A Practical Discourse on Some Principles of Hymn-Singing

A Practical Discourse on Some Principles of Hymn-Singing

What St. Augustin says of the emotion which he felt on hearing the music in the Portian basilica at Milan in the year 386 has always seemed to me a good illustration of the relativity of musical expres-sion; I mean how much more its ethical significance depends on the musical experience of the hearer, than on any special accomplishment or intrinsic development of the art. Knowing of what kind that music must have been and how few resources of expression it can have had,–being rudimental in form, without suggestion of harmony, and in its performance unskilful, its probably nasal voice-production unmodi-fied by any accompaniment,–one marvels at his description,