Chapter XV: The Sacred Painters and Composers (2)

Queen Isabella of the Peace, about 1560, in order to please the Franciscans, to which order her confessor belonged, ordered a statue of the Virgin to be executed for a gift to them, and the best sculptor in Spain was to receive the commission. Becerra was chosen; but after a year's work the Queen was not pleased, and the image was rejected. The next attempt was better, and it pleased the friars, who said it was worthy of Michael Angelo; but the Queen again rejected it. The Franciscans thereupon betook themselves to redoubled Masses and fasting, and the poor artist racked his memory and imagination for ideas of angelic grace and Divine beauty. Sitting one night in his studio, after much anxious thought, he fell into a slumber, and was aroused by an unknown voice saying to him, "Awake and arise, and out of that log of wood blazing on the hearth shape the thought within thee, and thou shalt obtain the desired image." He immediately arose, plucked the log from the fire and fell to work upon it, and it proved to be an excellent piece of timber, and in time it grew under his hands into a miracle of art, and became the portentous image of Our Lady of Solitude, which is to this day had in reverence, and in which are expressed beauty, grief, love, tenderness, constancy, and resignation. The Queen at last acknowledged the carving was to her mind. The Virgin was dressed in sable garb and placed in the convent of the Minim Fathers at Madrid, and became renowned for her miraculous powers. Another artist, named Joannes, was engaged by the friars to paint the Virgin, and his first sketches were unsuccessful; but he and his employers betook themselves to religious exercises, and many holy men joined them in their prayers. Every day the artist confessed and communicated before commencing his labours. At last his piety and perseverance overcame all difficulties. It was acknowledged to be of great excellence, and amongst the friars it was soon famous for its miraculous powers.

MICHAEL ANGELO, PAINTER AND SCULPTOR (1564).

Michael Angelo, who was equally celebrated as a painter and sculptor of the first class, as well as architect, was born in 1475. His Madonnas and Holy Families and Christs are all admirable. In 1507 he began frescoes, and afterwards paintings for the Sistine Chapel and Pauline Chapel at Rome. In 1547 he was appointed architect to St. Peter's at Rome, and at his death in 1564 was succeeded in the latter office by Raphael. Michael Angelo was a man of spare figure and extraordinary activity. When he was at work he was satisfied with a scrap of bread and a drop of wine, which he took without breaking off the business in hand. He lived in this frugal way up to the time when he began his last pictures in the Sistine Chapel at Rome. He was then old, and allowed himself only a simple meal at the end of the day. He used sometimes to remain for whole months absorbed in meditation, without touching a brush or chisel; then, when he had elaborated his composition, he set to work as if inspired by a fury. Vasari says his imagination was so lofty that his hands could not express his sublime thoughts. Generally he used to put an idea hurriedly on paper, then take up each detail, and finish it as he proceeded. He would sometimes draw the same head ten or twelve times over before he was satisfied with it. He took very little sleep, and used often to get up in the night to work out a sudden fancy. He used to wear a sort of cardboard helmet, which he contrived so as to hold a light, and thus the part on which he worked was illumined without his hands being encumbered. He had a round head, high temples, a broad, square forehead, with seven lines straight across it, and a nose disfigured by a blow from the fist of Torrigiano, who, being jealous of him as a student, picked a quarrel with him, and thereby left this mark.

THE GREAT SCULPTOR'S MASTERPIECES (MICHAEL ANGELO, 1564).

Vasari, a contemporary of Michael Angelo, says of his Pieta, a marble figure of the Virgin (now in the chapel of Santa Maria della Febbre at Rome), that no sculptor, however distinguished an artist, could add a single grace or improve it by whatever pains he might take, whether in elegance and delicacy, or force, or careful execution, nor could any surpass the art which the sculptor has here exhibited. In like manner the marble figure of his dead Christ exhibits the very perfection of faithful execution in every muscle, vein, and nerve. There was besides a most exquisite expression in the countenance, and the limbs and veins and pulses are admirably arranged. The love and care which the sculptor had given to this group were such that he there left his name--a thing he never did again for any work--on the cincture which girdles the robe of Our Lady. The reason of this was, that one day he entered the chapel and heard a group of strangers praising it highly, and when one asked the other who was the artist, it was attributed at once to a person called the Hunchback of Milan. The real artist remained silent, but one night soon after he repaired to the chapel with a light and chisel, and engraved his name on the figure of the Madonna, whose "beauty and goodness, piety and grief, dead in the living marble," are so well spoken of by the poet. This work brought Michael Angelo great fame. Certain stupid people did indeed affirm at the time that he has made Our Lady too young, but that is because they fail to perceive the fact that unspotted maidens long preserve the youthfulness of their aspect, while persons afflicted, as Christ was, do the contrary. The youth of the Madonna therefore did but add to the credit of the master.

SATISFYING A CRITIC OF THE FAULTLESS (MICHAEL ANGELO, 1564).

Vasari, the biographer and pupil, says that when Michael Angelo had set up his colossal marble statue of David, it chanced that Soderini, whom it greatly pleased, came to look at it while the artist was giving a few last touches, and told him that he thought the nose too short. Michael Angelo perceived that Soderini was in such a position beneath the figure that he could not see it conveniently, yet to satisfy him he mounted the scaffold with his chisel and a little powder which he had picked up from the floor. He then struck the nose a few times very gently, but without altering anything, and took care to let some of the powder fall down at the same time, and told the critic to look at it now. "I like it better now," replied Soderini; "you have given it life." The sculptor then came down, not without compassion for that class of people who desire to appear good judges of what they do not understand. Vasari says he may truly affirm that this surpasses all others, whether ancient or modern, Greek or Latin; neither the Marforio at Rome, the Tiber and the Nile in the Belvedere, nor the giants of Monte Cavallo can be compared to such a model of beauty and excellence. The outline of the lower limbs is most exquisite. The connection of each limb with the body is faultless, and the spirit of the whole form is divine. Never since has there been produced so fine an attitude, so perfect a grace, such beauty of head, feet, and hands; every part is replete with excellence; nor is so much harmony and admirable art to be found in any other work. He that has seen this, therefore, need not care to see any production else, whether of that age or of any preceding it.

