The Contribution of Cambridge Ecclesiologists to the Revival of Anglican Choral Worship, 1839-62

Dale Adelmann

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138340350
• eBook ISBN: 9780429803819
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Music
• Index: Social Sciences

First published in 1997, this book asks how an ecclesiastical climate was created in which Anglican choral worship could flourish in the mid-nineteenth century. Dale Adelmann draws on a wide range of sources, including diaries, correspondence, pamphlets, newspapers and critical writings, to answer this question. His research reveals the hitherto unrecognized extent of the influence of the Cambridge Camden Society (1839-62) in the revival of Anglican choral worship, in particular through the auspices of its periodical The Ecclesiologist, but also through the dedicated efforts of the remarkable individuals who promoted the Society's aims in their writings, lectures, and in their own parish churches.

The study examines the arguments that were framed in defence of choral worship and the often heated debates they initiated between both individuals and institutions. In so doing, it provides a re-evaluation of the place of Anglican choral worship in mid-nineteenth-century musicological and ecclesiastical history, and demonstrates the role of Cambridge ecclesiologists as primary force behind its rival.

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction and context

It would be quite logical for one to wonder how and why the Ecclesiological Movement of the mid-nineteenth century ever broadened to include the consideration of church music, since ecclesiologists are primarily remembered for their work in the field of church architecture. Ecclesiastical buildings were indeed their first consideration, but it shall be seen that their efforts to revive Gothic church architecture quickly widened to include an integral aspect of the worship which they envisioned should take place within those sacred spaces, specifically the revival of ‘choral service.’¹ The raison d’;être of this book shall be to expose the Ecclesiological Movement’s significant role in the creation of a climate within the Church of England in which choral worship could flourish.

Critical analysis of the Ecclesiological Movement has normally taken place at one of two poles, on the one hand as if it were some disembodied juncture of theological and aesthetic thought, devoid of real individuals who lived in a unique cultural context,² and on the other hand as if the worth of the movement could be understood merely by considering the churches and church restorations which were influenced by its ideas.³ Such fault-finding approaches have failed to consider both the breadth of the movement and the contemporary logic behind it.⁴ Moreover the lives and individual efforts of almost all of its key leaders have remained unexamined.⁵ By avoiding the reconciliation of its apparent views with the individuals who actually led the Cambridge Camden Society and its subsequent, London-based incarnations, the broader worth and significance of the Ecclesiological Movement has been obscured, even trivialized. The clearest and most accurate understanding of ecclesiology may be seen only in an aggregate reflection of the individuals who led it, men of broad learning, exceptional intellectual acuity and immense spiritual depth, whose sincerity and fervour to revive the Anglican Church in their own day merits regard by comparison to the efforts of any age.

The history which is about to be recounted will expand the traditional understanding of the Ecclesiological Movement by revealing a sphere in which the depth of its influence has been virtually unknown, that of the revival of music in Anglican worship. The architectural views of ecclesiologists will be the subject matter here only insofar as they relate to their views on the music of the Church, and indeed it will become apparent that their contribution to the revival of choral worship was effected in much the same manner as they championed the Gothic Revival. Considerable attention will be given to pertinent biographical information about the men who founded the movement, and who were largely responsible for its prosperity throughout the period framed, 1839-62. Indeed, what follows is primarily a story about a collection of remarkable individuals, friends who allied themselves in a common cause, who were not merely products of the times in which they lived, but men who worked with vigour to change and improve them. It will be seen that they laboured to identify and uphold ancient, Catholic aspects of worship which they believed were the rightful inheritance of the Church of England, and used every fibre of their creativity and intellectual acumen to work for the spiritual revival of the Anglican Church.

Their first work was in the field of church architecture, but having chosen a style of Christian architecture to emulate, specifically the period of Gothic which they called Middle Pointed or Decorated (1260-1360 A.D.),⁶ it was logical that they would soon move on to consider how to worship in the liturgical spaces they were creating and restoring. The vast majority of ecclesiologists were, it is critical to remember, clergymen. As their work evolved, they came to define ecclesiology ever more broadly, and eventually all of the ecclesiastical arts were claimed to lie within their purview. By 1847 they declared ecclesiology to be ‘the science of Christian Esthetics’ and ‘the systematic study of the requirements of Divine Worship.’⁷ This included not merely architecture but sculpture, stained glass, wood carving, brass work, polychrome, embroidery and, much more significantly than has hitherto been thought, church music. Thus widening the scope of their labours, ecclesiologists sought a unity of principle among the arts which had been a trend in English aesthetic thought since the late eighteenth-century writings of Sir Joshua Reynolds. (: 40) It has been well documented that, ‘during the years of the Gothic Revival the majority of artists, critics, and aestheticians regarded the interchangeability of principles between art forms as a matter of course and quite consciously drew parallels and sought correspondences between poetry, painting, sculpture, music, and architecture.’⁸

An overview

The dates that form the boundaries of the present study (1839-62) have been chosen because the Cambridge Camden Society was formed in 1839,⁹ and the Ecclesiological Society disbanded its musical committee in 1862.

