'There is in Musick something of Divinity': the Anglican choral tradition and late 17th/early 18th century sermons for Saint Cecilia's Day
So began the sermon - 'Cathedral Service Decent and Useful' - of the Reverend William Dingley (a fellow of Corpus Christ College, d.1735), in the University Church, Oxford, on "Cecilia's Day" 1713. What is immediately significant is Dingley's statement that such sermons, in praise of the choral tradition, were customary on Saint Cecilia's Day, 22nd November.
Alongside Dingley's sermon, this post will consider two other sermons for Saint Cecilia's Day, Nicholas Brady's 'Church Music Vindicated' in 1697 and, in 1698, Francis Atterbury's 'The Usefulness of Church Music'. They indicate a pattern in the late 17th/early 18th century Church of England of observing Saint Cecilia's Day with a celebration of choral music in divine service, accompanied by a sermon expounding the gift of music.
All three sermons were, of course, aware of theological and spiritual critiques of the choral tradition. Each, however, provided a confident defence of the tradition and its practice in the Church of England. Dingley, invoking Psalm 47:7, presented the choral tradition as more faithful to holy Scripture and the worship it calls for than "the Naked Unpolish'd voice" alone:
And since the Infirmity of our Flesh is apt to hinder a steady Attention; the better to Fix and Compose it, to give a livelier Turn to our Thoughts, a sweeter Emphasis to the Words, the Temple should resound with the voice of Melody, with the Praises that are sung with Understanding ...
They, who contend for Vocal Musick in Opposition to Instrumental, would do well to examine and weigh this Passage: whether the Naked Unpolish'd Voice can fairly be term'd the Voice of Melody; whether Their Singing to the Lord without the Direction and Help of an Instrument can be reckon'd a Performance with Understanding.
As for the allegation that the choral tradition is part of the worship of the Old Covenant and rendered obsolete by the New, Dingley pointed to the chorus of the company of heaven:
But was Musick a Part of these Rites and Shadows? An Eminent Author has prov'd it was not. If in truth it be an Emblem of good things to come, 'tis an Emblem of such Things as are not yet Reveal'd. The Glory and Happiness of our Future State is frequently Represented to us by the Hallelujahs of the Saints, the Harmonious Acclamations of the Holy Angels, the continual Cry of Cherubin and Seraphin, the Song of the Lamb, and the Harps of God. When Heaven and Earth shall pass away, these Ideas likewise shall pass away. The Participation of endless Felicity will communicate greater things than ev'n These. But till the Antitype appears, till the Eternal Heavens open, and admit us to those Mysterious Joys, we ought to retain those Notions of them which the Word of God has Convey'd to us; and Persevere in that kind of Worship, which the Blessed Spirits are describ'd to Perform: That being the most Divine and Perfect, as far as we at present can Apprehend. Therefore will we Sing to our Tuned Instruments allt he days of our Life in the House of the Lord.
Brady's sermon, likewise, emphasised that music in the liturgy, rather than being a passing feature of the Old Covenant, remains as an anticipation of the worship of heaven and thus an enduring part of the Church's worship:
For though the Jewish Sacrifices are swallowed up, in that great Oblation which Christ offered once for all; though the Temple which was Dedicated, and the Ark which was placed in it, are both Superseded by the Temple of his Body, which was the true Ark of the Covenant of God; Yet Praises and Thanksgiving to our Almighty Benefactour; and this Delightful way of tendring them, with the joynt Melody of Voices and Instruments of Musick; has continued ever since in the Church of God; will (I doubt not) remain in it unto the end of the World; and will afterwards attend it into the Mansions of Eternity; and make a considerable part of it's infinite Felicity. And this seems to me to be a Substantial Reason, why God here Distinguish'd it above the other Acts of Devotion, by vouchsasing his Presence at that particular juncture, because this was to outlast all the other Ceremonies; and to be a standing Duty in the Service of his Church, when the rest should vanish and be done away.
He, too, confidently proclaimed how music in the liturgy was no neutral feature, never mind an impediment to true worship. Rather, music positively aided the praises of the heart and soul, "There is in Musick, something of Divinity":
Nothing is so proper or so available as this for composing our minds, and setling them in a Sedate and quiet posture; for reducing our straggling thoughts, and fixing them to their Duty; for calming and allaying our disorderly passions, or for lifting up the Soul in a devout Contemplation: When we are thus entertained with the employment of Angels, our thoughts naturally ascend unto those Mansions of Joy; we have an entercourse, as it were with those Heavenly Inhabitants, and our Conversation seems to be altogether above: There is in Musick, something of Divinity, which Captivates the Affections, and Regulates them at it's Will; it acts upon the Soul with such a sweet Violence, as is almost insensible, but irresistible too; and I have heard many testifie from their own experience, and I question not, but we have many present witnesses of the truth of it, that whenever they have been present at the performance of this nature, they have felt their zeal grow warm, if it were not kindled before, and encrease considerably if it were.