MICHAEL ANGELO'S LAST JUDGMENT (1564).

Michael Angelo when commissioned by the Pope to finish the paintings of the Sistine Chapel executed two vast frescoes for the ends of the chapel, one on "The Last Judgment," and the other "The Fall of the Angels." "The Last Judgment" was begun in 1533, but was not finished till 1541. Though containing some groups powerfully painted, there were many adverse critics as to the general style and some of the details of this performance. The Pope's master of the ceremonies, Biagio, was very severe in his comments, and when asked by the Pope what he thought of this painting, the former replied that he thought it was a shameless exhibition of naked figures, more fit for a bathing-house or a beershop than a church. Michael Angelo heard of this criticism, and one day when alone he put in a likeness of the unfortunate master of ceremonies among the damned under a representation of Minos. The resemblance was so striking that all Rome went to see it. Biagio being furious went and complained to the Pope, who asked where Michael Angelo had put him in the picture. "In hell," he replied. "Alas!" rejoined Pope Paul, with a smile, "if he had only put you in purgatory, I could have got you out; but as you are in hell, I can do nothing for you. My power does not reach so far as that."

VARGAS'S DEVOTION TO SACRED ART (1568).

Vargas of Seville painted for the cathedral in 1555 a picture of the Nativity, which still forms the altarpiece of the little chapel dedicated to that event. The Virgin Mother might have been sketched by the pure pencil of Raphael. The peasant who kneels at her feet with his offering of a basket of doves is a study from Nature, painted with much of the force and freedom of the later masters of Seville; and many of the accessories, such as the head of the goat dragged in by the shepherd and the sheaf of corn and pack-saddle, are finished with Flemish accuracy. He also painted "Christ going to Calvary," and many saints and martyrs and female heads of much purity and grace. Vargas died in 1568, having been distinguished for his modesty, kindness, and devotion to religion. After his death there were found in his chamber the scourges with which he practised self-flagellation, and a coffin wherein he was wont to lie down in the hours of solitude and repose and consider his latter end. He had much wit and humour; and once, when asked by a brother painter his opinion of a very badly painted Saviour on the cross, Vargas said, "Methinks He is saying, 'Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do.'"

TITIAN'S HEAD OF CHRIST (1576).

Titian painted his great picture of "The Tribute Money," now in the Dresden Gallery, in answer to a taunt that Venetian art had no finish. This picture has commanded the admiration of four centuries for the Godlike beauty and calm majesty of Christ's countenance. His lips seem to be parting with the question, "Whose is this image and superscription?" while the fingers point gracefully to the coin in the rough hand of his cunning tempter, whose face shows the low self-satisfaction with which he thinks he has outwitted the Master. Vasari says this head of Christ is "stupendous and miraculous"; its conscious sublimity of expressive attitude and movement are well set off by the sharp and cunning profile of the rough and weather-beaten questioner, who is so keen to foil a higher nature. This is thought to be the most perfect picture from the hand of Titian. He painted another great picture in his old age of "Christ at Emmaus," gorgeous in colour and masterly in its attitudes and expression.

TITIAN'S PAINTING OF THE TRIBUTE MONEY (1576).

Scanelli tells the condition under which this renowned picture by Titian was produced. Titian was visited on a certain occasion by a company of German travellers, who were allowed to look at the pictures in his studio. On being asked what impression these works conveyed, these gentlemen declared that they knew of one master only who was capable of finishing as they thought paintings ought to be finished, and that was Durer. Their impression was, that Venetian compositions invariably fell below the promise which they had given at the first. To these observations Titian smilingly replied that, if he had thought extreme finish to be the end and aim of art, he too would have fallen into the excesses of Durer. But though long experience had taught him to prefer a broad and even track to a narrow and intricate path, yet he would still take occasion to show that the subtlest detail might be compassed without sacrifice of breadth, and so produced the Christ of the tribute money. All the artists of his time thought this the most perfect work of Titian. The contrast is sublime between the majestic calm and elevation, the Godlike beauty, of Christ and the low cunning and crafty, coarse air of the Pharisee who questions Him. The marble smoothness and fair complexion of Christ's skin is contrasted with the rough, tanned, and weather-beaten skin of the other.

A DIFFIDENT ARTIST OF SACRED PICTURES REASSURED (ADRIANO, 1630).

At Cordova, in Spain, Adriano, a lay brother of the barefooted Carmelites, and who died in 1630, excelled in sacred art, and executed a great picture of the Crucifixion in which the Virgin and Mary Magdalene were leading figures; and this work is preserved in the convent there. This artist was so diffident of himself that he used to deface or destroy his pictures as soon as he had executed them. And so uniform was this practice with him that his friends took occasion to intercede with him for the preservation of his many valuable productions in the name of the souls in purgatory, knowing his attachment to the holy offices in their behalf. By this mode of exorcism the destroying spirit, which his self-dissatisfaction and fastidiousness conjured up, was happily kept in check; and the above and other valuable pictures were, thanks to the souls in purgatory, saved and preserved for the consolation of the living.

