What did the American choir of 1910 sound like, and who told it how fast to sing? This study answers from the choirmasters’ own handbooks. 27 books, hymnals, editions and journal articles were read; 17 of them are by men in the People Index. They yield 55 statements of practice, 45 of them American.
Five subjects run through the books. The first is the organist as conductor. Mr G. Edward Stubbs of St Agnes’ Chapel, New York, writes that at service “the organist is practically the conductor of the music”, and Dr Messiter of Trinity conducted from the organ seat. The second is tempo. Dr Lutkin of Evanston warns against both hurrying and “intolerable dragging”.
The third is the Anglican chant, whose hurried recitation Buck, Stubbs and Hall each name as the besetting fault. The Episcopal Church’s New Hymnal, whose Joint Commission counted Hall, Parker, Noble and Lutkin among its members, settled the matter by printed rule: one pace for recitation and inflection. The fourth is the boy’s “thin” or head register, taught by soft descending scales. The fifth is the new, more orchestral style of organ playing, which Mr Harvey Gaul of Pittsburgh set against an American habit of playing by the metronome mark.
The metronome marks themselves are set out below. Messiter’s hymnal of 1893 prints a mark for every tune. The English Hymnal of 1906 prints slower ones and complains that English congregations sing too fast. Lutkin, in 1910, expected his American readers to find even moderate marks too slow.
Every quotation was checked against the text of the book it comes from. Each statement is graded Documented, Probable or Reported. Gramophone records of the period are listed, but their speeds have not been measured; that work remains to be done.
Each finding rests on the texts cited, which are quoted verbatim in the table of practices below.
Stubbs states that at services “the organist is practically the conductor of the music” (Practical Hints, p. 25). Buck notes that, unlike the orchestra, the organist “ordinarily sits with his back turned to the singers”. Messiter, at Trinity in 1870, “played the chancel organ, conducting from the organ seat”. Dickinson in 1922 teaches the nod at verse ends and a freed hand “to direct the choir”. Bridge’s English primer gives the organist “three duties”: pace, ensemble and pitch.
Sources: Stubbs, Practical Hints, p. 25; Buck, Illustrations in Choir Accompaniment, ch. VII; Messiter, History of the Choir and Music of Trinity Church, pp. 135–136; Dickinson, Technique and Art of Organ Playing, ch. IV; Bridge, Organ Accompaniment of the Choral Service, § 12
Messiter’s Trinity hymnal of 1893 prints a mark for every tune, as “the editor’s judgment of a dignified and suitable tempo”. He places his speeds between Hymns Ancient and Modern and Barnby’s Hymnary. His minim marks (Aurelia 92, Eventide 96) are well above the English Hymnal’s of 1906 (Aurelia 70, Eventide 66).
Sources: Messiter, The Hymnal (1893), preface, p. vii; The English Hymnal (1906), preface (d)
Lutkin prints marks from an unnamed “noted authority” and expects them to “be considered too slow by the impetuous American”. He calls forcing the speed “no greater fault than intolerable dragging”. He also reports an unaccompanied Litany hymn “sung about twice too fast” to hold the pitch.
Sources: Lutkin, Music in the Church, pp. 94–96
Buck names “Hurrying the recitative and retarding the ‘spoken’ (half) notes”. Stubbs: “Good chanting is like the flowing of a quiet brook.” Hall: “Satisfactory chanting is the exception in America … Do not sing too fast.” The New Hymnal’s rules (1916/1918) settled it: “The words should be sung at the same pace in the Recitations and Inflections.”
Sources: Buck, Illustrations in Choir Accompaniment, ch. V; Stubbs, Practical Hints, pp. 65–66; Hall, Essentials of Choir Boy Training, pp. 47–48; The New Hymnal (1916/1918), pp. 723–724
Stubbs, after Curwen, teaches the boy’s “thin” register by soft descending scales, the “downward extension of the thin register”. Hall (1906) holds that the voice “should be confined almost throughout its entire compass” to the head register. His preface, however, takes issue with those who demand head tone everywhere. Stubbs offers E. J. Hopkins’s Temple Church choir as the model: “Quality, not quantity”.
