THE CHAPEL ROYAL.
THE Morning Post informs us that the Queen is dissatisfied with the manner in which the musical part of the service is performed at her Chapel in St. James's, and that a Chapter is to be held forthwith in order to concert measures for its amendment. This, we venture to predict, will end in nothing. The evil is too deeply seated to be eradicated by the persons who will have to deal with it. In fact, they are the cul- prits. It is by them that incompetency has been preferred to merit— it is by the Dean and his coadjutors that the whole thing is governed : they appoint every member of the Choir—Organists, (I)Composers, (n) Vicars Choral, and. Lay Vicars : they job and they intrigue. And will they now stultify their own acts, and declare their own ignorance or trickery? Not they. The Chapel Royal was long the sacred fountain whence classical music sprung: it was the nursery of all that was great and noble in the musical art. If we except what PURCELL wrote for his choir at the Abbey, it will be found that almost all our finest church music origi- nated in the Chapel Royal: witness the compositions of Temas, BYRD, BLOW, HUMPHRIES, CLARKE, GIBBONS, CROFT, GREENE, and BoyeE. During the long succession of years embraced by the lives of these accomplished musicians, extending from the reign of HENRY the Eighth to that of GEORGE the Third, the cathedral music of this country was receiving constant additions ; and to their labours we owe the unrivalled collection of which our church can boast. The Chapel Royal is now a sort of "refuge for the destitute "—a kind of asylum for imbecility ; into which merit seeks admittance in vain, and whose doors are only open to dirty intrigue or crawling subserviency. Take, for example, the place of Composer to the Queen-.--a place created by WILLIAM the Third as a means of securing for the Chapel Royal the first musical talent in the kingdom ; a fit reward of acknow- ledged eminence and a stimulus to future exertion. The duties of the Composer to the King or Queen are clearly defined—he is to com- pose an Anthem or Service for his first Sunday in waiting every year: and this duty has been performed by every successive occupant of the place till now. BLow was the first musician appointed to the office : then came Caorr, GREENE, BOYCE, DUPUIS, and Arrwoon ; and to their appointment we owe the masterly and ample collection of church music which they have bequeathed us. This place is now converted into a sinecure. Sir GEORGE SMART has never written, and it requires no prophetic gift to foretell that he never will write, an Anthem or a Service. The Bishop of London, for reasons best known to himself and his protege, appointed a man notoriously incompetent. The Queen intended that the place, vacant by ATrwoon's death, should have been given to Bisnop,—to whom her wish was actually signified : but the patronage was claimed by CHARLES JAMES of London, and her Majesty's judicious choice was overruled.
Can we wonder, while the Chapel Royal is thus degraded into an arena for dirty intrigue, that its choir should degenerate ; or that, from being the admiration of every true musician, it should become a byword and a disgrace? The musical appointments are now the worst 111 the Me- tropolis. If the Choirs of the Abbey and St. Paul's are feeble and inef- fective compared to what they once were, the high character, correct taste, and masterly execution of their Organists, gives them reputation : but the Chapel Royal is disgraced by equal incompetency at the keys and in the choir. We shall be told that HOBBS, VAUGHAN, and HORN- CASTLE are members of the latter: but three voices, however excellent, are not a choir; and these are usually heard in connexion (not in com- bination) with other members, who either never could sing, or whose opportunities of vocal display ought long since to have ceased. The degenerate character of the Chapel Royal service is apparent not only its choir, but pervades the music habitually performed. Feeble- ness and poverty are manifest throughout. Our great authors are neglected; the master spirits, whose genius and presence once animated the place, are mute. PencELL and GIBBONS are superseded by KENT and ARNOLD. All is second-rate or third-rate : and so it will remain. What can this " Chapter " do? What know they of the affair on which they are to deliberate? Nothing. And if they did, how is the work of reform to be accomplished? The "incompetents," appointed by the very men who are now to make a show of sitting in judgment upon them, hold their places for life, with power to " deputize " their duty. They will laugh the Chapter to scorn. "Are you the persons," they will say, "to find fault with our singing and our playing? Why, you selected us. You might have chosen where you pleased, and you chose us. A fig for your censures." And so will end the "Chapter."
Previous page