RUBENS'S GREAT PICTURES (1577-1640).

The cathedral of Notre Dame at Antwerp contains the masterpiece of Rubens, "The Descent from the Cross," hung in the south transept. The picture is now somewhat misty and has been retouched in some places. The greatest peculiarity is the white sheet on which the body of Jesus lies, and which enhances the colouring. The Christ is said to be one of the finest figures ever invented, and the hanging of the head is exquisitely rendered. Two of the three Marys have more beauty than Rubens usually gives to female figures. The principal light comes from the white sheet. It was said that this picture was given in exchange for a piece of ground on which Rubens built his house; the original agreement was for one picture of St. Christopher, but Rubens gave them five, including that subject. Another picture of Rubens's in the north transept is "The Elevation of the Cross," which is full of life and interesting attitudes, and the horses are spirited. A third picture is the "Assumption of the Virgin," which was painted in sixteen days. A fourth picture is the "Resurrection of the Saviour," where Christ is represented coming out of the tomb in great splendour, the soldiers terrified and falling over each other in their confusion. In the museum at Antwerp is "The Crucifixion of Christ between the two Thieves," by Rubens, where the figures are drawn and grouped with consummate art. The Magdalene is a leading character, and the good centurion is also represented. This is one of the first pictures of the world for composition, colouring, and correctness of drawing. Other sacred pictures of Rubens are to be seen in this collection.

THE MONKS GETTING A BARGAIN OF A PICTURE (TRISTAN, 1469).

The monks of La Sislo, near Toledo in Spain, were anxious to have a picture of the Last Supper painted for their refectory, like that painted by Titian for the monastery of Lorenzo, and applied to Dominico to execute the work. Dominico, on the ground of indisposition, declined it, but recommended his pupil Luis Tristan, who was accepted. The picture was finished, and the monks were highly pleased with it, but they thought the artist's demand of two hundred ducats (£90) exorbitant. In their perplexity they referred to Dominico, who, though ill of the gout, drove to see the picture and assess its value. He looked at it, and then, turning with a threatening and angry countenance to his pupil, told him he had utterly disgraced himself and his profession by asking such a sum as two hundred ducats for such a picture as that. The monks were delighted and triumphant at this deliverance. Dominico, still looking fiercely, told his pupil at once to roll up his picture and take it away to Toledo, for he was certain to get five hundred ducats for it, and he then began to state reasons, and spoke in raptures of it as a masterly performance. At this turn of affairs the monks looked at each other with astonishment and vexation; and after a slight pause said, that upon the whole they thought they would keep to their bargain, and they then and there found the money and paid the sum agreed. Since then the Fathers had good reason to be well pleased; for all the critics of Europe, on seeing it, offered them far more than the price if they would part with it. Tristan died at Toledo in 1469.

VELASQUEZ'S "CRUCIFIXION" (1660)

In 1639 Velasquez produced one of his noblest pictures, "The Crucifixion," painted for the nunnery of San Placido at Madrid. Unrelieved by the usual dim landscape or lowering clouds, the cross in this picture has no footing upon earth, but is placed on a plain, dark ground, like an ivory carving on a velvet pall. Never was that great agony more powerfully depicted. The head of our Lord droops on His right shoulder, over which falls a mass of dark hair, while drops of blood trickle from His thorn-pierced brows. The anatomy of the body and limbs is executed with as much precision as in Cellini's marble, and the linen cloth wrapped about the body, and even the firwood of the cross, display his accurate attention to details. Our Lord's feet are held each by a separate nail; at the foot of the cross are the usual skull and bones, and a serpent twines itself round the accursed tree. The sisterhood of San Placido placed this picture in their sacristy in a badly lighted cell, where it remained until the French came to Madrid and sold it in Paris, whence it was redeemed at a large price, and presented to the Royal Gallery of Spain.

HOW THE MONKS GOT THEIR FINE PICTURES (1671).

At the beatification of St. Benozzi in 1671, the monks of the order of Servi were anxious to have their church of the Annunziata at Florence suitably decorated. The sacristan of the convent wished to get the work done well and cheaply, and stimulated the vanity of rival artists by representing how their works would have the advantage of being exhibited in a church where such numbers of the devout constantly attended. He would not hold out the hope of large pay, but he promised abundance of prayers; and, above all, he dwelt on the favour which their performances would no doubt obtain from the Blessed Virgin herself, to whose especial honour they were to be consecrated. Andrea del Sarto yielded to these representations, and put forth all his strength. He painted on one side of the cortile two scenes from the life of the Madonna--"The Birth of the Virgin" and "The Adoration of the Magi"; and on the other side scenes from the life of San Filippo Benozzi. Every figure in those sublime groups is now familiar to the lovers of art. Other masterpieces were added by Andrea to that glorious church.

THE DIVINE MURILLO (1682).