This being so, Brady states, those who offer only "Moroseness and Austerity" in worship are suggesting that grace destroys nature, rather than recognising Christianity as fulfilling and sanctifying natural delight in goodness and joy:
Religion, however mistaken or misrepresented by some, is the most entertaining thing in Nature, attended by a good Conscience, which is a continual Refreshment; and Supported by the Assurance of God's Favour and Protection, which is the most certain Fund of Comfort and Satisfaction; if we take her portraiture from the Life, she will appear as bright and beautiful as an Angel; set off with all those Charms and and raising Attractions, which may most powerfully Recommend her to our Affections; allowing and encouraging the truest chearfulness, and not clashing with, or condemning any Innocent Delights: And therefore nothing has done her a greater prejudice, nothing has more hindered her Diffusiveness and Efficacy, than the false Draughts made of her by some sort of People, who would have her to consist in Moroseness and Austerity.
For Atterbury, the choral tradition was particularly suited to the divine service of the Church of England:
the Way of performing divine Service in the Church of England is better fitted to fix our Attentions, and raise our Affections, than any other Form of Devotions now practised in the Christian World. That it enjoys this Advantage, as in several other Respects, so particularly in relation to a solemn and decent Use of Church Musick.
As with both Dingley and Brady, Atterbury also highlighted how the choral tradition aided rather than being a supposed impediment to evangelical worship:
So that, though the Worship now under the Gospel be Spiritual, yet are we not debar'd, on that Account, from employing several Means and Instruments of Worship which are not so. On the contrary, from the spiritual Nature of our Worship, it follows, that all such outward Helps and Expedients may and ought to be laid hold of, as do really assist and promote the inward Worship of our Spirits. And for this Reason therefore, among others, the melodious Harmony now practised in our Church ought to be continued.
Also evident in Atterbury's defence of choral music in the liturgy is the suggestion that the Dissenting tradition's rejection of such music reflects a 'grace destroys nature' approach, contrary to the experience of sons and daughters of the Church of England:
Till ... our Brethren of the Separation can prove, either that Musick has not that Influence on the Mind of Man as it has been represented to have; or that the Minds of us Christians are not so disposed to receive its Impressions, as those of other Men, that we have not the fame Faculties to be wrought upon, the same Passions to be regulated, the same Dulness and Distraction of Mind to be cured; till this can be made out by them, they must allow us to retain those Modes of Worship, which we and our Forefathers, from the Infancy of the Reformation down to this Day, have practised, to our great spiritual Comfort. Modes of Worship, which They perhaps, who stand aloof from them, may think, (and call sometimes) Rudiments of the Law, and weak and beggarly Elements; but which we, by Experience, find and feel to be very strong and powerful Incentives to Godliness.
This reference to the choral tradition continuing from "the Infancy of the Reformation" was echoed in Dingley's sermon, with his statement that choral music was integral to cathedral and, indeed, to the wider Church of England:
If there be any of our own Communion (as we hope there are not many) who , taking Church-Musick for a Relique of Popery, would have it altogether Silenc'd, they may assure themselves, that the letting it Drop would by little and little make room for weightier Alterations. And therefore, tho they look upon it as a Disagreeable Piece of Antiquity, 'twere safer to let this Ruine stand, than by rashly blowing it up endanger the Cathedral to which it joyns.
For doubtless the Church of England had never any Pastors professing a Dislike to the Service of the Choir; unless such as crept into it, and were not of it; such as would have been very well content to be the last of their sacred Order.
This captures a key aspect of such sermons for Saint Cecilia's Day: the choral tradition, in cathedrals and collegiate churches, was a characteristic of the late 17th and early 18th Church of England. What is more, rather than being merely tolerated with theological embarrassment, a sophisticated and confident theological rationale for the choral tradition was heard in the customary Cecilia's Day sermons. So much was this the case, that Brady in his 1697 sermon described those engaged in music in divine service as in "a lower sort of Holy Orders":
I would to God, that all those who are constantly attendant upon this most Solemn Office of Religion, would consider the Honour and Gravity of their Calling; would look upon themselves, as enter'd into a lower sort of Holy Orders, being appointed to Minister to God in his Temple, and would never derogate from the Sacredness of their Employment
Such words are a powerful expression of the reverence for the choral tradition in the late 17th and early 18th century Church of England - and a reminder that our joy in Choral Matins and Evensong in 21st century stands in profound continuity with a long tradition in Anglicanism of rich celebration of the place choral music in divine service. For "there is in Musick something of Divinity".
(Below, William Boyce's Te Deum in C Major. Boyce was appointed composer to the Chapel Royal in 1736.)
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