Sources: Stubbs, Practical Hints, pp. 38–46; Hall, Essentials of Choir Boy Training, ch. I
Gaul, 1918: “The French do not play Bach with the exaggerated tempo that Americans employ … all we catch is a metronome mark.” Goodrich (1917) credits French touch with “the finest nuances of rhythm, accent and phrasing”. Dickinson (1922) teaches rubato and agogic accent as organ technique.
Sources: Gaul, "Bonnet–Bossi–Karg-Elert" (MQ 1918); Goodrich, The Organ in France; Dickinson, Technique and Art of Organ Playing, ch. IX
Lutkin (1910) asks that slow hymns “maintain the rhythmic unity of the larger pulses”. Truette (1919) asks the organist “to mark the rhythm distinctly” and forbids adding a count for a stop change. Dickinson cures a dragging congregation by touch: “play slightly staccato, or marcato”.
Sources: Lutkin, Music in the Church, p. 166; Truette, Organ Registration, p. 120; Dickinson, Technique and Art of Organ Playing, ch. IV
Messiter records that in 1858 Henry S. Cutler sought to “brighten up the music by taking it in a quicker tempo; and this was received with some disapproval”. The debate between brightness and dignity was half a century old by the Edwardian years.
Sources: Messiter, History of the Choir and Music of Trinity Church, p. 74
Metronome marks for the same tunes. Messiter and the English Hymnal give minim beats, read from the page scans. Lutkin’s table gives no note value, so it cannot be compared directly.
| Tune | Messiter, Hymnal (New York, 1893) | English Hymnal (London, 1906) | Lutkin’s “noted authority” (1910, unit not stated) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aurelia | minim = 92 No. 491 | minim = 70 No. 489, p. 636 | 96 p. 96 |
| Eventide | minim = 96 No. 12 | minim = 66 No. 363, p. 504 | 100 p. 96 |
| Ewing | minim = 100 No. 408 | — | 100 p. 96 |
| St Anne | — | minim = 50 No. 202, p. 291 | 66 p. 96 |
| St David | minim = 76 No. 391 | — | — |
| Old Hundred | — | — | 80 p. 96 |
| St George's Windsor | — | — | 92 p. 96 |
| Ellers | — | — | 104 p. 96 |
| St Gertrude | — | — | 104 p. 96 |
| Paradise | minim = 100 No. 394 | — | — |
| Witness | minim = 76 No. 393 | — | — |
Chorus marks in the Schirmer vocal score edited by T. Tertius Noble and revised by Max Spicker, read from the page scans. The edition’s unsigned note does not say who set the marks.
