For Juliet, David, and William H

Contents

Foreword 9

1 Before the Church: The Jewish Musical Tradition 11

2 Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs: Music and the Early Church 26

3 The Church Goes Public: Christian Music After Constantine 36Music in the Orthodox Church – Ivan Moody 46

4 Christian Chant: The Core of Medieval Worship 50“Sybil of the Rhine”: Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) 62

5 Medieval Polyphony: The Church Discovers Harmony 64“Ave Verum Corpus” 71

6 The Music of the Renaissance: The Peaks of Polyphony 72The Organ – Mike Wheeler 84

7 A Safe Stronghold: The Music of the Lutheran Reformation 86Sermons in Song: The Moravians and their Music 100The Psalmodikon: another way of accompanying hymns 101

8 “In Quires and Places Where They Sing…”: The Making of the Anglican Tradition 102Oranges and Lemons: The Story of Church Bells 109

9 Psalms, Canticles, and Hymns: The Genesis of Christian Hymns 112“Amazing Grace” 124

10 Gloria in Excelsis Deo: The Making of Catholic Baroque 126Christian Music in Latin America: 1500–1800 – Pablo Sosa 132

11 Bach and Handel: Two Great Protestant Baroque Composers 134

12 The Viennese Tradition: Liturgical and Non-Liturgical Sacred Music 143Music in the Orthodox Church in Russia – Ivan Moody 154

13 Heights of Intensity: Sacred Music in the Age of Romanticism 156

14 Hymns Ancient and Modern: The Nineteenth-Century Hymn Industry 167Robbing the Devil of His Choicest Tunes: Music and The Salvation Army 173In the Deep Midwinter: The Story of Carols 175The Legendary Story of “Silent Night” 178

15 Camp Meetings and Revivals: The Making of the American Gospel Tradition 179Christian Music in Africa – J. Nathan Corbitt 186

16 “I Got a Home in Dat Rock… ”: Spirituals and the Blues 190“Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” 194

17 Apocalypse Now! Sacred Music and the Concert Hall in the Twentieth Century 195Christian Music in Latin America since 1800 – Pablo Sosa 206

18 “Surely Goodness and Mercy Shall Follow Me”: Popular Church Music in the Twentieth Century 210“How Great Thou Art” 218

Music Among Christians in South-East Asia – Michael Nai-Chiu Poon 219

19 “(Give Me That) Old Time Religion”: Gospel Music in the Twentieth Century 221Music Among Christians in the Indian Subcontinent – Sugu J. M. Chandy 230

20 “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”: The Making of the Contemporary Christian Music Industry 231Christian Music in Australia and New Zealand – Mark Evans 238

21 “Ain’t Nobody Nowhere Nothin’ without God”: Christians do Country, Folk, and Jazz 240Christian Music in China – Angela Tam 245Christian Music of the Pacific Islands – Mark Evans 246

Further Reading 247

Notes 249

Index 258

H

Foreword

The prospect of writing a new popular history of Christian music of all eras, all regions, and all varieties appeared very alluring when I was first invited to undertake this project. It seems no less attractive at the finish of the assignment; but I am now even more conscious of the huge gaps in my knowledge. Fortunately I have been able to call upon the expertise of a team of scholars and musicians worldwide who have been able to shed light on continents outside Europe and traditions outside the Western. I am most grateful to them: the old adage applies to them – if you want to get a job done professionally and rapidly, go to the busy person!

Nevertheless I am all too aware there remain omissions in this book. Within a relatively short account, it has been possible only to sketch in the extraordinary breadth of musical expressions of Christians of different centuries, classes, colours, and traditions. I have done all I can to avoid the text becoming a mere listing of names and compositions, but have on occasion had to summarize information in order to cover a particular topic adequately. i am also aware that, despite rigorous checking and recourse to a number of scholars, there remain

unintended and probably embarrassing errors and misstatements: I apologize for these and would hope to regularize them in future editions.

The reader will soon become aware of continuing themes in Christians’ experience of music. Again and again believers have debated how to define “Christian music”. is it solely music used in Christian worship? Music by Christian composers? Music using Christian themes or Christian texts and lyrics? Or music which moves the listener and expresses spirituality? Are there, conversely, forms of music that are essentially unchristian and therefore to be shunned by believers? Is rock “of the devil”? Should Christians sing the blues? Within the area of Christian worship: should hymns and psalms be sung unaccompanied – or is organ/piano/band accompaniment permissible and/or scriptural? such questions recur and are currently still debated.

My thanks to three commissioning editors at Lion Publishing: Morag Reeve, who originally commissioned this book; Stephanie Heald, who encouraged it on its way; and Kate Kirkpatrick, who finally took it from typescript to published book.

My first major task in publishing, more than thirty years ago, was to commission and edit the Lion Handbook to the History of Christianity, something I look back on with some pride but also with astonishment at the audacity of youth. Now, further on in my career, I have enjoyed writing another survey volume, and hope it may find wide acceptance.

Tim Dowley Dulwich, London December 2010

The mosaic-decorated domes of the Basilica of San Marco (St Mark’s), Venice, Italy, where, particularly during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, distinguished and distinctive music was created.