish Scribes, an angel, two shepherds, and the
three kings.
But the most singular performances, those bearing the closest resemblance
to the mediwval plays, in which carols were sung in character, is certainly
that which prevails in German Bohemia. On the approach of Christmas, boys
and girls, dressed as shepherds and shepherdesses, perambulate the towns
and villages, singing pastoral songs, the subject of which is the coming
of the Christ-child. On the Sundays in Advent, in the Erz mountains, the
so-called Angelhost makes its rounds, consisting of two angels, the infant
Christ, Bishop Martin of Tours, S. Nicolas or S. Peter, Joseph, Mary,
the host of the inn, two shepherds, and the Knecht Ruprecht, a hobgoblin
to scare children. At Oberufer, near Pressburg, the parts are carefully
prepared in October, with the schoolmaster as instructor, and all the
parts are sung, and
studied so that they may be sung in good time and tune. No person of disorderly
character is allowed to take a character ; and whilst the performance
lasts, i.e. from the first Sunday in Advent to Christmas Eve, no secula.r
music is suffered to be played in the village.
On the first Sunday in Advent the play begins with a procession. First
goes the star, carried by the precentor ; next the Christmas-tree, hung
with ribbands and apples, drawn by the rest of the players, singing sacred
songs. On reaching the hall where the miracle play is to be performed,
a semi-circle is made, and a carol called the " Star-song "
is performed, beginning
"Ir lieben meiue Singer fangts tapfer an
Zü griiessen wolln wirs heben an."
The performers then greet the sun, the moon, the stars, the emperor,
and the magistracy, "in Namen alles Wiirz alein soviel als in der
Erden, sein" (in the name of a11 the herbs that grow in earth). They
greet next the mastersinger and his hat, and conclude with a salutation
to the constellations of Charles' wain, the Soul-car of German heathen
mythology. After this chanted greeting, with its very heathenish ring,
follows a carol, "Unzre eingen sejne bott," whilst singing which
the hall is entered.
There is neither stage nor scenery. All the " properties" required
are a wooden bench and a straw chair. The bench indicates Bethlehem ;
the chair, Jerusalem. A choir sings between each scene, and an angel chants
the prologue and epilogue. Joseph carries a sort of straw umbrella, which
represents the roof of the stable ; and the star is affixed to an elongator,
like those in toy-boxes on which soldiers are pegged. Knecht Ruprecht,
or the Devil, carries a
Schroer in Weim. Jahrsbucher," iii., 408. For much information on
rcpresentations of the Epiphany, see an article in the "
° Sacristy," vol. iii., p. 1-18.
cow's horn and a whip, is dressed in black, and has a hideous mask with
writs on his head, and a fox's tail attached to his waist. The three shepherds
lie asleep on the floor, and the angel in big boot: walks over their breasts,
singing, to show that he is communicating his message to them in a dream.
The host of the inn wears Hungarian costume, as do also the servants of
King Herod-a fur cap, a huzzar coat slung over one shoulder, frogged waistcoats,
and hessian boots. The Scribes wear paper frilled collars (like those
worn in the reign of Charles L), paper mitres, white nightshirts, and
top boots.* It is impossible not to think of the performance, in Midsummer
h'ight's Dream, of Bottom and his company.
In En1.land, Christmas carols have survived; the dancing has been divorced
from them, and the personations have disappeared. Epiphany carols have
completely died out, and are only now being revived. But, probably, Epiphany
was never so popular a festival in England as in Germany. The old miracle
plays were often founded on the Apocryphal Gospels; little that is apocryphal
has found its way into the carols. There is only one which preserves a
trait of wyth in it, and that, fortunately, is one of the very highest
interest.
I was teaching carols to a party of mill-girls in the West Riding of Yorkshire,
some ten years ago, and amongst them that by Dr. Gauntlett
`° Saint Joseph was a-walking
when they burst out with " Nay! we know one a deal better nor yond
; " and, lifting up their voices, they sang, to a curious old strain,
" Sant Joseph was an old man,
And an old man was he ;
He married sweet Mary,
And a Virgin was she.
"And as they were walking
In the garden so green,
She shied some ripe cherries
Hanging over yon treen.*
" Said Mary to Joseph,
With her sweet lips, and smiled,
' Go, pluck me yon ripe cherries off,
For to give to my Child.'
"Said Joseph to the cherry-tree,
I Come, bow to my knee,
And I will pluck thy cherries off,
By one, two, and three.' *
* * * * *
"And as she stooped over Him,
She heard angels sing
' God bless our sweet Saviour
And our heavenly King."' §
Raphael's picture of the Madonna giving cherries to the Child will recur
to the mind of the reader.