| Chorus | Marking | Page |
|---|---|---|
| "And the glory of the Lord" | ♩ = 112 | p. 16 |
| "For unto us a Child is born" | ♩ = 76 | p. 66 |
| "His yoke is easy" | ♩ = 69 | p. 98 |
| "All we like sheep" | ♩ = 92 | p. 122 |
| "Hallelujah" | minim = 72 | p. 193 |
| "Since by man came death" | Grave ♩ = 60 | p. 210 |
| Work / tune | Source | Marking | Unit | Year | Page / no. | Read from | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Anne ("O God our help") | Lutkin, Music in the Church Lutkin 1910, from unnamed "noted authority" | 66 | not stated | 1910 | p. 96 | OCR text | Unit not given |
| Old Hundred | Lutkin, Music in the Church Lutkin 1910, from unnamed "noted authority" | 80 | not stated | 1910 | p. 96 | OCR text | |
| St George's Windsor | Lutkin, Music in the Church Lutkin 1910, from unnamed "noted authority" | 92 | not stated | 1910 | p. 96 | OCR text | |
| Aurelia | Lutkin, Music in the Church Lutkin 1910, from unnamed "noted authority" | 96 | not stated | 1910 | p. 96 | OCR text | |
| Eventide | Lutkin, Music in the Church Lutkin 1910, from unnamed "noted authority" | 100 | not stated | 1910 | p. 96 | OCR text | |
| Ewing | Lutkin, Music in the Church Lutkin 1910, from unnamed "noted authority" | 100 | not stated | 1910 | p. 96 | OCR text | |
| Ellers | Lutkin, Music in the Church Lutkin 1910, from unnamed "noted authority" | 104 | not stated | 1910 | p. 96 | OCR text | |
| St Gertrude | Lutkin, Music in the Church Lutkin 1910, from unnamed "noted authority" | 104 | not stated | 1910 | p. 96 | OCR text | |
| Aurelia | Messiter, The Hymnal (1893) Messiter, Hymnal 1893 | minim = 92 | minim | 1893 | No. 491 | page image | |
| Eventide | Messiter, The Hymnal (1893) Messiter, Hymnal 1893 | minim = 96 | minim | 1893 | No. 12 | page image | |
| Ewing | Messiter, The Hymnal (1893) Messiter, Hymnal 1893 | minim = 100 | minim | 1893 | No. 408 | page image | |
| St David | Messiter, The Hymnal (1893) Messiter, Hymnal 1893 | minim = 76 | minim | 1893 | No. 391 | page image | |
| Witness | Messiter, The Hymnal (1893) Messiter, Hymnal 1893 | minim = 76 | minim | 1893 | No. 393 | page image | |
| Paradise | Messiter, The Hymnal (1893) Messiter, Hymnal 1893 | minim = 100 | minim | 1893 | No. 394 | page image | |
| St Anne | The English Hymnal (1906) English Hymnal 1906 ("Slow and dignified") | minim = 50 | minim | 1906 | No. 202, p. 291 | page image | |
| Aurelia | The English Hymnal (1906) English Hymnal 1906 ("In moderate time") | minim = 70 | minim | 1906 | No. 489, p. 636 | page image | |
| Eventide | The English Hymnal (1906) English Hymnal 1906 ("Slow") | minim = 66 | minim | 1906 | No. 363, p. 504 | page image | |
| Messiah: "And the glory of the Lord" | Handel, Messiah, ed. Noble (Schirmer 1912) Schirmer 1912, ed. Noble, rev. Spicker | ♩ = 112 | crotchet | 1912 | p. 16 | page image | |
| Messiah: "For unto us a Child is born" | Handel, Messiah, ed. Noble (Schirmer 1912) Schirmer 1912, ed. Noble, rev. Spicker | ♩ = 76 | crotchet | 1912 | p. 66 | page image | |
| Messiah: "His yoke is easy" | Handel, Messiah, ed. Noble (Schirmer 1912) Schirmer 1912, ed. Noble, rev. Spicker | ♩ = 69 | crotchet | 1912 | p. 98 | page image | |
| Messiah: "All we like sheep" | Handel, Messiah, ed. Noble (Schirmer 1912) Schirmer 1912, ed. Noble, rev. Spicker | ♩ = 92 | crotchet | 1912 | p. 122 | page image | |
| Messiah: "Hallelujah" | Handel, Messiah, ed. Noble (Schirmer 1912) Schirmer 1912, ed. Noble, rev. Spicker | minim = 72 | minim | 1912 | p. 193 | page image | Minim beat |
| Messiah: "Since by man came death" | Handel, Messiah, ed. Noble (Schirmer 1912) Schirmer 1912, ed. Noble, rev. Spicker | Grave ♩ = 60 | crotchet | 1912 | p. 210 | page image | |
| Psalm 137 vs Psalm 138 (relative) | Richardson, The Psalms Richardson 1903 | "at least twice as slowly" | relative | 1903 | pp. 28–29 | OCR text | Verbal, relative tempo only |
| Litany hymn ("Saviour, when in dust") | Lutkin, Music in the Church Lutkin 1910 (heard performance) | "about twice too fast" | relative | 1910 | p. 95 n. | OCR text | Verbal report of a performance |
Filter by topic, region or evidence. Names in the People Index are linked.