Chapters two, three, and six deal specifically with the three phases of ecclesiological involvement in the revival of choral worship. The first phase encompasses the 1840s. During this time ecclesiologists worked out in theoretical and practical terms how the Church principles propounded by old- style High Churchmen and Tractarians should be applied to the aesthetic aspects of worship, i.e. architecture and the ecclesiastical arts, including music. The revival of choral worship was intimately linked, both theoretically and practically, with other aspects of ecclesiology.

During the second period, 1850 to early 1856, ecclesiologists recruited to their ranks the leading advocates of choral worship who did not already number among them, and became the foremost champions of choral service within the Established Church. It will become apparent that it was during the first decade and a half of the revival of choral worship (1841-56) that the vital thought and dissemination of concepts took place which were decisive for the revival’s subsequent general prosperity. Ecclesiologists amassed an impressive and convincing apologium for choral worship during this period, and continually brought it before the public. These efforts were targeted primarily at the clergy, who were deemed to be the group most able either to encourage or to thwart such worship. The apologium for choral worship thus established (detailed in chapter five) was perhaps the Ecclesiological Movement’s single greatest contribution to the success of the Anglican choral revival.

The third period began in 1856. By this time the theoretical battle for choral worship had essentially been won, and The Ecclesiologist’s articles on musical subjects during the next six years turned to more practical subjects. These included debates on such topics as how to point and sing psalms, and ecclesiologists who had previously agreed in theory began to diverge from one another in practice. During the late 1850s the movement to revive choral service quickly reached a size and breadth impossible for any single party of the Church to control. As the movement attracted the widespread interest of churchmen from many shades of Anglican parishes, popular musical opinion began to exert a telling influence upon the course of the revival.

Because of its importance as a cradle of the Ecclesiological Movement, the University of Cambridge will receive specific consideration, and the music of the Cambridge college chapels throughout the period will be detailed. Ecclesiologists were highly critical of the choral foundations of Cambridge and repeatedly lamented the dearth of opportunities for University students who intended to take holy orders either to learn about the history of church music or to participate in the practice of it. There were encouraging signs of improvement in the late 1840s and early 1850s, but it will be seen that the University trailed well behind parish churches in the revival of choral service. Having noted the growth of interest in choral worship at Cambridge, Bernarr Rainbow states:

To estimate the effect of those developments upon the undergraduate community of the day at large would be a formidable task. Nevertheless, there can be little doubt that regular attendance at the choral services held in their own college chapels exerted telling influence upon those undergraduates who were earnestly preparing for ordination.¹⁰

The influence of ecclesiologists upon the clergy, especially young clergy and undergraduates preparing for ordained ministry, will be a recurrent theme throughout the present work. At the risk of stating the obvious, it is a general presupposition of this book that for theological, liturgical, or musical innovations to become sufficiently widespread to be considered a ‘movement’ within the Church, the prevailing support of a considerable proportion of the clergy had to be won. Leaders of the Ecclesiological Movement believed this, and they intentionally aimed their persuasive efforts at the clergy, because it was the clergy who were in a position to implement most quickly and efficiently the changes ecclesiologists advocated.

Several misconceptions about the theory and work of the ecclesiologists will also be discussed. Just how radical were they? Were they really antiquarians and ultra-conservatives? Much of the confusion over this point arises because the long-term role of John Mason Neale as a leader of the Ecclesiological Movement has been significantly overestimated. Extensive reference to the diaries of the Cambridge Camden Society’s co-founder, Benjamin Webb, will prove that Webb’s role in the earliest days of the Society’s existence was at least equivalent to Neale’s, and that Webb had much the greater role both in the running of the Society and in the development of its policies throughout its mature period. Very little has...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Editor’s Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction and context
• 2 Cambridge ecclesiologists 1839-49: the formative years
• 3 The Ecclesiological late Cambridge Camden Society 1850-55: champions of choral service
• 4 Contributions of individual ecclesiologists to the revival of church music
• 5 The ecclesiological apologetic for church music
• 6 The Ecclesiological Society 1856-62 and the diffusion of the Anglican choral revival
• Appendix - Music performed by the Ecclesiological Motett Choir 1853-62
• Bibliography - Manuscripts
• Bibliography - General
• Index