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THE GENEVAN TUNES AN INTRODUCTION - REV. DENNIS W. ROYALL




Dated: February 10, 2013

Taken with permision from CHRISTIAN RENEWAL, March 11, 2002 Volume 20, Number 12

> The Genevan Tunes An Introduction
> 
> > by DENNIS W. ROYALL
> > Rev. Royall is pastor of Cornerstone URC in London, Ontario. He holds
> > advanced degrees in both theology and music.
> > 
> > 
> > Every loving husband believes his wife to be beautiful. The loving wife
> > thinks her husband to be smart and good looking. Loving parents are sure
> > that their children are the smartest kids around. And we know what we like
> > to sing in Church! These are some of the most common subjective areas of
> > life. It is with respect to the singing of the Church that this article will
> > deal. More particularly, in this article we hope to introduce the subject of
> > the Genevan Tunes.
> > 
> > What are the "Genevan Tunes?" Are the so-called Genevan Tunes more
> > "biblical" than other tunes? Is there some Bible base from which the Genevan
> > Tunes derive? We shall seek to answer these questions and more in this
> > article.
> > 
> > What are the Genevan Tunes? The simple and short answer is that the Genevans
> > are those tunes that were composed for congregational singing in the Genevan
> > churches at the time of the Reformation. This answer does not satisfy,
> > however, since it is not altogether true. In fact, the Genevan tunes may
> > have their genesis far earlier than the time of the reformation - but that
> > is a subject that we will hold off until later in this article.
> > 
> > One of the great concerns of the reformers had to do with the music of the
> > Church. The Roman Church had, through its insertion of a human priesthood
> > into the life of the Church, turned the congregation of worshippers into an
> > audience of passive observers, spectators to the ceremonies of the priests.
> > (Some see this same danger appearing with the insertion of "Special Music"
> > and "Choirs" into congregational worship today. But this is a topic for
> > another article.) In addition to the priesthood a new form of Levitical
> > choirs took over the singing of songs during worship. After all, the
> > reasoning went, the congregation was understood to be "unworthy" of its own
> > worship of God and, since most of them were illiterate they couldn't
> > understand the Latin text of the music. This, then, required the worship of
> > intermediaries in the congregation's behalf.
> > 
> > These abuses, among many others, contributed significantly to the need for
> > reformation of music as well as doctrine in the Church. The music of the
> > church was, in fact, a major concern for reformation for both Luther and
> > Calvin among the other great reformers. Whereas in Lutheran Germany and
> > elsewhere the Reformation opened the door to great sacred "Art Music," the
> > reformation in Strasbourg, Geneva and Scotland, among other places, focussed
> > on music which was inherently singable by the untrained voices of the
> > congregation.
> > 
> > Among the Reformed it was probably Martin Bucer in Strasbourg who did the
> > most to return the singing of God's praise to the rightful voices, those of
> > the congregation. By the first quarter of the 16th century Bucer had already
> > produced books of metrical Psalms, the Lord's Prayer, the 10 commandments
> > and the Apostles' Creed. And history records that it was in Strasbourg where
> > John Calvin having heard congregational singing for the first time began a
> > strong advocate of it thereafter.
> > 
> > It was not until Calvin came to Geneva the second time that he was able to
> > publish and use in the congregations of Geneva a number of Psalms (and some
> > hymns) which were set to music by Clement Marot. These selections form the
> > foundation of what later came to be called the "Genevan Tunes." We must take
> > careful note of the fact that the "hymns" which Marot (and even Calvin!)
> > among others wrote bear very little resemblance to those hymns of the faith
> > with which we are more familiar, most from the late 18th and the 19th
> > centuries. Whereas the "hymns" of more modern times tend to stress the
> > singer's personal experience of faith and personal adoration of God the
> > hymns from the reformation in Geneva and Strasbourg (often called "Cantica")
> > were built upon texts which were taken directly from or were clearly derived
> > from the Scriptures.
> > 
> > John Calvin, in what is arguably one of the most beautiful and uplifting
> > parts of his Institutes of the Christian Religion writes that at heart
> > singing ought to be understood as prayer. The directing principle which
> > Calvin laid down concerning the tunes which the Church ought to sing is that
> > each tune must show its own character and have "dignity and majesty."
> > 
> > That the Genevan Tunes have a direct relationship to what is known as
> > "Gregorian Chant" is undeniable. However, as we hinted earlier, the
> > combination of notes, many of the musical phrases and parts of tunes
> > recognizable as Genevan are believed by some to actually have their root in
> > the very music of the Psalms (and the rest of the Old Testament!) sung by