| Person | Topics | What was taught or practised | In their words | Source | Year | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Edward Stubbs | conducting | In the Episcopal choral service the organist is the conductor at service; rehearsal is where the choirmaster drills. Stubbs writes from St Agnes' Chapel, Trinity Parish, New York. | “At services the organist is practically the conductor of the music.” | Stubbs, Practical Hints, p. 25 | 1888/1897 | Documented |
| George Edward Stubbs | voice training | Two registers for boys, "thick" (chest) and "thin" (head). Coarse boy tone comes from forcing the thick register upward. He adopts Curwen's terminology. | “The quality of the thick register is comparatively coarse, harsh, and reedy, while that of the thin is soft, pure, and flute-like.” | Stubbs, Practical Hints, pp. 38–39 | 1888/1897 | Documented |
| George Edward Stubbs | voice training | Method: soft descending scales from the top of the voice, carrying the thin register downward. If the pupil breaks into the thick register, he goes back to the top. | “The chief points involved in the preceding directions are : 1st, downward extension of the thin register ; 2d, the cultivation of pure tone without sacrificing quality to power.” | Stubbs, Practical Hints, p. 45 | 1888/1897 | Documented |
| E. J. Hopkins 1818–1901 | voice traininginterpretation | Stubbs offers American choirmasters a model in the Temple Church, London, quoting Curwen: a small choir, soft blended tone, and accompaniment shaped by a choir that can sing unsupported. | “With a choir of twelve boys and six men, Mr. Hopkins realizes his ideas of Quality, not quantity” | Stubbs, Practical Hints, pp. 45–46 | 1888/1897 | Reported |
| George Edward Stubbs | chanttempo | Anglican chanting: hurrying the recitation is the chief fault. The ideal is an even flow between verses. | “Good chanting is like the flowing of a quiet brook. There should be no haste, no jerky effect, no hitch between verses.” | Stubbs, Practical Hints, p. 66 | 1888/1897 | Documented |
| George Edward Stubbs | chanttempodiction | Names the cause of bad chanting. | “One prolific cause of this is hurrying helter skelter over the recitation” | Stubbs, Practical Hints, p. 65 | 1888/1897 | Documented |
| George Edward Stubbs | accompanimentinterpretation | Soft accompaniment and restraint in dynamics. Loud playing is named as the commonest fault. | “Too much forte playing is perhaps the most common fault.” | Stubbs, Practical Hints, p. 69 | 1888/1897 | Documented |
| George Edward Stubbs | voice training | Adult male altos: Stubbs defends the trained falsetto against the charge that it damages the voice. | “the harmlessness and usefulness of falsetto singing when practiced intelligently” | Stubbs, Adult Male Alto, preface | 1908 | Documented |
| George Edward Stubbs | interpretationstyle | Against display settings written for the American quartet choir. Supports the shift to chancel choirs of men and boys. | “anthems and settings to the Canticles which were invented with the sole purpose of affording personal display to the members of quartet choirs” | Stubbs, "Secularization" (MQ 1916) | 1916 | Documented |
| Walter Henry Hall 1862–1935 | voice training | Hall gives qualified support to the head register: the boy voice is confined almost entirely to the thin register, but blended. He takes issue with teachers who require head tone over the whole compass. | “the child voice should be confined almost throughout its entire compass to the "thin" or "head" register” | Hall, Essentials of Choir Boy Training, ch. I (preface qualifies it) | 1906 | Documented |
| Walter Henry Hall 1862–1935 | conductingdiction | Rehearsal method: in drills on diphthongs and final consonants, the choirmaster beats time so that the whole choir starts and releases together. | “the choir-master should beat time” | Hall, Essentials of Choir Boy Training, ch. VII–VIII | 1906 | Documented |
