ESSAY THE THIRD. THE authority of Erasmus was produced in the preceding Essay, and more might have been added, to shew that many of the most learned and judicious Persons, who flourished at the dawn of the Reformation, reprobated very strongly that complicated Harmony, which accompanied the Church Service. It was all indeed mere sing-song, or rather (if the expression be not too quaint) sing without song; for the term Song implies some certain degree of Melody and Air, of which that Music was utterly devoid; it therefore could only be called plain singing or chaunting, which, perhaps, is the best translation of the term planus Cantus. But it was not on account of this deficiency, that our first Reformers disapproved of Popish Church Music; it was, because it rendered the words of the Liturgy indistinct and unintelligible. They would have been contented not to have received pleasure from it, had the Congregation received edification. This not being the case, we have reason to think that, as Reformation proceeded, the two principal leaders of it, Luther and Calvin, resolved to make a considerable 、 change in its mode of performance. Calvin, who had certainly less Music in his soul than the other,* rejected both Vocal and Instrumental Harmony, and admitted only unisonous Psalmody. Conveniently for his purpose a part, at least, of a French translation of the Psalms had been very lately published, and had become popular in the Court where it had its origin; but this, as it seems, not because it was a version of Psalms, but a version in Rhyme, and what the taste of the time deemed good Poetry. They were not only sung, like Ballads, about the streets of Paris, but many of the Court Ladies adopted several of them, as their peculiar favourites, and honoured them with their own titles.† Devotion, it must be believed, had little to do in this matter. It was sufficient for the French, that the version was fashionable. Calvin thought otherwise. He conceived, that it might be turned to a pious purpose. The verses were easy, and, like the generality of French verse, prosaic enough to be intelligible to the meanest capacity. The Melodies, to which they were set, rivalled the words in plainness and simplicity: they, who could read the one, would find little difficulty in learning to sing the other. As therefore it was the Protestant Father's primary aim * Luther was an adept in the Science and a Composer also. See his Colloquia Mensalia, chap. lxviii. For specimens of his Compositions see Dr. Burney's History, vol. i. page 45, &c. This fantastic fact is circumstantially recorded by Mr. T. Warton, in his History of Poetry; see vol. iii. p. 163.—And also by Sir John Hawkins, in his History of Music. |