THE ANGLICAN LITURGY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1740, 3 May 1913, Page 18

THE ANGLICAN LITURGY.

d PLEA FOR A LARGER USE OF THL s SPEAKIN'G VOICE. 9 t . In the Upper House of Convocation of -- Canterbury tho Bishop of Bilstol •- cave notice of a motion: Hi- ■° evidence of training m the production ot tho natural voice in public reading and 16 public speaking be regarded as a > , preliminary requirement for considoi ation 11 for admission to the oiaconatc. On Hie excellence of this prcposa there can- * not lie two opinions (says the Chuioli ,s Times"), though wo are inclined to thin* l c that, during tho last four or five years, V thc-re has Ireon some improvement 111 re- '• ."a'd to intelligent and intelligible rcadil" 'in" There was a tune, not so very long «*O, when tho liturgy was recited, with 1 an inarticulate booming which a strangm I mi"ht possibly have understood to be the Latin tongue, and the Lessons were Tcan lU as though the reader had no sense either - of the sacreduess or of 'the fine literature 5 of the Biblical books. Archdeacon Dcni('ill is =aid once to have complained, " when he heard a great passage from n Isaiah mumbled through as 1 it were an „ auctioneer's catalogue. It filled hmil, lie n caid wit'.i an intense longing to thrust tie th reader frairi the lectern. In .this connecns lion a word should lie said in, favoui of it a larger use of tho speaking voice in the nf celcbratbn of tho. Divine Liturgy. Cer■st tainly in parish churches it is much to be desired that certain portions should cease ho to be sung and should rather be read, rv Apart fr m the reasonableness of this ilv method, it is worthy of adoption for its ;s: bv rason con^ r t , co between the povltws with noto {bid tho gy portions without note We believe that ico tho average man is apt to be veaned in in too much musical recitation, and he would as- be far more, likely to take delight in a h® sung Mass if there w ere 111 it states where 'er (he ordinary voi-ve is used. At presen. ito is overdone. Why not try tho other "plan of doing things 111 modern"or tion ,J To touch upon another point, we ,io lrivo of late a mischievous extenl(lt eiou of the tyrannv of the organ, 'I here are churches we could name where the , lf! organist kfeps up an incessant oeeoniI,e l'aninient thrjughnut Matins und Lv-jn-to * nn , r _v e ,-=icli>s, Creed, Loid's Prayer, ami e\ervthi'ig in which he call assert liirn•v tel'." St. Paul's Cathedral set the bad example of .iconmpnn.viu.f the eebbran! in the Liturgical Preface ana we know of several London churches-there may !,e l0:i " others ehewhere—which have adopted this V: undesirable practice. One longs at times for th-> priest's chant to be varied with £ ordinary utterance, and for the choir to n sin" occasionally without accompaniment. The Bishop of Oxford writes 111 his "Diocesan Magazine"'"i cannot but fool that we do not pay enough attention to tho reading oi' the Lessons 111 church in- '• telligentlv and intelligibly. May I rccall sonic verv old rules given by Isidore ot Seville and often repealed in the Middle Ares? \fler emrneraiing mistakes secli as readers are apt to make, 113 goes 011:— fi,„ 'Lot the reader's voice ho simple and > clear, with sufficient variety of intona„f tion, full of a manly vigour, avoiding in ,mv promiiici-itio 1 which is vuigar 0;' II rustic; neither too low in pikh nor lea I high; 110'. clacked, and with nothing 11 . iiiim'Sii" or feminine about it; and let Ihe Jp reader >tand steady and erer',. with rn , • ..(.sli re. but (iiiii t. dignity, addiiwing himMdt not to Ihe eyes, lull lu the cars and the heart, of his hearers"

All automatic mnrluM? which Mifiplirri hot. water nt om* n<;i\iiy a imil is. now in oueratioii at SmitJifialii.