by Fred Moleck
Good Reasons for a History of American Church Music
Last week I described a consultation in which I participated that addressed the issue that there is no respectable—let alone definitive—history of American church music.The history books on American music that are in library stacks or on the shelves of us church musicians over fifty give some recognition to the Bay Psalm Book of 1640 and the New England composers William Billings, Dudley Buck, and Horatio Parker.
No recognition is given to the music of the Spanish missions in the United States, Central America, and South America; the French Jesuits’ missionary activity with native music in Canada; or the nineteenth-century immigrant churches’ liturgies in the United States.
Here are some of the reasons why.
The past fifty years have seen the development of studies in ethnomusicology—the study of folk music and non-Western music. Before ethnomusicology was named ethnomusicology, such studies were called “comparative musicology.”
In other words, all other musical systems were the canon for analyzing and judging any particular musical systems.
No matter how hard the musicologist tried, he or she just couldn’t fit Indian ragas into the diatonic scale.
The woman sitting on her front porch in Logan County, West Virginia, could not sing one da capo aria.
Today, that type of judgment would be unconscionable. There are numerous universities that offer a course or two in ethnomusicology. Some even grant a graduate degree in ethnomusicological studies.
Let’s look at one major breakthrough in the organ world.
Fifty years ago not many people cared about music in the Spanish settlements of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Today, extant organs and their repertory from those periods are one of the major foci among musicological organ aficionados and for good reason.
Look at these eye-openers:
The Oaxaca cathedral
constructed 1544 as a provisional cathedral
The organ
built in 1545, then relocated to the present cathedral site in 1560; in 1711 another organ built after the earthquake of 1696
Santo Domingo Yanhuitlan
constructed 1548
The organ
built ca. 1700
San Jeronimo Tlacochahuaya
constructed 1558
The organ
built ca. 1725–1730
A few thousand miles south in Brazil in the Mariana cathedral is an Arp Schnitger organ.
Yes, I said, “Arp Schnitger,” organ people. Apparently, Arp Schnitger built two organs in 1701 for use in Portugal. In 1753 one was installed in the Mariana cathedral in state of Minas Gerais.
If you are not one of the organ people, then you’ll need to know that Arp Schnitger (1648–1719) was the high-powered organ builder in Bach’s day. To have one of his organs in the southern hemisphere is astounding.
These examples of early organs in Mexico years before the Plimouth Colonie began their invasion deserve serious study and serious performance.
There are some bright lights. Dr. James Welch, university organist at Santa Clara University, California, performs a wonderful recital entitled “South of the Border,” which includes his talking about the colonial organs and their makers, plus some period pieces and contemporary compositions. His program is all “south of the border,” spanning four hundred years.
Another example of extensive music study and awareness is the publication of some sixteenth-century liturgical books in Mexico, such as an Augustinian Ordinarium (1556), a Psalterium, an Antiphonarium (1584), and a Graduale (1576), indicating an advanced liturgical scene that had a need for such choir resources.
Mind you, the dates are at least fifty years before the Bay Psalm Book in New England.
At another time, I'll rant about the choirs of colonial Mexico (New Spain) and the Jesuits’ activity in Canada (New France).
This little dab of music and its use in Roman Catholic liturgical worship is just the tip of a mountain of research and analysis to help broaden the history of American church music.
Necessary to the success of this campaign is the performance element. Musicological research and archaeology need to have a performing arm to help create a better understanding of what the music of the Americas is all about.
Creating the musical ethos is essential to a fully honest and humane understanding of the music of any targeted population.
Just think. What music you are doing and how you are doing it could very well be scrutinized by some music study group in the future.
So, choose your program carefully. You could end up as a footnote in “The History of American Church Music” volume II.
You can reach Fred Moleck via email at fmoleck@earthlink.net