| Walter Henry Hall 1862–1935 | chanttempo | Psalm-chanting tempo. Hall warns against racing between the Decani and Cantoris sides. | “Do not sing too fast.” | Hall, Essentials of Choir Boy Training, p. 48 | 1906 | Documented |
| Walter Henry Hall 1862–1935 | chanttempo | Join a smoothly read recitation to the strict time of the chant, with no ritardando at the change from recitation to chant. | “Always endeavor to join a smoothly read recitation to the strict time of the chant without any "pulling up."” | Hall, Essentials of Choir Boy Training, p. 48 | 1906 | Documented |
| Walter Henry Hall 1862–1935 | chant | Assessment of American chanting standards. | “Satisfactory chanting is the exception in America” | Hall, Essentials of Choir Boy Training, p. 47 | 1906 | Documented |
| Walter Henry Hall 1862–1935 | accompanimentchant | Psalm accompaniment should not illustrate individual words ("realism"). | “Young organists should guard against undue realism in accompaniments to psalms.” | Hall, Essentials of Choir Boy Training, p. 50 | 1906 | Documented |
| Peter C. Lutkin 1858–1931 | tempo | Hymn tempo: both forcing the speed and dragging are faults. | “Young and enthusiastic choirmasters are apt to force the speed at the expense of dignity, but too quick movement is no greater fault than intolerable dragging.” | Lutkin, Music in the Church, pp. 94–95 | 1910 | Documented |
| Peter C. Lutkin 1858–1931 | tempo | Lutkin prints a table of metronome marks from an unnamed "noted authority" and expects American readers to find them slow (see Tempo sheet). | “Some of these marks will doubtless be considered too slow by the impetuous American, whose restless blood clamors for excitement even in the hallowed precincts of the House of God.” | Lutkin, Music in the Church, p. 96 | 1910 | Documented |
| Peter C. Lutkin 1858–1931 | tempoaccompaniment | Footnote: an unaccompanied Litany hymn was taken far too fast, apparently to keep up the pitch. | “sung about twice too fast” | Lutkin, Music in the Church, p. 95 n. | 1910 | Documented |
| Peter C. Lutkin 1858–1931 | conductingaccompaniment | The organist leads the congregation from the console when the singers waver. | “take the reins into his own hands and as unobtrusively as possible guide the singers” | Lutkin, Music in the Church, p. 167 | 1910 | Documented |
| Peter C. Lutkin 1858–1931 | tempointerpretation | Rhythmic unity in slow hymns: quiet verses are played more deliberately, but the rhythmic outline must not be lost. | “One of the most difficult tasks is to play music in moderate or slow tempo and to maintain the rhythmic unity of the larger pulses.” | Lutkin, Music in the Church, p. 166 n. | 1910 | Documented |
| Peter C. Lutkin 1858–1931 | interpretationconducting | Verse distribution as interpretation: Barnby's Sarum ("For all the saints") with verses shared between choir, men in unison and congregation. | “can be made very attractive by distributing the verses after the following programme” | Lutkin, Music in the Church, p. 94 | 1910 | Documented |
| Peter C. Lutkin 1858–1931 | tempoaccompaniment | Later statement (1930, outside the period): pulse matters more than speed. | “rhythm is of far more importance than tempo” | Lutkin, Hymn-Singing and Hymn-Playing | 1930 | Documented |
| Dudley Buck 1839–1909 | chanttempo | Chant faults: treating the recitation as melody, and hurrying the recitation while dragging the "spoken" half-notes. | “Hurrying the recitative and retarding the "spoken" (half) notes.” | Buck, Illustrations in Choir Accompaniment, ch. V (p. 51 ff.) | 1877/1880 | Documented |
