Hymn

Preface

1) This page is under development; collaborators welcomed

2) This page is not intended to be comprehensive discussion of what a hymn is, or is not.

What is a Hymn?

The word hymn is used colloquially to refer to a sacred, strophic (poetic) text, intended for group singing, where the strophes (stanzas) are sung to the same tune, or to a small number (two or very rarely three) of related tunes. A more formal definition often used is that first provided by Bishop Augustine of Hippo in the 4th Century, a song in praise of God. There are strophic sacred texts which are intended for, or at least well suited to, group singing, which are not hymns as defined by Augustine These texts are sometimes called spiritual songs. Yet another (dictionary style) definition of hymn is: A song of praise or thanksgiving to God or a deity. A song of praise or joy; a paean. To praise, glorify, or worship in or as if in a hymn. To sing hymns.

Hymn texts and hymn tunes are characterized as "strophic" because they most often are divided into units called "strophes" or stanzas. All of the stanzas in a particular text usually have common attributes: the same number of lines, the same number of syllables per line, and usually one predominant pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in each line.

Three terms are used in a specific sense on CPDL. The phrase "Hymn tune" is used for a specific reference to a melody; the phrase "Hymn setting" is used to refer to the harmony composed for a specific hymn tune; the word "Hymn" is used for a text with a tune or setting.

Hymn tunes (melodies) at CPDL (listed alphabetically by tune name).

Hymn settings (melodies and harmonizations) at CPDL

Hymns (texts and settings)

Association between text and tune

There are a few cases where there is a strong correlation between a hymn tune and a particular text. This may have happened because the a composer found particular inspiration in a poem, and set it to music. This is what happened in the case of Bishop Reginald Heber's text from 1826, "Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty!". In 1861 John Bacchus Dykes composed the tune Nicæa specifically for this text, in the Hymnal Hymns Ancient and Modern. It has also happened that a poet wrote a text specifically for use with a particular tune.

Some think that this is the case with John Wesley's text, "Love Divine". Because the specific character of the text so closely matches the character of Henry Purcell's music for Venus' Song "Fairest Isle" at the end of Dryden's play King Arthur, some think John Wesley wrote the text to be used with Purcell's music as a substitute for the Dryden's text.

Metrical Indexes

In most cases the association between text and tune is not quite so hard and fast, and it was common when a group to use the same tune for several texts with the same meter. Metrical indexes were developed to facilitate this interchangeability, but a review of Hymnals with attention to indexing of meters, shows that consensus has not yet been achieved on the best way to do this. Of the two schemes which seem to predominate, one method indexes by first by the number of syllables in each line, and secondarily by the number of lines. The other method indexes first by the number of lines, and secondarily by the number of syllables within the line. Since that consensus has not yet been reached, both schemes are incorporated in CPDL.

Just as there is no consensus about how to order Hymn tune meters, there is not yet consensus on how to represent them either. While there have been a number of alphabetical shorthand notations arranged for meters over the years, other than six exceptions (Short Meter - SM, Short Meter Double - SMD, Common Meter - CM, Common Meter Double - CMD, and Long Meter - LM, Long Meter Double - LMD) use of these alphabetic symbols should be avoided in most cases. The behavior of sorting in WIKI, suggests that the numbers representing syllables per line should be separated by a space, except where lines are aggregated into larger units, where they should be separated by a period and a space. Where the accent pattern of the constitutent poetic or musical feet needs to be taken to account, the particular type of foot should be enclosed in parentheses. Note that interjections which repeat at the end of every line (such as "Alleluia"), and refrains at the end of, or after each verse, may not be included in the syllable count.

Metrical resources on CPDL includes a category page for hymn tune meters, and two lists, one by number of lines and one by number of syllables per line.

It should also be noted that there is a bit of ambiguity about meter. Sometimes, the tune is adapted to texts with different meters, so that the same tune may have several meters attached. Schein's Hymn setting, Machs mit mir Gott is an example. While the tune was originally composed with a meter of 8 7. 8 7. 88, by omitting the repeat, it can be used with a texts with meter 8 8. 8 8; by subdividing a note, it can be used with a text with a meter of 8 8. 8 8. 8 8. Similarly, a tune with a meter assigned by one editor of 6 5. 6 5. D, may be assigned a meter of 11. 11. 11. 11 by another editor.

Hymn Tune Names

While it has been a custom in the English speaking world to assign a name to a hymn tune, this was not a universal practice in other areas. Some areas used the convention of referring to a tune by the incipit of the first text with which it was assigned. Different editors sometimes assigned different names to the same tune, and the same name was sometimes used for different tunes by different composers or editors. Hymn meters can sometimes help make these associations, or help to resolve ambiguities.

External links

• The Cyber Hymnal
• The Oremus Hymnal
• The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada
• WIKIPEDIA list of hymnwriters