Murillo, the Spanish painter, according to Sir D. Wilkie, adapted the higher subjects of art to the commonest understanding, and seems of all the painters the universal favourite. His paintings of "St. Elizabeth" and "The Healing of the Paralytic" are rich in colour and of singular beauty. He himself thought "The Charity of St. Thomas" was his best picture. His picture of "The Virgin of the Napkin," though executed hastily, as a present to a cook who begged some memorial of him, shows a face in which thought is happily blended with maidenly innocence, and the Divine Child, with His deep, earnest eyes, leans forward in her arms, struggling, as it were, almost out of the frame, as if to welcome the saintly carpenter home from his daily toil. The picture is executed with a brilliancy of touch never excelled; it glows with a golden light, as if the sun were also shining on the canvas. Another picture, "The Guardian Angel," shows the chief figure in a rich yellow robe and purple mantle, pointing as he goes with the right hand to heaven, and with the other leading a lovely child--the emblem of the soul passing through the pilgrimage of this world. Never was an allegory more sweetly told than in this picture, which is painted with great lightness of touch, and the transparent texture of the child's garment is finely rendered. In his pictures of the Virgin Murillo's celestial attendants are among the loveliest cherubs that ever bloomed on canvas. Hovering in the sunny air, reposing on clouds, or sporting amongst their silvery folds, these ministering shapes give life and movement to the picture, and relieve the Virgin's statue-like repose. Some of them bear the large white lilies, others roses, sprays of olive and palm boughs, like those which are still annually blessed in churches, and hung as charms on balconies and portals. As a painter of children Murillo has caught with matchless insight all the nameless ways and graces of the bright-eyed Andalusian boys and girls he loved to depict.

CANO'S PICTURE OF THE VIRGIN (1690).

The most beautiful of Cano's pictures is that of "Our Lady of Belem," or Bethlehem, painted at Malaga for the cathedral of Seville. In serene celestial beauty this Madonna is excelled by no image of the Blessed Mary to be found in Spain. Her glorious countenance lends credit to the legends of the older art, and is such as might have been revealed in answer to the prayers of the saintly Vargas or of Joanes. The drapery is a crimson robe, with a dark blue mantle drawn over the head. The head of the Divine Child is perhaps not childlike; but there is much infantine simplicity and grace in the attitude, as He sits with His tiny hand resting on that of His mother. These hands are as usual admirably painted; and the whole picture is finished with exceeding care, as if the painter had determined to crown his labours and honour Seville with a masterpiece. Cano was the artist who was once engaged to model a statue of St. Antony for an accountant, and after it was finished and the price spoken of was deemed large, the accountant asked how many days' labour it had cost. The answer being that it took twenty-five days, the patron at once rather indignantly observed, that at the rate charged it would be four doubloons a day--a most extravagant sum. To this Cano rejoined, "Yes, and I have been fifty years learning to make such a statue as that in twenty-five days."

A PAINTER INCAUTIOUSLY WATCHING EFFECTS (1734).

When Sir James Thornhill was painting the cupola of St. Paul's and adorning it, as he supposed, with masterpieces of sacred art, he was, like all great painters, absorbed in thought, and was frequently changing and improving his details. One day, when mounted on his lofty scaffold, he moved backwards step by step to view the effect of some of his touches, and had reached the very edge apparently without knowing his danger, for a fall there would have been instant destruction. The artist's servant, having observed the danger, with great presence of mind instantly threw the contents of a pot of paint over his master. This happy thought had the effect of recalling the absent-minded artist to real life, for he immediately rushed forward to resent the outrage. On the attendant's object, however, being explained, his wrath was with equal suddenness changed into lively gratitude.

ORIGIN OF CHURCH BELLS.

The Romans used bells in their baths. The Hebrew high priests also wore small bells. When Porsena, King of Etruria, was buried, and a magnificent monument with pyramids at each end was erected, small bells were suspended so delicately that the least breath of wind would sound them. Pope Sabinianus, about 604, in imitation of the bells of Porsena's tomb, introduced the same in the charnel-houses, for the sound of bells was then supposed to frighten away evil spirits. Hence the bells came to be sounded at funerals, and passing bells have since been common. The goddess of Syria was anciently worshipped with the sound of bells, from which custom it is supposed the Christian Churches took the hint of hanging them in their steeples. The use of bells, however, was not coeval with the Church, for it was a considerable time before the Christians dare openly avow their profession or could venture on the publicity of such a mode of summoning their worshippers. Turkey and Greece are the only countries where the use of large bells has almost been abolished. Greece in this particular has degenerated, and Turkey has at length opposed their reception. The Dutch long excelled in the construction and management of their bells. The large bells of the Netherlands are so well tuned and hung, that any slow melody may be performed upon them with the greatest facility and as perfectly as on a church organ. The church bells were formerly regularly baptised, anointed, exorcised, and blessed by the bishop. The priest sprinkled the bell with holy water, while all the gossips laid hold of the rope, bestowing a name on it.

SANCTITY OF BELLS.

In Spain all the church bells are marked with a crucifix; the devil, it is believed, cannot come within hearing of the consecrated peal. On the hearing of the Ave Maria bell, the Spaniards who happen to be in the theatre, and even the actors on the stage, fall down on their knees, and then rise again and carry on their diversion as before. A French gentleman who happened to be present on one of those occasions was so surprised and diverted that he somewhat irreverently called out, "Encore! encore!" The religious of Rome had great contests about ringing the Ave Maria bell. At length it was adjudged that "they who were first up should first knoll."

CHIMES ON CHURCH BELLS.

Chimes or carillons were invented in the Low Countries, and were brought to the greatest perfection there. They are of two kinds: one is attached to a cylinder like the back of an organ, which always repeats the same tunes, and is moved by machinery; the other is of a superior kind, played by a musician with a set of keys. In all the great towns there are amateurs or a salaried professor, usually the organist of a church, who performs with great skill upon this gigantic instrument placed high in the church steeple. So fond are the Dutch and Belgians of this kind of music, that in some places the chimes appear scarcely to be at rest for ten minutes either by day or night. The tunes are usually changed once a year. Chimes were in existence at Bruges in 1300. The most eminent performer was Matthias van der Gheyn, who died in 1785. The finest chimes are at Antwerp, composed of sixty-five bells; Mechlin, forty-four bells; Bruges, forty bells; Tournay, forty bells; Ghent, thirty-nine bells; Louvain, forty bells.

