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i Welsh Church Music.

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Welsh Church Music. A NEW CATHEDRAL PSALTER, A considerable amount of activity is dis- cernible at present in AVelsh Church literary circles, more so, everything considered, than Ave have seen for several years. V Llyfr Gweddi Cadeiriol a'r Psallwyr Cadeiriol" C' The Cathedral Pra ver Book and the Cathedral Psalter"), by the Rev Canon Williams, B.D., Ca rmarthen, and Mr T. Edwards, organist of St. (Welsh) Chnrcli, Chester, has just been issued by the famous firm of Xovello, Ewer, and Co., London and New York. The work will be found a very valuable contribution to Welsh Church music and literature, and will, we have no doubt, be eventually introduced into all the Churches in Wales. "redo not think that we can do better than quote the Wtstcrn Mail with reference to the work :— When completed, the. Cathedral Prayer Book and Psalter will c nsiefc of tive party, ooveriag the wholo of the Church services; but, ao far, only one part has made its appearance. This is the fifth, or last, part, containing Morning and Evening Prayer, the Canticles, and the Psalms. The other parts will follow in due cotirse. The work is a decided advance on anything of the kind which has appeared so far in Welsh; and lifts public worship in Wales to that high standard which it has reached by means of the Cathedral Psalter and other works in the Church in England, It is in oil respecta worthy of the Church, and worthy also of the great house of Xovello, Ewer, and Co., who have bestowed great pains and trouble and enormous expense on its publication. The ediiurji are mpn who are in every way fitted for their task, and very well and thoroughly have thev performed it. Mr Edwards had sole charge of the music, and the rest was entrusted to the capable hands of Canon Williams. In the introduction the rev gentleman makes a great number of valuable observations and suggestions, which it is to be hoped will be carefully perused and carried out in practice. Canon Wiliiams writes excellent Welsh, but we find that he "nods" occasionally. For instance, a slip occurs in the first sentence in the introduction, where he writes, "Nid heb achos a rheswm yr ydym yn ostyngedig anturio dwyn allan Psallwyr Cymraeg." Correctly written it would be, "yn gostyngedig anturio." When placed immediately before the verb it qualifies, as in this ease, the adverb takes the radical form. What would be thought of such expressions &s yr wyfyn gadarn gredu "and" yngryf gobeithio," which are on a parallel with yn ostyngedig anturio ? Canon AVilliams very properly employs the venerable form P^llwyr," and we see no reason why he should discard the equally authorised form Psaimau "—the form used by Bishop Morgan ia 1588. Is is fair to nud, however, that in the psalter, and in other places as well, the rev canon, at the sacrifice of consistency, has written "Psulman Dafydd." In drawing attention to slips we have no wish to be captious, and point them out merely to show how a really good writer may sometimes be off his guard. We suppose that the Canon is responsible for the table of the Psalms for 11 special occasions which occurs on page 1,1 of the introduction. Ileie we have psala-a of '< harvest thanksgiving, "consecration or re-opening of churches," choral festivals," Sunday school festivals," If comhrma- tjOll," aud arish missions." AVe quite agree with the canon that gome such arrangement was necessary, and the Welsh clergy, no doubt, will thank lain for his thoughtfulnesa. But one is curious tu learn on what authority the arrangement has been made. We believe that any change in the order of the daily services of the Church (the psalms included) should emanate from no less an authority than the Ordinary, and yet we do not find any bishop's name mentioned in connection with the I innovation here introduced. Of course, the book being intended for the whole Church in Wales and for the use ot AArelsh congregations out of AVales, it would have been necessary to obtain the sanction of every bishop in whose diocese Canon Williams's arrangement will be adopted. Probably, however, the canon intended that the clergyman of the parish on each occasion should communicatc on the subject with his Ordinary in order to obtain the necessary permission to use different psalms from those occurring for the day, We attach some importance to this point, for unauthorised changes may lead to endless trouble. We are not anxious to place much new power in the bauds of the bishops, but it is well to own such powers as are already vested in them. On the whole, however, the book is quite irreprochable, bearing pioofs on every page or the loving care and pcina bestowed upon^it. The most prominent feature of the wosk is its comprehensiveness. Turning to the chants, for instance, we find that the Venite is set to no fewer than tliirty-five the Te Deum to twelve, the" BelH dicitd" to fourteen; the Benedictus" to nine, a: d the Jubilate to six, many or them now appearing for the firtit time Mr Ed wards pressed into his service a considerable number of living composers, more, perhaps, than was quite necessary but the plan is likely to contribute to the popularity of the work, and that is a consideration of some importance. The bulk of the composers, however, are great English authors whose names are household words all over the kingdom Sir Joseph Barnby, Bennett, Bridge, Crdch, Elver, Gilbert, Gog*, IInye, Macfarrext, Monk, Purceli, Stair.er, Tallis. and others. Among the Welsh composers we have Atkins, Thomas Edwards, J P Edwards, Mordecai Evans, C Evbiis- Williams, Humphreys, Ilywtl Idloes, J Jones, T Westlake Morgan, Owain Alaw," John Price, T Richarde, Walter Williams, "Eos Llechid," J 0 Evans, M W Griffith, J T Harris, R James, H C Morris, D Parry, Dr Roland Rogers, D J Thomas, and Canon Williams, many of whom are well known in the Welsh musical world. We have already heard hish. praisa of the work by persons who have made Church music the study of a life- time, and wc doubt not that it has a great future before ir. It is a fjreat undertaking, and Canon Williams and Mr Edwards, in bringing it out, have incurred a seri.-ns responsibility, and we eit,Destly hope that their noble and patriotic efforts will be duly rewarded. In ail probability, it will be the lahS great contribution to Welsh Church music, and let us hope that choir leaders all over Wales will take it fortwith. We would strongly advise its introduction to St. David's College, Lampeter. It is just the kind of book which the students there require for practice and training in intoning the service in Welsh.

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