| Dudley Buck 1839–1909 | chanttempo | The minim notation of chants does not imply a slower pace. | “does not make the tempo slower” | Buck, Illustrations in Choir Accompaniment, ch. V | 1877/1880 | Documented |
| Dudley Buck 1839–1909 | conductingaccompaniment | Quartet-choir accompaniment: unlike the orchestra, the organist cannot see the singers, so the accompaniment has to support and follow without a conductor. | “The orchestra has a conductor, while at the organ the player ordinarily sits with his back turned to the singers.” | Buck, Illustrations in Choir Accompaniment, ch. VII (p. 68 ff.) | 1877/1880 | Documented |
| Dudley Buck 1839–1909 | accompanimentstyle | Against organ interludes between hymn verses. | “they rarely form a connecting link between the verses of a hymn” | Buck, Illustrations in Choir Accompaniment, ch. II | 1877/1880 | Documented |
| Frederick Bridge 1844–1924 | conductingtempoaccompaniment | The organist is conductor as well as accompanist, with three duties. | “acts as conductor as well as accompanist, and has, therefore, three duties to perform at one and the same time ; namely, to regulate the pace, to keep together his forces” | Bridge, Organ Accompaniment of the Choral Service, § 12 | [1885] | Documented |
| Frederick Bridge 1844–1924 | tempoconducting | Hymns at a moderate pace. The choir should lead the congregation. | “The choir should lead the congregation, not run away from it.” | Bridge, Organ Accompaniment of the Choral Service | [1885] | Documented |
| Arthur Henry Messiter 1834–1916 | tempo | Messiter prints metronome marks for every tune, which he places between Hymns Ancient and Modern and Barnby's Hymnary. | “Metronome marks are inserted throughout, representing the editor's judgment of a dignified and suitable tempo for congregational singing.” | Messiter, The Hymnal (1893), preface, p. vii | 1893 | Documented |
| Arthur Henry Messiter 1834–1916 | tempo | Comparative positioning of his tempi. | “rather slower than those given in "Hymns Ancient and Modern," and rather quicker than those in Barnby's "Hymnary."” | Messiter, The Hymnal (1893), preface, p. vii | 1893 | Documented |
| Henry Stephen Cutler (not in dataset) | tempo | At Trinity Church, New York, in 1858, Cutler took the music faster, and some objected. This is Messiter's account written in 1906, so second-hand for 1858. | “brighten up the music by taking it in a quicker tempo; and this was received with some disapproval” | Messiter, History of the Choir and Music of Trinity Church, p. 74 | 1858 (pub. 1906) | Reported |
| Arthur Henry Messiter 1834–1916 | conducting | Trinity Church, 1870, with orchestra and choir far apart: Messiter at the chancel organ conducted from the organ seat. | “I played the chancel organ, conducting from the organ seat” | Messiter, History of the Choir and Music of Trinity Church, pp. 135–136 | 1870 (pub. 1906) | Documented |
| Walter Henry Hall 1862–1935 | chanttempo | Signatory of the Joint Commission whose New Hymnal printed rules for chanting: one pace for recitation and inflection, and accents of good reading. The rules are a Commission text, not signed individually. | “The words should be sung at the same pace in the Recitations and Inflections” | The New Hymnal (1916/1918), pp. 723–724 | 1916/1918 | Probable |
| Horatio Parker 1863–1919 | chanttempo | Signatory of the Joint Commission whose New Hymnal printed rules for chanting: one pace for recitation and inflection, and accents of good reading. The rules are a Commission text, not signed individually. | “The words should be sung at the same pace in the Recitations and Inflections” | The New Hymnal (1916/1918), pp. 723–724 | 1916/1918 | Probable |
| T. Tertius Noble 1867–1953 | chanttempo | Signatory of the Joint Commission whose New Hymnal printed rules for chanting: one pace for recitation and inflection, and accents of good reading. The rules are a Commission text, not signed individually. | “The words should be sung at the same pace in the Recitations and Inflections” | The New Hymnal (1916/1918), pp. 723–724 | 1916/1918 | Probable |