THE SWISS HORNS PRAISING THE LORD.

It was a custom at one time among the Swiss shepherds to watch the setting sun. When he had already left the valleys, and was visible only on the tops of the snow-capped mountains, the inhabitants of the cottages which were in the most elevated situations would seize their horns, and, turning towards their next neighbours beneath them, sing out through the instruments the words, "Praise the Lord!" The sounds were then taken up in the same manner by those to whom they were addressed, and again by those lower down, and thus were repeated from Alp to Alp. And the name of the Lord was re-echoed and proclaimed in song, till the music reached the valleys below. A deep and solemn silence then ensued, until the last trace of the sun, when the herdsmen on the mountain tops sang out "Good-night," which was repeated and re-echoed as the other words had been, till every one retired to rest.

EARLY CHURCH MUSIC.

Over and above the preaching of sermons, which were deemed an important part of the public Christian service, and which shorthand writers employed themselves in taking down for circulation, there was much care given to sacred music and singing of hymns. A choir was often formed. The Psalms, as well as hymns and doxologies, were chanted. Some spiritual songs were composed by Ambrose of Milan and Hilary of Poitiers. But there were always objectors to anything being used in Church music which was not taken from the Sacred Scriptures. In the fourth century the Egyptian abbot Pambo inveighed against the introduction of heathen melodies as too apparent, while the abbot Isidore of Pelusium complained of a style of singing too theatrical, especially among the women. Jerome, in his comments on St. Paul's Epistles, said that Christians should not be like the comedians, who smoothed their throats with sweet drinks in order to render their theatrical melodies more impressive, but that it was the heart alone which could properly make melody to the Lord.

SINGING IN CHURCH.

It was said that St. Ambrose introduced the method of alternate singing in churches. The whole service in the primitive Church seems to have been of a very irregular kind till the time of Pope Gregory the Great, for the people sang each as his inclination led him, with hardly any other restriction than that what they sang should be to the praise of God. Indeed, some special offices, such as the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed, had been used in the Church service almost from the first establishment of Christianity; but these were too few to prevent the introduction of hymns and spiritual songs. The evil increased, and the Emperor Theodosius requested the then Pope, Damasus, to frame such a service as should be consistent with the solemnity and decency of Divine worship. The Pope readily assented, and employed for this purpose a presbyter named Hieronymus, a man of learning, gravity, and discretion, who formed a new ritual, into which he introduced the Epistles, Gospels, and the Psalms, with the _Gloria Patri_ and Hallelujah. And these, together with certain hymns which he thought proper to retain, made up the whole of the service.

ORIGIN OF SINGING IN CHURCH SERVICES.

The first change in the manner of singing was the substitution of singers (who became a separate order in the Church) for the mingled voices of all ranks, ages, and sexes, which was compared by Ambrose, the great reformer of Church music, to the glad sound of many waters. The antiphonal singing, in which the different sides of the choir answered to each other in responsive verses, was first introduced at Antioch by Flavianus Diodorus. Milman observes that it is not improbable that this system of alternate chanting may have prevailed in the Temple service at Jerusalem. The antiphonal chanting was introduced into the West by Ambrose; and if it inspired or even accompanied the _Te Deum_ usually ascribed to that prelate, we cannot calculate too highly its effect on the Christian mind. So beautiful was the music in the Ambrosian service that the sensitive conscience of the young Augustine took alarm, lest when he wept at the solemn music he should be yielding to the luxury of sweet sounds rather than imbibing the devotional spirit of the hymn. Though alive to the perilous pleasure, he inclined to the wisdom of awakening weaker minds to piety by this enchantment of their hearing. The Ambrosian chant, with its more simple and masculine tones, is still preserved in the church of Milan; in the rest of Italy it was superseded by the richer Roman chant which was introduced by Gregory the Great. The cathedral chanting of England has almost alone preserved the ancient antiphonal system, now discarded by the Roman Catholic Church for its greater variety of instruments.

THE ORGAN IN CHURCH MUSIC.

No instrument, as an accompaniment to human voices in Church music, has been discovered equal to the organ for the power and grandeur of its effects; but being of a great mechanical complexity, it has taken many centuries to bring it to perfection. Rudimentary instruments of the same kind, worked by wind and some by water, are mentioned by the ancients. The hydraulic organ was used for some centuries in preference to the pneumatic organ, but it ceased altogether in the fourteenth century. It is not precisely known at what period the organ was first used for religious purposes, but it seems to have been in common use in Spain about 450. Pope Vitalianus, in 666, saw its advantages in assisting the human voice. In the eighth century both the Anglo-Saxon and French artists began to exert their ingenuity in improving the instrument. Charlemagne first introduced it in Germany, and he sent one as a present to the Caliph. In the ninth century organs came into general use in England, and St. Dunstan showed his ingenuity in improvements. One was made in 951 for Winchester Cathedral. A monk named Theophilus in the eleventh century published a treatise on the art of making the organ. Organs, whether hydraulic or pneumatic, were nearly the only instruments used in churches in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, all others being rejected, in consequence of abuse and their theatrical effect. There were usually, however, opponents and defenders of the extent to which this accompaniment was resorted to. Peter the Venerable, of Cluny, defended them. St. Augustine had lamented the blindness of the Manicheans in rejecting sacred music. The first organ which appeared in Europe was sent as a present by Constantine Copronymus to Pepin, King of France, in 757, and he placed it in the church of St. Corneille at Compiégne. The secret of these steam organs is now entirely lost. The first organ on the present principle seen in the West was that which Louis Debonnaire placed in the church of Aix-la-Chapelle. It is related of this organ that a woman expired through rapture and surprise at the sweetness of its sound. One of the same kind was mentioned in the annals of Fulda in 828. At the close of the ninth century many skilful organ-builders were drawn to Rome by Pope John VIII. In the tenth century an organ of this kind was placed in Westminster Abbey. So delicious and astonishing was the music of organs and flutes at the consecration of the monastic church of Cava, near Salerno, and such was the harmony of sound and pleasant odours, that the Serene Duke Roger and all the people present thought themselves on the very borders of heaven. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries it was the custom to place the organ in the choir, but in the fifteenth century a custom arose to remove it to the western extremity of the nave. It was thought before the Council of Trent, in 1545, that the Church music had been carried to an excess, and the council once thought of prohibiting all music except the Gregorian.