Hone gives a complete version of the Cherry-Tree Carol-the first verses
much like those I heard. There Joseph refuses to pluck the cherries, being
minded to put Mary away privily; but he is miraculously informed that
the tree will do homage to the pure Mother-Maid :
* Engravings of the characters will be found in F. von Reinsberg-Diiringsfeld
Das Festliche Jahr." -L, ipzig, 1863, p. 371-7.
t Observe the plural in n. $ Some verses lost.
§ Other versions are given, with other tunes, by Sedding, Sandys,
&c.
"'Go to the tree, Mary,
And it shall bow to thee ;
And the highest branch of all
Shall bow down to Mary's knee.
And she shall gather cherries,
By one, by two, by three.'
` Now you may see, Joseph,
Those cherries were for me.'
"O! eat your cherries, Mary;
O! eat your cherries, now;
O! eat your cherries, Mary,
That grow on the bough."
This scene occurs in one of the Coventry mystery plays (viii.), when
Joseph and Mary are on their way to Bethlehem, before the birth of Christ.
Mary asks,
"A very swete husband! wolde ye telle to me
What tre is yon, standing upon you hylle?"
JOSEPH. "For suthe, Mary, it is clepyd a chery tre :
In tyme of yer, ye myght ffede you thereon your fylle." '
MARY. "Turn ageyn, husband, and behold yon tre,
Hlow that it blomyght, now so swetly."
JOSEPH. "Cum on, Mary, that we wern at yon cyte,
Or ellys we may be blamyd, I tell you lyhtly."
MARY. "Now, my spouse, I pray you to behold
flow the cheryes growyn upon yon tre;
Ffor to have them, of reyght, ffayn I wold,
An it plesyd you to labor' so mec'h for me."*
Joseph answers roughly that he will not stay; then the tree bows down
of its own accord, and offers its cherries to the hand of Mary.
There is nothing about the cherry-tree in the Apocryphal Gospels. It is
the lingering on of a very curious, mysterious tradition, common to the
whole race of man, that the eating of the fruit in Eden was the cause
of the descendant of Eve becoming the Mother of Him who was to wipe away
that old transgression. In the carol and the mystery play this tradition
is strangely altered, but its presence cannot fail to be detected. The
following is from the last runa or canto of the " Kalewala,"
the great Finnish epic, dating from a, remote heathen antiquity. It has
gone through alteration at the end; the name of the Virgin is given as
Mary, and before the Son the old gods of the Suomi are represented as
flying to the north:
" Mariatta, the beautiful maiden, grew up in the lofty mansion ;
the log of the threshold was stroked by her soft garments, the doorposts
by the waving locks of her head,
"Mariatta, the beautiful maiden, always innocent and always pure,
went forth to milk the cows. "Mariatta, the beautiful maiden, always
innocent and always pure, went forth to pasture sheep. " She led
them where the serpent glides under the bushes, and where the lizard darts.
" But no serpent glided, no lizard darted, where Mariatta led her
sheep.
On a hill grew a little berry-tree; and it had a green branch, and on
the green branch grew a scarlet berry.
"' Come, O Virgin!' said the tree, ° come, and gather me.
"O virgin with the tin broach, come before the worm wounds me, and
the black snake has coiled round me.'
" Mariatta, the beautiful maiden, comes forward to pluck the berry,
but she cannot reach it. Then she takes a stick and strikes it off, and
the berry falls on the ground.
* Hone : " Ancient Mysteries " (1823), p. 67-8.
"' Little berry, scarlet berry, come upon my lap.' And the berry
danced upon her lap.
'Little berry, scarlet berry, come up to my lips.' And the berry leaped
into her mouth, and she swallowed it." • '
Mariatta becomes the mother of Ilmori (the Air) ; and when he is born,
the old Wainamoinen, t?ae national god of the Finns, "sang his last
song, and made a boat of brass, a boat with keel of iron ; and in this
boat he rowed away, far away into the vast spaces, to the lower regions
of the. sky." *
The same incident occurs in the °` Popol Vuh," the sacred book
of the Quiches, a Central American people,t and formed part of the mythology
of the ancient Mexicans. The same story has again reappeared from the
catacombs of Egypt in the curious romance of the " Two Brothers."
$ Numerous traces of the same idea may be found, and it might be followed
out, and form a most interesting monograph; but this is not the place
for such a mythological dis
quisition. In a note I give a few additional references.§
But let us return to S. Francis, with whom we started. Perhaps there is
almost as great a need now-a-days of impressing the great doctrine of
the Incarnation on the popular mind as in the days of that great regenerator.