> > David and the other inspired writers in the Old Testament. Some very good
> > scholarship has been done which identifies the marking of the "Masoretic
> > Text" of the Old Testament (the vowel and other pointings of the Hebrew
> > text, produced in 900 AD in Tiberias) with musical formulae or parts of
> > tunes which had been actually sung by the ancient people of God. We will not
> > enter into this discussion here, but understanding this point of view can
> > give us some appreciation for the passionate, commitment to Genevan Psalmody
> > which some hold.
> > 
> > The controlling principle for the "Genevan Tunes" was that they be "Simple,"
> > that is, singable by untrained voices, worthy of praise for God and majestic
> > in form. The tunes identified as Genevan are generally constructed with a
> > step-wise progression of notes and in simple, often common" metre.
> > 
> > Perhaps the greatest difficulty many of us have in singing' the Genevan
> > tunes is that they were composed upon the "Church Modes," rather than in the
> > major/minor tonality of modern (post-renaissance) music. To understand these
> > "Church Modes," think of scales on the "white keys" of a piano or organ. If
> > we play the 8 notes from "C" to "C" on the white keys, that is a "major"
> > scale. If we play 8 notes from "D" to "D" that is a "Church Mode" called
> > "Dorian Mode." If you go on up the keyboard playing the white keys for 8
> > notes (an "octave") you will hear 8 of the "Church Modes," the last one
> > sounding like our "major" key. Thus, the tunes of "Gregorian Chant" and the
> > "Genevan Tunes" are often built upon scales with the order of half-steps and
> > wholesteps unlike the "major" or "minor" scales with which we are most
> > familiar. The majority of the "Genevan Tunes" are constructed on the
> > "Dorian" mode (c45 of the Psalm Tunes).
> > 
> > Members of our congregations love to sing in "parts." In most of our
> > congregations when the organist cranks up PsH #350 ("When I Survey the
> > Wondrous Cross") and other similar tunes there is a veritable competition
> > between voices as Sopranos and Altos, Tenors and Basses sing out with joyous
> > praise. And this contributes- to many of our perceived "problems" with the
> > "Genevan Tunes." The Genevan Tunes were not composed to be sung in parts."
> > 
> > Since it is the text of scripture which is to predominate in the mind and
> > heart and voice of the singing congregation according to the guiding
> > principle of the Genevan tunes, part singing would be a distraction.
> > Therefore, Genevan tunes are best sung in unison. In our "Blue Psalter
> > Hymnal" the c30 Genevan tunes are "harmonized" in order that they may be
> > sung in parts. The majority of these harmonizations were done by Dr. Henry
> > Bruinsma and, unfortunatly (in our opinion), many of these harmonizations
> > are virtually unsingable (at least the "parts" which are not the Genevan
> > tune). And, several of the settings (not only of the Genevan tunes, but
> > throughout the Psalter Hymnal) in the Blue Psalter Hymnal are set at too
> > high a pitch to be comfortably sung by many in the church. This further
> > contributes to our discomfort in singing these tunes.
> > 
> > Our Canadian Reformed brothers and sisters have long enjoyed singing the
> > Genevan tunes. The Canadian Reformed and their sister churches in the
> > Netherlands (among others of our Dutch heritage churches) have long
> > practiced Psalm singing in family devotions around the Table at home. In
> > this way the children were taught the tunes which they would sing in the
> > worship of the church. This is a commendable practice for all Christian
> > families and would certainly help to improve all of our singing in the
> > worship of God.
> > 
> > While this writer would never advocate doing something just "because we've
> > always done it that way," we nevertheless do have a rich and powerful
> > heritage in the Genevan Tunes. Interestingly, even in much "modern" music
> > ("pop" as well as "classical") there is an increasing interest in and use of
> > the modal tonality called "Church Modes." We certainly benefit from and
> > ought to consistently adopt for our own worship singing the principles which
> > underlie these tunes in our worship of God. The Genevan Tunes are part of
> > our reformed Christian vocabulary of worship and are, therefore, worthy of
> > preservation and practice among us.
> > 
> > In closing we quote from Calvin's Institutes: "And surely, if the singing be
> > tempered to that gravity which is fitting in the sight of God and the
> > angels, it both lends dignity and grace to sacred actions and has the
> > greatest value in kindling our hearts to a true zeal and eagerness to pray.
> > Yet we should be very careful that our ears be not more attentive to the
> > melody than our minds to the spiritual meaning of the words . . . Therefore,
> > when this moderation is maintained, it is without any doubt a most holy and
> > salutary practice (Institutes, Book III, Chapter XX, 32)."
> 
> Taken with permision from CHRISTIAN RENEWAL, March 11, 2002 Volume 20, Number
> 12

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