| Carmina Sacra |
| Carmina Sacra: or Boston Collection of Church Music. Comprising the most popular Psalm and Hymn Tunes in general Use, together with a great Variety of New Tunes, Chants, Sentences, Motetts, and Anthems, principally by distinguished European Composers: the whole constituting one of the most complete Collections of Music for Choirs, Congregations, Singing Schools and Societies, extant. By Lowell Mason, Professor in the Boston Academy of Music; Editor of The Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music, The Choir or Union Collection, The Boston Academy's Collection, The Modern Psalmist, and various other musical works. Boston: published by Wilkins, Carter & Co.... 1844. |
| One certainly can't complain of Mason presenting himself and his work too bashfully. Although the title page date is 1844, Carmina Sacra's copyright is actually 1841. Like every tunebook, round and shaped-note, CS contains a basic canon of psalm and hymn tunes predating the early 19th century, a basic canon of his own tunes Mason saw fit to carry over from previous compilations, and a large supply of new tunes of every sort and very many meters. "Every well organized choir, if kept up with interest, must have a constant succession of new music; without this there will be no advancement. The same principle applies in every other case. The progress of things is ever onward, and why should it be expected that a choir of singers must remain satisfied with singing over for any considerable length of time, the same tunes, any more than a literary community should be satisfied with reading over and over the same books?" This from the man responsible for around 1,200 new tunes and arrangements in his own lifetime--perhaps assuming that as time passed, his earlier work, at least in part, would become obsolete and go unsung at last. |
| But here comes an attempt at revival. What do I recommend in Carmina Sacra's case? Allenza, for one. Massah, and Mount Nebo for others. Iceland, and Peters. And sometimes not! Best wishes as you discover your own likes and dislikes in Carmina Sacra. |