REITERATIVE VOCAL MUSIC.
A well-known reviewer, in an article on Hymnology, says:—
Who could endure to hear and sing hymns, the meaning and force of which he really felt—set, as they frequently have been, to melodies from the Opera, and even worse, or massacred by the repetition of the end of each stanza, no matter whether or not the grammar and sense were consistent with it. Take such memorable cases of incongruity as:—
“My poor pol—
My pool pol—
My poor polluted heart.”
To which he might have added from Dr. Watts:—
“And see Sal—see Sal—see Salvation nigh.”
Or this to the same common metre tune, “Miles’s Lane”:—
“Where my Sal—my Sal—my Salvation stands.”
Or this when sung to “Job”:—
“And love thee Bet—
And love thee better than before.”
Or—
“Stir up this stu—
Stir up this stupid heart to pray.”
Or this crowning absurdity:—
“And more eggs—more eggs—more exalts our joys.”
This to the tune of “Aaron” 7’s:—
“With thy Benny—
With thy benediction seal.”
This has recently been added in a fashionable metropolitan church:—
“And take thy pil—
And take thy pilgrim home.”
And further havoc is made with language and sense thus:—
“Before his throne we bow—wow—wow—ow—wow.”
And—
“I love to steal
I love to steal—awhile away.”
And—
“O, for a man—
O, for a mansion in the skies.”
To which we may add:—
“And we’ll catch the flea—
And we’ll catch the flee—ee—eeting hour.”
Two trebles sing, “And learn to kiss”; two trebles and alto, “And learn to kiss”; two trebles, alto, and tenor, “And learn to kiss”; the bass, solus, “the rod.”
This is sung to a tune called “Boyce”:—
“Thou art my bull—
Thou art my bulwark and defence.”