It’s interesting and I know that Bach and Buxtehude wrote “chorales” which were giant introductions to hymns, which were then sung by the congregation (without any “music leader” or “conductor”–the congregation just knew when to start singing!–amazing!).
Do you know if this hymn is in any of the current Catholic hymnals; it’s not in the current Gather hymnal (which isn’t surprising).
The Michael Schirmer hymn is in the Lutheran hymnal (1982 and 2006), but I couldn’t find it in any of my other hymnals (Methodist, Presbyterian, UCC, C and MA, Covenant, EFree)
Since it’s in the Lutheran hymnal, I suppose it could be called a “Protestant hymn,” which is what this thread is about–but since most of my Protestant hymnals are at least ten years old, it’s probably accurate to say that the hymn isn’t familiar to most Protestants (other than Missouri Synod Lutherans–most of the other Lutherans seem to be singing “contemporary” music or even “secular” music these days!).
And even though Bach and Buxtehude (and others) wrote the chorales for use in church, I honestly do not know how those hymns fit into the Latin Catholic Mass. Today’s Latin Mass doesn’t seem to include congregational hymns, other than perhaps a closing hymn, and the proponents of the Latin Mass insist that their mass is the “Mass of the Ages” that has changed very little over the centuries–so were hymns ever sung by the congregation in the Latin Mass?.
I have asked my organ teacher, who studied in Europe, and he says that the Catholic Mass used to have a lot more instrumental music and last a lot longer than today’s OF Mass or even today’s EF Mass. But he said the congregation didn’t sing–only the male choir sang.
So I don’t think ??? that congregational hymns were done in the Latin Catholic Mass until Vatican II??? But I don’t know for sure… I would like to know more about Catholic music history, so I should just try to borrow the music history book from one of our local Catholic schools and find out.
Or better yet–Catholic churches and dioceses should offer seminars and/or lectures on the History of Church Music. That would be fascinating! I know that the schools offer “Music History” classes, but I’m not sure how extensive these classes are, and whether all students are taught church music history, or just those who elect to take those classes.
I can certainly see why Martin’ Luther’s renegade Lutheran church became so popular–the singing! Trying to stop Germans from singing is like trying to stop birds from singing, and trying to stop them from singing Bach’s hymns is like choking those same birds!
And as long as I’m on a rant here–I would like to see church hymnals, including those in the Catholic churches, stop including so MANY hundreds of hymns, and instead, be smaller, including a smaller selection of hymns, and include histories of each hymn and any anecdotes about the hymns.
Thanks for the kick in the rear to get moving and learn more Catholic music history! I think I’ll make that my spring/summer goal!