John Stainer

“ The question is not one which can be answered off-hand; all that we can do here is to chronicle the fact that our modern composers have adopted the latter view, and are striving to do for sacred music what the 'romantic' school did for the secular branch. If modern writers of services can be sometimes charged with sentimentality, they can retort that they at least do not exhibit primitive dreariness. Palestrina had to choose between the frivolous artificialities which had then burdened church-music, and the classical style of his own adoption ”

“ This style, the growth of the middle of the 16th century, has even been imitated by those modern purists who seem to think that the highest function of an art consists in founding factories of sham antiques, It is often a matter of surprise to those untutored in the narrow traditions of our cloisters why such glorious canticles as the Te Deum and Magnificat should be so often sung to music of the most sad and sombre description. ”

“ An instrument having two or more rows of keys is one having two or more manuals. The term 'row of keys' is, when speaking of an organ, not applied to a pedal-clavier from the simple fact that one 'row of keys' is all that is required by the feet; two rows of pedal-keys have, it is true, been sometimes constructed, but they have always been found unnecessary, and generally unmanageable. ”

“ In addition to the contents of a service as above enumerated, the most modern composers add musical settings of the Offertory sentences, also of the Doxologies before and after the Gospel, and sometimes also of the Sursum Corda, Agnus Dei, and Benedictus. The Offertory sentences may perhaps be looked upon as a legitimate addition to the set, but the Gospel-doxologies and Sursum Corda have both their own ancient plainsong, and the Agnus Dei and Benedictus are not ordered by our rubric to be sung in the office of Holy Communion. ”

“ This word is used in two senses—for the handles or draw-stops which are placed near the organ-player, and by which he can shut off or draw on the various registers; and for the registers themselves. Thus we speak of a 'stop' being half-out, meaning the actual handle communicating with the sliders, and at the same time we speak of 'an organ having 20 stops,' meaning 20 registers. ”

“ SOLO ORGAN, a manual or clavier of an organ having stops associated with it which for the most part are intended for use solo, that is, in single notes as opposed to chords. The solo organ is generally a fourth manual placed above that of the swell; but it occasionally supersedes the choir organ, and is then placed below the 'Great' manual. The stops in a solo organ are most frequently (1) Flutes of 8 ft. ”

“ Seven years before the death of Blow a man was born, who, without possessing any special musical gifts, was destined to bring about a vast change in the character of services; that man was the very second-rate Charles King. The only possible way of accounting for the enormous popularity of his services is to view them as a protest against contrapuntal devices, and as a restoration of simplicity, even if the simplicity is closely allied to weakness. To the influence of King we probably owe two short but beautiful settings from the pen of Dr. ”

“ Tallis wrote his setting in an irregular Doric mode; his followers, having lost the knowledge of the church modes, used the minor keys instead; the fashion, once started, kept its hold on church musicians for a considerable period. These 'minor' settings of the canticles will, however, sometimes be found remarkably suitable for use in penitential seasons, or in times of public calamity—a contracted but respectable sphere of utility.
Closely following the class of services just described comes the strict contrapuntal school, of which 'Gibbons in F' forms such a noble example. ”

“ SESQUIALTERA. A compound organ stop consisting of several ranks of pipes, sometimes as many as five. Various combinations of intervals are used, but they only represent different positions of the 3rd, 5th, and 8th of the groundtone in the third or fourth octave above. The Sesquialtera thus gives brilliancy to the tone by reinforcing these upper partials.
The origin of the term Sesquialtera, as applied to an organ stop, is rather obscure. ”

“ A careful balancing of the various merits of different characters of services will, it is to be hoped, lead our modern writers to form an eclectic school which shall avoid weak sentimentality on the one side, and orthodox dryness on the other. ”

“ The difficulty seems however to be overcome by a method suggested some years ago by the writer of this article; namely, to arrange them in the order in which the instruments are found in a modern full-score. ”