The various sects with which England is overrun have more or less Manicheism
at their roots. Some of them are lineally traceable to Marricheism in
the 8th and 9th centuries. They all more or less sever the spirit from
the body, and make religion a matter of spirit only, dissociating from
it the body. The sacraments are the outposts of the Incarnation; and with
rejection of them, the Incarnation has ceased to be regarded as the keystone
of Christianity. Whilst intellectual critics dispute and deny this great
verity, its hold on the unintellectual is enfeebled. The great necessity
for us at the present day is to enforce this doctrine by every means in
our power. We cannot, perhaps, adopt the praesepio of S. Francis, but
we may his carols. What was found efficacious in the 12th century will
not be found powerless in the 19th. The carol, in a homely, intelligible
manner, brings the doctrine of the Incarnation home to simple minds in
a manner which sermons and hymns will never do. It would be well if clergy
of the Church of England would adopt the carol, and use it at Christmastide
in their churches. They might even attempt the pr.Tsepio in a schoolroom,
and have carols sung
around it by their choir. I have assisted at such a performance, in the
house of a Calvinist pastor, in the canton of Vaud, and I have seen it
attempted with success in the back slums of the East of London in a Church
of England school.
The English people are the slowest to move of any people, it is said,
and the English Church is the most averse to change of any sort, after
the petrified Oriental Church. When we see how flexible, how ready to
adapt herself, how-we may almost say-how unscrupulous the Latin Church
shows herself in her eagerness to get hold of the people and popularise
her doctrines, it strikes us with something like wonder to come on the
English Church and find it a pray to immobility. The difference is that
between the whirling Rhone and a sluggish Ouse.
And yet a marvellous change has taken place in the English Church within
this century. The whole of the period from the Restoration to the death
of William III. saw the Church of England almost stagnant, without any
apparent movement in her, and unwilling in any way to adapt herself to
new requirements, new situations, new culture. The Civil War had left
her a wreck. The churches had been denuded of everything that distinguished
them from barns ; a whole generation had grown up under Puritanism without
an idea of Church Worship, so
Le Kalewala," p. de Leozan Is Duc (1845), ii., 32nd Runa.
t '° Popol Vuh," par M. Brasseur de Bourbourg (1861), p. 89-95.
$ Select Papyri of the British Museum, ii. The best translation is that
of M. Maapero, in " Revue des cours litt5raires," 1871.
§ Ovid, " Fasti," v., 231, seq. ; " Arabian Tales,'
Sequel, by Dom Chaves and M. Cazotte (London, 1798), vol. viii., p. 52;
Baltaz. $onifacio, Hist. Ludicra, Brussels (1656), i., p. 20.
that, at the Restoration, the clergy who were reinstated, and those who
filled the vacancies, had much to contend with, difficulties almost overwhelming.
"The Sacraments had almost fallen into disuse. Baptism, if administered
at all, became a private ceremony. Holy Communion had been rarely celebrated,
save at the greatest festivals; and the altar, being seldom used for its
high and holy purpose, was too often neglected; in some places it was
even treated with shocking irreverence, for persons were used to sit upon
it, and in one church it is actually recorded that it was used as a card
table." * The Church was content, having escaped out of the convulsion
of the Civil Wars, to stand shivering, and rejoiced at existing at all,
and with little thought of recovering her lost possessions. Then came
the Revolution, and with the accession of William of Orange an attempt,
at first direct, and then secret and underground, to Presbyterianise her.
In the Georgian period the Church was at a low ebb, both in morals, piety,
and ritual. The Bishops and the Orthodox Clergy could only maintain the
status quo; no idea entered their heads of carrying on a crusade, of striving
to conquer those still in the enemy's camp, of re covering those who had
drifted away into error. But we have seen a wave of fresh life pass through
the Church of England, and everywhere we see the tokens of fresh vitality
in restored churches, frequent services, evangelical preaching' and in
a fresh outburst of hymnody such a, was unknown before. It is a mark of
the Church's confidence in her power and in her Master's presence with
her', that she can lay her hands on anything that the world uses, and
turn it to the service of God. A person in an uncertain social position
is always timid, and looks about for precedent before he or she does anything
that may possibly commit. And so a Church which is doubtful of her vocation
has a right to be timid ; she belongs to the middle-class the self-made.
But such moral cowardice is unworthy of a Church which knows that she
is infused with the guiding Spirit of God, and protected by Jesus Christ
from falling into grievous error. She can act with audacity, she can do
what hobble-de-hoy, demi-monde, self-made Churches dare not attempt without
compromising their dignity.
What can have been more licentious, heathenish, demoralising, than the
old stage? And yet the Church daringly grasped it, purified it, anointed
the muse of the drama, and at Oborammergau we can see the result, a survival
of the Mediwval Miracle-Play. The very Christmas Tree which we delight
to hang with presents for our children is a pagan symbolthe figure of
the World Tree in Norse and Teutonic mythology-yet Christianity boldly
assumed, sanctified, and used it.
