Des sollen wir alle froh sein,

Christ will unser Trost sein,

Kyrie Eleison.

But even though the people sang these hymns in the church services, such singing was merely tolerated and had no set place. These German hymns of the people were different from the Latin hymns of the cloisters. They possess a more simple, popular and hearty key-note, though their form may be poor and their style rugged. But these hymns, with their singable tunes, were greatly loved by the people, and so they lived and thrived in the hearts of the common people during the deplorable times and conditions of the mediaeval Church. The secular Minnesingers (thirteenth century) and the Meistersingers (fourteenth century) exerted considerable influence upon German hymnody, especially with respect to poetic form and music. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the “Brethren of the Common Life” (Netherlands) and the significant religious movements associated with John Wycliffe and John Huss gave to hymnody in the vernacular a powerful revival and a purer evangelical content. Desirable Latin hymns were translated and new hymns in the vernacular were written. The Germans and the Bohemians possessed, before 1500, about five hundred church hymns in the vernacular. In the fifteenth century the Bohemians sang these hymns in the regular church services.

MEDIAEVAL SCANDINAVIAN HYMNODY

Because of the close connection which existed in mediaeval times between Germanic countries and peoples,—a natural outcome of their racial affinity,—it was quite natural that the movements of mediaeval hymnody in Germany would become known among the people of the North. The Swedish mediaeval Church possessed a hymnody both in Latin and in Swedish. Only a very few of the Swedish mediaeval religious songs remain to-day. These popular religious songs, like secular folk songs and ballads, were transmitted not in writing but as a living tradition on the lips of the people from generation to generation. Thus only very few of these old Swedish religious songs have survived the century of the Reformation. By way of example we may note the old mediaeval song, “The blessed day which we behold”—this is found in all Swedish Lutheran hymn books. It existed in the fourteenth century. In its present form it has been greatly improved by the greatest of Swedish hymnologists, J. O. Wallin. Ericus Olai is the only known Swedish hymn writer of mediaeval times. One of his hymns, “The Rich Man,” a metrical paraphrase of the Gospel lesson which deals with the rich man and Lazarus, Olaus Petri, the great Swedish reformer, included in the first Swedish Lutheran hymn book. It was also included in the Swedish Lutheran hymn book of 1695. An interesting and valuable testimony concerning the fact that also in the Swedish mediaeval Church the people were allowed to sing in public worship, is found in the answer that King Gustavus I gave to the complaint of the Dalecarlians, in 1527. Among other things, the king says that “it is an old custom in our country, in our churches, to sing in Swedish and praise God, and it is well that this is done in our own language, which we understand, and not in Latin, which we do not understand.”

THE SEQUENCES

The Sequences were religious liturgical songs, which developed from the florid vocalizations upon the last syllable of the Hallelujah. At first only a melody or tune with words, but later on it became an art form both in music and in sacred poetry. Musically often of finer quality than the hymn. The Sequences usually consisted of two verses, three lines to each verse, with the same melody for each of the two verses. The form seems to have originated at the convent of St. Gall in Switzerland, about 875 A. D. During the later part of the mediaeval era the Sequences became very popular, and the number of Sequences that were sung in the Catholic Church reached nearly one thousand. The church music decisions of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) operated very strongly against the Sequences, and so they practically disappeared about 1570. Only five Sequences were retained, namely, Victime paschali laudes, Veni Sancte Spiritus, Lauda Sion salvatorem, Stabat Mater dolorosa, and Dies Irae.

ST. GALL

We close our study of mediaeval hymnody with a story about St. Gall. St. Gall is a very remarkable old monastery. Men of quite different minds and dispositions got along very amicably under the Benedictine rule at St. Gall. Among its one hundred monks there were in the ninth century four monks whose names were well known throughout the Western Church, namely, the learned Ratpert, the enthusiastic Notker, the highly gifted and greatly admired artist Tutilo, and the unrivalled hand-printer of books, Sintram, whose very beautiful handwriting was greatly admired throughout Europe. Ratpert, a stern educator, never sparing the rod, and not deeply interested in his devotional exercises—a great scholar. Notker Balbulus (stammerer), the saint-like, ascetic tune-writer and plant specialist, who had strange visions and lived in another world—a dreamer. Then there was also the ingenious, humorous Tutilo. These three monks were as different as three highly gifted persons could be, and yet they were always as one soul. Ratpert respected Tutilo’s fine scholarship; at night they were often found with Notker Balbulus in the writing-room, comparing and improving the works that Sintram was about to copy. Notker who wrote many fine hymn tunes, wanted them sung by Tutilo who was a good singer and clever performer upon several musical instruments. Tutilo wrote several excellent hymn tunes, and he also produced several noble hymns of which the most popular are Hodie cantandus, Viri Galilei, and Gaudete et cantate.