AUGUSTINE CONVERTING THE BRITONS WITH MUSIC.

When Augustine came from Italy to England, about the year 596, for the purpose of converting the inhabitants of Britain to Christianity, he and his accompanying missionaries adopted in aid of their devotions a musical service. For some time the people were delighted with so agreeable a novelty, but after a while it gradually ceased to please, and at length met with such violent opposition that it was entirely laid aside. During the papacy of Vitalianus, in 657, one of the principal vocalists in Rome was sent to instruct the Britons in the Italian method of chanting and singing, and the cathedral of Canterbury is entitled to the honour of having been the first church in England in which a regular choral service was performed.

THE EARLIEST HYMNS OF THE CHURCH.

There was always some trace of hymns, as distinguished from the Psalms, being used by Christians. There is some dispute as to the hymn sung by our Lord and His Apostles on the occasion of the Last Supper. Some think it must have been the Hallel or paschal hymn, consisting of Psalms cxiii.-cxviii., which was chanted. In the gaol at Philippi Paul and Silas sang their hymns so loudly that the fellow-prisoners heard them. The Greeks seem to have had only eight tunes of Church music, and the Syrians had two hundred and seventy-five. The earliest known Christian hymn is given by Clemens Alexandrinus, the historian. The learned have disputed whether the Christian Greek hymns were founded on the old Pagan hymns used in the heathen worship. Ambrose, about 360, is thought to have been the first to introduce hymns into the Latin Church, though it is more likely that he merely gave greater impetus to the use of these in the Church services.

MONK MUSICIANS (A.D. 945).

It is related that the use of musical notes was found first in the abbey of Corby, in Saxony, about 945. Alfanus, a monk of Mount Cassino, was also considered eminent in the art. In the abbey of St. Gall three great musicians were found at the same time. One of them, Tutilo, seemed to excel in every work of art. He had a clear voice, was an admirable painter, an architect and a preacher, and also could play on flutes and pipes, and taught the children of the nobles how to play on the flute. He was most effective in the choir, and expert at composing verses and melodies. During the ninth and tenth centuries, the monks of St. Gall were famed for their musical compositions. Once a composition sung by a monk of St. Gall on Easter Day before King Conrad I. was rendered with such power that all the audience were roused to ecstasy. The King, the Queen, and the King's sister called the performer before them, took off their rings, and put them on his fingers, to signify their intense admiration. It used to be said that the beginning of this excellence at St. Gall was owing to a Roman musician who had fallen sick there while on a journey to Germany, and he was so hospitably treated that, out of gratitude, he instructed the monks in his art. The St. Gall scores were copied in many other monasteries, and musical science was carried to a high pitch of excellence by the modern composer Zingarelli, who used to prepare himself for his finest work by reading some treatise of the Fathers.

NICHOLAS PEREGRINUS, WHO SANG "LORD, HAVE PITY" (A.D. 1094).

About 1094 Nicholas became famous in Apulia, when he was eight years old tending his mother's sheep, for he had an irrepressible tendency to sing aloud incessantly, "Kyrie eleïson" ("Lord, have mercy"), and he never left off this all his life long. His mother sent him to a monastery to have him imprisoned and chastised till he gave up singing his song. But he took his punishment patiently, and went on singing as zealously as before. He made himself a hut, living by himself, but praising God aloud continually. He went to Lepanto, where another monk joined him. He fasted every day till evening; his food was a little bread and water, and yet he did not grow lean. He wore a short vest, his head, legs, and feet being naked. He carried a light wooden cross, a scrip at his side to receive alms, and the alms he converted into fruit to distribute among the boys who willingly joined him in his excursions and in singing his favourite hymn. His oddities provoked some contumely, in which bishops did not scruple to join. But he performed various miracles and had a large following, exhorting the people to repentance. At his death great multitudes joined in his funeral, and many miracles were said to be wrought at his tomb in the cathedral.

HERESY PROPAGATED BY MUSIC (A.D. 1150).

Harmonius, son of the famous heretic Bardesanes, a Syrian who lived in the twelfth century, contributed greatly to the propagation of heresy by the fascinating sweetness of the melodies which he composed and applied to odes and canticles written against the religion of Christ. So struck was St. Ephraim with their mellifluousness, and so persuaded that they were qualified by their beauty to recommend and spread any doctrine in support of which they might be employed, that he set the same tunes to different words, and ordered them to be publicly sung, so as to bring back the people to orthodoxy, which at that time was identified with the doctrine of the Trinity.

THE POPE REFORMING CHURCH MUSIC (A.D. 1545).