The early Church was content with the Psalms of David-but that was not
always so to be. The Psalms, beautiful as they are, are not such vehicles
for teaching definite doctrine as were needed. The Church had to be taught
a sharp and cutting lesson before she ventured outside the psalter. Arius,
the heresiarch, popularised his negation of Catholic doctrine by the composition
of hymns, which he set to favourite tunes. At once, all Alexandria, all
Egypt rang with his blasphemies, and the children imbibed his heresy through
the songs they sang. 'It is said, that when at the Council of Nica:a one
of these hymns was sung before the assembled fathers, Nicolas of Myra
struck Arius in the face, so filled with wrath and holy horror was he
at what was sung, and for this act was forbidden to wear the mitre ; consequently,
in Eastern
pictures of the Council, he alone of the bishops is represented bareheaded.
Arius did incalculable evil to the Church, but he did her some good :
he forced her to use hymns to counteract his heretical compositions.
When at Milan, the Empress Justina in 384 demanded the. Portian basilica
for Arian worship, and an Arian Bishop was appointed to usurp his throne,
S. Ambrose took up his abode in his church, which was filled with a zealous
congregation, and defied the power of the Empress and her sun. To enkindle
enthusiasm, and strengthen the people in the Divine truth,
* Lucock : The Bishops in the Tower (1886), p. 110.
he composed hymns, and set them to music, and bade the congregation sing
them. That may 1>e said to have been the nativity of hymnody in the
Western Church.
At the Reformation the service was given in English, but the hymns of
the Breviary were nut translated; the hands of the Reformers lacked, they
believed, the cunning. The Latin hymns, untranslated, were not indeed
suitable for congregational singing, and no doubt the Reformers had little
conception of the power of song over the human heart to convey doctrine
and stir up devotion. Yet they might, had they had time to consider, have
remembered the effect of the Christmas Carol. When the carol was first
used we hardly know, but the earliest printed collection we have is that
by Wynkyn de Worde in 1521. Tusser speaks of them as "jolly carols,"
and an early poem says of " the leuid people," or common people,
that they " caroles singen everi Criste messe tyde." Probably,
Christmas has held its place as a chief festival in the affections of
the people from the use of carols at it; and Easter fell into dis re;ard
because no carols sung then emphasised the doctrine and cheered the feast.
In the West of England, till of late, the carols took the place of the
metrical psalms in all the churches, especially at afternoon service,
the whole congregation joining; and among the old MS. music in the choir
chests-if it has not been burnt-will often be found rudely written collections
of Christmas Carols.
We have now dethroned the Metrical Psalms, but we have hardly gone far
enough in the direction of hymnody. We want some hearty, festival singing
of carols at each of the great feasts. What are Dissenters doing now to
get congregations? They have their Services of Song, more or less s-cnlar,
with a dash of religious cant about them like a smack of garlic in a dish.
The people are becoming more musical and more to delight in music. They
seem to
have a special delight in sacred music. By all means let us take the opportunity
and give them a performance of carols at the festivals. Whilst the Dissenters
are giving " Little Topsy," " Pour Joe," and "
Wandering Gyp," as Services of Song-flummery and mawkishness-let
the Church boldly produce carols and give a Service of Song at each festival,
made up of carols, teaching doctrine, and giving emphasis to the festival.
S. Aldhelm, of Vlalmesbury, when he desired to bring the gospel home to
the people, dressed himself as a minstrel and went to four cross roads
and sang there popular ballads, and on them based his discourse. We cannot
go far wrong in utilising the carol in our churches. Why is it to be sung
outside? By all means bring the people in, and let them hear it arid join
in it with heart and voice.
The clergy make as great a mistake in confining the hymnody in church
to A. and M. or the S. P. C. K. hymnal, as they do when they exclude extemporary
addresses. We must not be too stiff. The Church must unbend; her services
must be made more popular-never with loss of reverence, but reverence
is not lost when simplicity takes the place of what is stilted and unintelligible.
A. and M. and other hymnals have done much for us, but we must not stand
at that point. We must try to bring the Festivals stiil more home to our
people. We should not be content with Christmas Carols, we should use
Carols for all the seasons. The country people have no quarrel with the
food the Church offers them, but they do not like the cuukin~. The meat
is excellent, but it is too leathery in the way it is served. The bane
of the Church of England has been her stiffness. She is infinitely the
most formal of Churches; and it is this stiffness, this formality, which
the poor dislike. They are not at ease in her courts, no more than they
would be at a dinner party at the squire's.
Surely we cannot go wrong in acting like the great Head of the Church,
Who came down to the people and taught them by the most familiar and simple
parables and likenesses. And one of the most attractive modes of coming
down to them now is by the use cf Carols, not out of church in wind and
rain and frost and snow, but within the church, in the midst of light
And warmth and colour,
S. BARING-GOULD.
|
|
|
LITURGIE
&CETERA 
