Hymns for the Home
The B.B.C. Hymn Book. (Oxford University Press for the B.B.C. With music us. 6d., words only 6s.) To produce a new hymn book at the present time must surely be worse than venial sin. For there are already three or four or even five hymn books all soliciting general approval and sharing it fairly evenly, with the result that none of them can have that tremendous circulation which alone can make them cheap, and with hymn books cheapness is essential. In the days when the Hymns Ancient and Modern had more or less swept the board, the proprietors were able to provide their book in twenty different styles to suit the taste, the eye-sight and the purse of every church-goer ; and if one did not take a hymn book with one, the churchwarden provided a decent. copy. All this is not so easy now, and may become very difficult. And the compilers of new hymn books will be to blame. It will serve them right, though others must suffer too.
But the B.B.C. have a perfect alibi. They claim to have produced a book not for church but for the home. They say that a vast number of people listen to the broadcast services. If so, they will certainly want to join in, and now they can do so most conveniently. The frustrated soprano, who ruins all the church services she attends. can now sing loud, and with the music edition more or less correctly
(if her relations will let her). The quavering voice of age need no longer be diffident. Youth can carol joyous and uninhibited. Whether church attendance will suffer is a doubtful point. More threatening is the danger of getting into a rut. The B.B.C. will be bound to stick to their own hymns, and they wield enormous power. It may be more and more difficult to get outside their book.
The contents are therefore of the utmost importance, and it is worth remarking at once that, as far as the words go, it seems to be for the most part a very conservative and orthodox book. It will probably wear very well. But it is in practice the tunes that make or mar a hymn book, and these have to pass a much severer test than the words, since the general public at the present day knows a great deal more about music than about verse. It certainly looks as if Bach and Bourgeois and some of the eighteenth-century men have come to stay. But what of the English traditional melodies or the French melodies which made such an impression a generation ago ? Are they a permanent accession or a passing phase in hymn- singing ? And what of the new men ? The musical editors of the B.B.C. Hymn Book have contributed 59 tunes between them. No doubt they feel that they know what is wanted.
The compilers have exploited some new ideas. They have put at the end of the book 44 items which they call Choir Settings. These are pieces which are not infrequently heard in church, but are too difficult to be really appropriate to a congregational service. They will be much appreciated when sung by a small B.B.C. choir or quartet. In church, more questionably, a choir which thinks it is getting rather good will find an outlet and a stimulus in attempting them before a sitting congregation. But the real importance of this section is the relegation of such pieces. Hymn-singing is at present greatly threatened by improvements at the hands of composers and musicologists, when it is really the business of organists and clergy- men. It may be questioned whether there is any such thing as a good high-brow hymn. Hymn-singing is essentially folk-song, and you might just as well attempt a high-brow ballad as a high-brow • hymn. Donne and Vaughan are fascinating poets, but they should be kept out of the hymn books. It is a good sign that the B.B.C. Hymn Book keeps them out—almost.
There are separate sections of metrical psalms and Bible para- phrases. These might perhaps have been incorporated in the main part of the book with advantage. And in one way the compilers have been reactionary. They have gone back to an attempt to classify the hymns according to theme instead of according to occa- sion. The table of contents is depressing, and in any case one does not want to be told how to approach a hymn. Faber's My God, how wonderful thou art (No. 12) appears under the heading "God the Eternal Father, His Nature, Providence, and-Works," when to many it is just an act of personal love and worship which needs no interpretation. It is not good enough that under the heading " Worship, Thanksgiving and Love " a final note in very small print says that many hymns in the section Nos. 1-22 are suitable. Actually' it rather looks as if all this attempted classification is to avoid having General Hymns, a fad on a par with always having Special Services, and everyone knows how intolerable that becomes. The preface to the book tells us that all the hymns are classified under definite head- ings. This can only limit their effect upon the spirit.
No hymn book ii perfect, but this is certainly a very good one. It will add greatly to the attractions and usefulness of the religious items in the B.B.C. programmes. It will, of course, have an immense influence, and that influence will be almost entirely sound.
ADAM Fox.
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