The introduction of instrumental music into the Church services once greatly perplexed the Pope and the councils of the clergy. Music had become so artificial and so wasted in frivolous and intricate airs, that the Council of Trent expressed its protest against using such profane aids. Pius IV. thereon appointed a commission to inquire whether music should be tolerated at all in churches. Fortunately at that time a great composer named Palestrina appeared at Rome. He was a priest, but had been expelled from the Church for marrying, and he still clung to his favourite art. He composed sacred airs for the services in the Sistine Chapel, and he seemed to comprehend with an original genius the kind of music appropriate to the Mass. He devoted his whole soul to this work. His first two efforts were thought to be failures, but at last in a happy moment he completed a masterly work known by the name of "The Mass of Pope Marcellus." It had passages of blended grandeur and self-prostration, with rich and varied melodies interspersed, which delighted the Pope, who said the airs were such as the Apostle John may have heard in his ecstatic vision. The success of Palestrina set at rest the vexed question of Church music. It showed that music was capable of being made to subserve and enhance the most fervid devotion and religious enthusiasm. The soul was elevated by the exulting bursts of jubilee and the adoring strains of lowly reverence. The art then came to be firmly wedded to the service of the Church, and every grade of elevated feeling found its appropriate expression, and piety was quickened into rapture and a diviner ecstasy by the masterpieces of a succession of great composers.

SINGING OF THE MISERERE IN THE POPE'S CHAPEL.

One of the most impressive performances of sacred music is the singing of the _Miserere_ or fifty-first Psalm in the Sistine Chapel at Rome, and the musical score is kept secret and no copy allowed to be given to strangers under pain of excommunication. There are thirty-two voices employed in the singing, without any organ or other instrument to accompany it. The performance was supposed to be at its greatest height of excellence about 1780, before the growing practice of opera withdrew the choicest voices from the service of the Church. This celebrated piece is sung twice during Passion Week, and was composed about 1627. When it begins, the Pope and cardinals prostrate themselves on their knees. The grand picture by Michael Angelo of the Last Judgment which is over the altar is then discovered to be brilliantly illuminated by tapers. These are gradually extinguished till the pale light scarcely reveals the forms of the miserable creatures as they listen to the slow and dirgelike wail of the voices. It sounds as if the sinner, confounded before the majesty of God and prostrate with fear, awaited in silence some awful doom. The sublimity of the music is heightened by the peculiar manner of repeating the same melody in every verse of the psalm, and yet by retarding the tune and swelling or diminishing the sound according to the sense, never allowing the ear to feel the least tediousness. The music score is said to be no correct record of the peculiarity of the melody, and the mode of managing the voices is said to be a secret kept by the chapel-master alone, who hands down the tradition to his successor. It is performed only in the Sistine Chapel, and those who have heard it never forget the grand and solemn impression it produces.

LUTHER'S VIEW OF CHURCH MUSIC.

Luther, who was an excellent musician, received into his church a collection of anthems and hymns which so pleased him that he exultingly exclaimed, "We all know that such music is hateful and unbearable to the devil." Dr. Wetenhall said the music of his church was such that no devil could stand against it.

ORIGINATOR OF ORATORIOS.

What is called the _cantata spirituale_ or oratorio is generally believed to have been indebted for its origin to San Filippo Neri, a Florentine priest, who, about the middle of the sixteenth century, was accustomed after the sermons to assemble such of his congregation as had musical voices in the oratory of his chapel for the purpose of singing various pieces of devotional and other sacred music. Regularly composed oratorios were not, however, in use till nearly a century afterwards. These, at their commencement, consisted of a mixture of dramatic and narrative parts, in which neither change of place nor unity of time was observed. They consisted of monologues, dialogues, duets, trios, and recitatives of four voices. The subject of one of them was the conversation of Christ with the Samaritan woman; of another, the prodigal son received into his father's house; of a third, Tobias with the angel, his father and wife; and of a fourth, the angel Gabriel with the Virgin Mary.

THE HEAVEN-BORN COMPOSER OF ANTHEMS.

Purcell, a famous English composer of anthems, was a born musician, and as a boy produced some of his best. At eighteen he was appointed organist at Westminster Abbey, in 1676. He excelled in every species of composition. Nothing can transcend the grand effect of his _Te Deum_, which soars to the highest elevation of holy fervour. He died prematurely at the age of thirty-seven of consumption. On a tablet fixed to a pillar in Westminster Abbey, where he is buried, the following inscription is to be seen: "Here lies Henry Purcell, Esq., who left this life, and is gone to that blessed place where only his harmony can be exceeded. He died in 1695." There is also a Latin epitaph, of which four lines are thus translated:--

"Applaud so great a guest, celestial powers,
Who now resides with you, but once was ours.
Not dead, he lives while yonder organ's sound
And sacred echoes to the choir rebound."

Purcell's _Te Deum_ was constantly performed at the annual festivals of the sons of the clergy, till Handel's noble production of the _Te Deum_ was produced in 1743, and then the two versions were used alternately. Dryden, not less than Pope, celebrates Purcell's merit thus:--

"Sometimes a hero in an age appears,
But scarce a Purcell in a thousand years."

Again he said:--

"The heavenly choir who heard his notes from high
Let down the scale of music from the sky:
They handed him along,
And all the way he taught, and all the way they sung."

It is true that, after Purcell, Handel soon appeared and claimed even superior praise.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HANDEL.

