The Value of Sacred Music

This collection of historically significant essays focuses on the purpose and function of sacred music. Issues of historicity, spirituality, standardization and other topics central to the study of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish sacred music from 1801 to 1918 are explored. Moving from musicology to psychology and to religious studies, this volume captures the breadth of scholarship available in the field, as well as serving as a useful introduction for those readers just beginning their study of sacred music.

Jonathan L. Friedmann is a professor of Jewish music history at the Academy for Jewish Religion California, extraordinary professor of theology at North-West University (NWU), South Africa, and a research fellow at NWU in musical arts in South Africa: resources and applications. He is the author, editor, or compiler of 19 books on music and religion. Visit his website at jonathanfriedmann.com.

Compiled by Jonathan L. Friedmann
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 186
Bibliographic Info: notes, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4201-0
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5271-2
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      1

Introduction      5

Part I. Origins of Sacred Music

1. Bible History of Music (1853)

Nathaniel D. Gould      17

2. Spirit of Jewish Music (1887)

Louis S. Davis      23

3. Ancient Jewish Hymns (1910)

Louis C. Elson      27

4. Primitive and Ancient Religious Music (1903)

Edward Dickinson      33

5. Religion and the Art of Music (1914)

Waldo Selden Pratt      51

Part II. Music and Spirituality

6. Music in Relation to Public Worship (1881)

John Bulmer      67

7. The Mysticism of Music (1915)

R. Heber Newton      73

8. The Emotions in Music (1874)

E. Janes      91

9. Music, Emotions, and Morals (1893)

Hugh Reginald Haweis      99

Part III. Standards of Sacred Music

10. The Art of Gregorian Music (1896)

Dom Andre Mocquereau      105

11. Sing to the Harp with a Psalm of Thanksgiving (1801)

William Jones      122

12. Church Music: General Considerations (1904)

A. Madeley Richardson      133

13. Secular Currents in Synagogal Chant in America (1918)

Joseph Reider      138

14. Music as an Aid to Worship and Work (1884)

W. H. Gladstone, W. Parratt, S. A. Barnett, and C. H. Hylton Stewart      147

Index      175