Church History
5/6/25
Schaff, Philip. (2014). "Chapter VIII. Christian Art." In History of the Christian Church. (The Complete Eight Volumes in One). Volume 3, Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity A.D. 311-600, from Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great. (pp. 2269-2327). (Original work published 1889). Amazon Kindle Edition. (Personal Library). (sections 102-116).
"§115. The Latin Hymn." (pp. 2312-2315).
Latin hymnody is more important in the Middle Ages than Greek hymnody. Schaff finds it to lead more directly toward the music of Protestantism (Schaff 2014, p. 2312). In Schaff's opinion, much of the best of the Latin hymnody has been naturalized into Protestant use. Orthodox Christianity, notably represented by Hilary and Ambrose, used hymnody to defend against heretical doctrines.
Schaff also considers the Christian hymnody to have moved customs of Latin poetry from an emphasis on meter based on length of syllable to meter based on stress accent, as well as, at least occasionally, on rhyme (Schaff 2014, p. 2313). This moved the poetry more into a musical direction, in his opinion, in popular usage, particularly by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Schaff 2014, p. 2314). In this time we also begin to see descriptions and classifications of meters as used in Latin hymnody (Schaff 2014, p. 2315).
"§116. The Latin Poets and Hymns." (pp. 2315-2326).
Schaff illustrates the growth of Latin hymnody by briefly discussing a number of writers and their more prominent compositions. He does observe that all were significant theologians as well (Schaff 2014, p. 2316). Schaff provides substantial samples of texts, in Latin and English, illustrating the development of Latin usage through the period.
We can observe that the Latin texts Schaff reproduces show stress rather than metrical predictability, though he does not point out the elisions which clarify the stress. To gain a clear picture it is necessary to compare the metric scansion of lines to the location of stress accents. The stress accents are not always on long syllables, though they often are. Melodic practices, rather than a plain chant, show themselves after the time of Ambrose, leading toward recognizable chorale type melodies (Schaff 2014, p. 2320).
Schaff describes a groundbreaking development in the work of Venantius fortunatus, who died about 600. He developed the use of the trochaic tetrameter, which is the staple of hymnody from the medieval period onward (Schaff 2014, p. 2322). Again, a comparison of the rhythmic meter to the stress accent meter is required to get a clear picture of the development. Of particular note is Fortunatus' grouping of poetic lines into stanzas. This has remained a common practice to the current time.
For those who are not familiar with this poetic meter, I observe the longs and shorts, which then became the stressed and unstressed syllables, using dots and dashes.
._ ._ ._ ._ //
._ ._ ._ ._ //
._ ._ ._ ._ //
._ ._ ._ ._ //
A typical stanza of four such lines can be found in much later Latin hymnody. With little, if any, variation, the meter is perfectly normal for use in English, as well as other Western languages. In its typical four line stanzas, most hymnals will indicate it as "CM" for "Common Meter."
5/6/25
Schaff, Philip. (2014). "Chapter VIII. Christian Art." In History of the Christian Church. (The Complete Eight Volumes in One). Volume 3, Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity A.D. 311-600, from Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great. (pp. 2269-2327). (Original work published 1889). Amazon Kindle Edition. (Personal Library). (sections 102-116).
"§115. The Latin Hymn." (pp. 2312-2315).
Latin hymnody is more important in the Middle Ages than Greek hymnody. Schaff finds it to lead more directly toward the music of Protestantism (Schaff 2014, p. 2312). In Schaff's opinion, much of the best of the Latin hymnody has been naturalized into Protestant use. Orthodox Christianity, notably represented by Hilary and Ambrose, used hymnody to defend against heretical doctrines.
Schaff also considers the Christian hymnody to have moved customs of Latin poetry from an emphasis on meter based on length of syllable to meter based on stress accent, as well as, at least occasionally, on rhyme (Schaff 2014, p. 2313). This moved the poetry more into a musical direction, in his opinion, in popular usage, particularly by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Schaff 2014, p. 2314). In this time we also begin to see descriptions and classifications of meters as used in Latin hymnody (Schaff 2014, p. 2315).
"§116. The Latin Poets and Hymns." (pp. 2315-2326).
Schaff illustrates the growth of Latin hymnody by briefly discussing a number of writers and their more prominent compositions. He does observe that all were significant theologians as well (Schaff 2014, p. 2316). Schaff provides substantial samples of texts, in Latin and English, illustrating the development of Latin usage through the period.
We can observe that the Latin texts Schaff reproduces show stress rather than metrical predictability, though he does not point out the elisions which clarify the stress. To gain a clear picture it is necessary to compare the metric scansion of lines to the location of stress accents. The stress accents are not always on long syllables, though they often are. Melodic practices, rather than a plain chant, show themselves after the time of Ambrose, leading toward recognizable chorale type melodies (Schaff 2014, p. 2320).
Schaff describes a groundbreaking development in the work of Venantius fortunatus, who died about 600. He developed the use of the trochaic tetrameter, which is the staple of hymnody from the medieval period onward (Schaff 2014, p. 2322). Again, a comparison of the rhythmic meter to the stress accent meter is required to get a clear picture of the development. Of particular note is Fortunatus' grouping of poetic lines into stanzas. This has remained a common practice to the current time.
For those who are not familiar with this poetic meter, I observe the longs and shorts, which then became the stressed and unstressed syllables, using dots and dashes.
._ ._ ._ ._ //
._ ._ ._ ._ //
._ ._ ._ ._ //
._ ._ ._ ._ //
A typical stanza of four such lines can be found in much later Latin hymnody. With little, if any, variation, the meter is perfectly normal for use in English, as well as other Western languages. In its typical four line stanzas, most hymnals will indicate it as "CM" for "Common Meter."
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