87 We were surprised to find that we had written “_diminished_” seventh
for the chord _Sol, Si, Re, Fa_, in our last article. The
accompanying example, however, showed our meaning, and, for
musicians, corrected the error.
88 We would also like to know why “church music” introduced by
composers into their operas is so unlike the music they have
composed for the church.
89 A marked characteristic of Gregorian chant, Rousseau, in his _Essai
sur l’Origine des Langues_, examining the influence of music,
observes: “Thus melody, beginning _to be less adherent to speech_,
took, insensibly, a separate existence, and music became more
independent of the words. As a consequence, little by little those
prodigies which it had produced while it was only the accent and the
harmony of poetry, and which gave to it that power to subdue the
passions which it would in the future exercise only upon the reason,
ceased.”
90 “And when they had said a hymn, they went forth unto the Mount of
Olives.” “Id est, hymno cantato,” says Estius; and also S.
Augustine: “Ubi non est cantus, non est hymnus;” and S. Chrysostom:
“Hymnum cecinit, ut et nos similiter faciamus.” Suppose the Passion
to have taken place in our day, would our Lord and his disciples
have sung their “Communio” _à la_ Mozart, _alla_ Palestrina, or in
the style of Gregorian Chant? “_Et nos similiter faciamus._”
91 Come to his assistance, all ye saints of God; meet him, all ye
angels of God; receive his soul, and present it before the Lord. May
Jesus Christ, who called thee, receive thee, and may the angels
conduct thee to the bosom of Abraham.
92 Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord! and let perpetual light shine
upon them.
93 May the angels conduct thee to paradise; in thy coming may the
martyrs receive thee and lead thee into the holy city Jerusalem. May
the chorus of angels receive thee, and with Lazarus, once poor,
mayest thou obtain eternal rest.
94 _Bothwell: A Tragedy._ By Algernon Charles Swinburne. London: Chatto
& Windus. 1874.
95 _Alexander the Great_: A Dramatic Poem. By Aubrey de Vere. London:
H. S. King & Co. 1874. New York: The Catholic Publication Society.