Roman Catholic Church Music in England, 1791-1914: A Handmaid of the Liturgy? (review)

This is a groundbreaking book. Catholic Church music in nineteenth-century England has long been ignored, largely due to the low esteem in which it is generally held by scholars, members of other churches, and even, T. E. Muir points out, by Catholics themselves. Composers such as John Crookall (1821-87), John Richardson (1816-79), and Joseph Egbert Turner (1853-97), whose music was regularly heard by English Catholics well into the twentieth century, do not appear in the pages of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London, 1878-99), and their works are very seldom performed.

Muir admits that some of the music is of low aesthetic quality and the standards of performance from largely amateur choirs must have left something to be desired. Yet he claims that the repertoire is "an essential component in the study of the history of English music" (p. 3), heard regularly by a community whose numbers expanded from an estimated 70,000 at the time of the second Catholic Relief Act of 1791, to about 1.7 million at the start of World War I. The sheer volume of Catholic Church music produced in England during this time, and the size and growing status of its audience make it worthy of serious consideration. There is also an element of urgency here. Since the reforms of Second Vatican Council much of this music has been lost, often quite literally thrown out with the garbage. Muir's timely study considers a vast amount of previously unexplored material, drawn mainly from collections in the north of England, and from the London Embassy chapels.

After a detailed account of the historical and liturgical background, Muir discusses various aspects of Catholic church music, including the changing performance practice of plainchant and sixteenth-century polyphony, the influence of the Cecilian movement, and the growth of extraliturgical services and vernacular hymnody. Many helpful tables, lists, and musical examples illustrate the narrative, and testify to the vast scope of the historical and musical sources that have informed the preparation of this book.

Throughout the text, Muir gives serious consideration to the conflict between the Ultramontane party and the nationalists, associating this, for example, with the differing interpretations of plainchant. Again, with regard to polyphony, he shows how emphasis was placed upon Roman composers such as Palestrina, whereas native composers, even Catholics such as William Byrd, were largely ignored until the advent of Sir Richard Terry as director of music at Westminster Cathedral in the early-twentieth century. Social history is also explored and linked with music; for instance, the increase in extraliturgical services and popular devotions is associated with the shifts in class background of the Catholic community during the nineteenth century.

There are a few small problems. Copyediting could have been better; for example, St. Walburge's church, Preston, also appears as St. Walburga's and even as St. Walbuge. Some musical examples contain errors, as in Ex. 6.8, where the Sanctus from Seymour's Mass in A flat appears with no key signature. Musical terms are occasionally misapplied, as on page 126 where A major is described as the "tonic" of D minor, rather than the dominant. All in all, the strength of the narrative lies in the historical rather than the musical detail.

However, this book is an essential read for anyone interested in the chronicle of the Catholic Church in England and throws light on an unjustly neglected aspect of music history.