When Handel, dissatisfied with the reception of his oratorio of the _Messiah_ in London, went to Dublin to test his work with a more impartial audience, he procured the best choristers from St. Patrick's and Christ's cathedrals. The chief singers were Mrs. Cibber and Mrs. Avolio. It is related that after Mrs. Cibber had sung "He was despised" with great pathos, a clergyman in one of the boxes was so excited and transported that he called out with a loud voice to her, "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven." It was also a remarkable incident that, in compliance with a request that the ladies who honoured the performance would be pleased to come without their hoops, they actually made the great self-sacrifice requested, and left their hoops behind, thereby allowing of a great deal of additional space for the rest of the audience. Such music had never before been heard in England. When Handel's oratorio was first performed in Ireland, it was heard with admiration. The expressive force and pathos of the recitatives and melodies, and the superlative grandeur of the choral parts, were equally appreciated, and the whole was hailed as a wonderful effort of the art of harmony. Taught by the better criticism of the sister kingdom, England at his return discovered the excellence to which she had been so unaccountably deaf, and lavished her praises on what she had before dismissed with disgrace or without approbation. In 1742 Handel gave a performance of the _Messiah_ in the Foundling Hospital Chapel with great success, and the proceeds were presented by him to that institution, then recently established.

FIRST PERFORMANCE OF HANDEL'S "MESSIAH."

It is related by Dr. Beattie, the poet, that when Handel's _Messiah_ was first performed the audience were greatly struck and affected by the music. But when the chorus reached the part beginning "For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," the audience, including the King (George II.), were so transported that they all instinctively started to their feet and remained standing till the conclusion of the passage. Hence it became a fashion in England for the audience to stand during that part of that magnificent hymn.

HANDEL COMMEMORATIONS IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

Except the dedication of the Temple, at which, according to Josephus, 200,000 musicians were engaged, the commemoration of Handel in Westminster Abbey in 1784 was considered at that time the greatest performance that ever was heard. The band contained 482 instrumentalists. The vocal performers included 22 cantos, 51 altos, 66 tenors, 69 basses. The receipts for the five commemorations amounted to £12,736. At this performance on so unprecedented a scale, the audience was melted and enraptured by the exquisite sweetness of the solos, the powerful execution of the choruses affected some to tears, and many fainted with the excitement. When the whole chorus, from each side of the stupendous orchestra, joined in by all the instruments, burst out "He is the King of glory," the effect was so overpowering that the performers could scarcely proceed. Though Pope had no ear for music, he was aware of the triumphs of his contemporary, the great composer, and in "The Dunciad" thus describes him:--

"Strong in new arras, lo! giant Handel stands,
Like bold Briareus, with a hundred hands;
To stir, to rouse, to shake the soul he comes,
And Jove's own thunders follow Mars's drums."

INDEX.

Abbess of Arles, deathbed, 221.

Abbey, officials of, 218.

Abbots, power over monastery, 217;
lecturing his monks, 223;
war of two, 224;
harassed with care, 306.

Abdication of Emperor, 330;
of Pope, 363;
of Sultan, 372.

Actor, the martyr, 148.

Adriano, painter, 496.

Agbarus writing to Christ, 12.

Agnus Dei, 75.

Agobard of Lyons, 340.

Aidan, St., of Lindisfarne, 272;
death of, 276.

Aix-la-Chapelle cathedral, 455.

Alaric respects churches, 112.

Alban, St., martyr, 149;
cathedral, 467, 469.

Albigenses, 426.

Alfred, King, 341, 343.

All Saints' Day, 80.

Altar in churches, 441.

Amalfi cathedral, 451.

Ambrose, St., 194;
asleep at Mass, 195;
sayings of, 196;
on relics, 196.

Amiens cathedral, 454.

Ammerghau plays, 82.

Andrew, St., 28;
patron saint, 29;
head of, purchased by Pope, 191.

Angel, monk wanting to be, 221.

Angelico, painter, 479.

Anschar, apostle to the North, 249.

Anselm, Archbishop, 351.

Antioch church, 51.

Antony, St., temptations of, 161;
visits Paul, 197.

Antony of Padua, 257;
psalm-book stolen, 308;
preaching to the fishes, 406.

Antwerp cathedral, 456.

Ape of bishop painting, 475.

Apocryphal gospels, 9, 20.

Apostles, deaths and marriages of, 23.

Apostolic Church, 64.

Aquinas, Thomas, 137.

Archbishop, choosing, 335;
John the Almsgiver, 337;
the ugliest, 345;
Anselm, 351;
Turstin, 353.

Architecture, church, 438.

Aretino, painter, 479.

Arsenius, monk, 266.

Ass, feast of the, 81.

Athos, Mount, its monasteries, 312.

Attila, impressed by the Pope, 113.

Augustine, St., of Hippo, vision of, 203;
faith in dreams, 203;
on miracles, 207.

Augustine in England, 245.

Auricular confession, 67.

Auto-da-fè, 380.

Avignon, Popes at, 366.

Barbara, martyr, 147.

Barnabas, St., 27.

Barnadatus, an austere hermit, 168.

Bartholomew, St., 25.

Bartholomew of Farne, hermit, 175.

Basle, nuns of, 233.

Bec monastery, 289.

Becerra, sculptor, 492.

Becket, St. Thomas, pilgrims to, 191;
murder of, 355.

Bede, Venerable, on Farne hermits, 173, 275;
deathbed, 278.

Bega, St., 397.

Bells in church, 76, 501.

Benedict, St., at Monte Cassino, 209, 268;
death of, 269.

Benedict of Aniane, 212.

Bernard, St., monks of, 285.

Bernard, St., begging for robber's life, 208;
against Abelard, 295;
sister of, 299;
second crusade, 420.

Bethlehem church, 460.

Bible, Septuagint, 21;
English, 22;
telling fortunes by, 93, 248.