| Peter C. Lutkin 1858–1931 | chanttempo | Signatory of the Joint Commission whose New Hymnal printed rules for chanting: one pace for recitation and inflection, and accents of good reading. The rules are a Commission text, not signed individually. | “The words should be sung at the same pace in the Recitations and Inflections” | The New Hymnal (1916/1918), pp. 723–724 | 1916/1918 | Probable |
| Wallace Goodrich 1871–1952 | chanttempo | Signatory of the Joint Commission whose New Hymnal printed rules for chanting: one pace for recitation and inflection, and accents of good reading. The rules are a Commission text, not signed individually. | “The words should be sung at the same pace in the Recitations and Inflections” | The New Hymnal (1916/1918), pp. 723–724 | 1916/1918 | Probable |
| Miles Farrow | chanttempo | Signatory of the Joint Commission whose New Hymnal printed rules for chanting: one pace for recitation and inflection, and accents of good reading. The rules are a Commission text, not signed individually. | “The words should be sung at the same pace in the Recitations and Inflections” | The New Hymnal (1916/1918), pp. 723–724 | 1916/1918 | Probable |
| T. Tertius Noble 1867–1953 | tempoconducting | The Schirmer Messiah (1912) under Noble's editorship prints metronome marks for the choruses (see Tempo sheet). The unsigned note leaves the choruses to "competent chorus conductors". The marks are tied to the edition; Noble's personal authorship of them is not stated. | “competent chorus conductors” | Handel, Messiah, ed. Noble (Schirmer 1912), introductory note | 1912 | Probable |
| Harvey B. Gaul 1881–1945 | tempointerpretationstyle | Gaul (Pittsburgh) contrasts French Bach playing with American speed and literalism. | “The French do not play Bach with the exaggerated tempo that Americans employ. They catch the mood of the fugue or toccata; all we catch is a metronome mark.” | Gaul, "Bonnet–Bossi–Karg-Elert" (MQ 1918) | 1918 | Documented |
| Harvey B. Gaul 1881–1945 | interpretationstyleregistration | The new organ style of Bonnet, Bossi and Karg-Elert: "orchestral" light and shade, and staccato alongside legato. | “It is no longer a matter of lifeless legato, but approaches an orchestra performance, with light and shade, delicacy and force.” | Gaul, "Bonnet–Bossi–Karg-Elert" (MQ 1918) | 1918 | Documented |
| Clarence Dickinson 1873–1969 | tempoaccompaniment | Countering a congregation that drags: touch, not speed, is the remedy. | “When a congregation is dragging the tempo play slightly staccato, or marcato” | Dickinson, Technique and Art of Organ Playing, ch. IV | 1922 | Documented |
| Clarence Dickinson 1873–1969 | conducting | Directing from the console: the organist cues the choir with a nod and frees a hand by substitution to direct. | “employs one hand to direct the choir” | Dickinson, Technique and Art of Organ Playing, ch. IV | 1922 | Documented |
| Clarence Dickinson 1873–1969 | tempointerpretation | Rubato and agogic accent taught as organ technique. | “tempo rubato” | Dickinson, Technique and Art of Organ Playing, ch. IX, p. 45 | 1922 | Documented |
| Everett E. Truette 1861–1933 | accompanimenttemporegistration | Hymn accompaniment: play the melody clearly, support the harmony, and mark the rhythm. A slight ritard for a stop change is allowed, but no added counts. | “to mark the rhythm distinctly” | Truette, Organ Registration, p. 120 | 1919 | Documented |
| Everett E. Truette 1861–1933 | registrationtempo | Registration must not break the metre. | “one ought not to add a count or two in one measure” | Truette, Organ Registration, p. 120 | 1919 | Documented |
| Wallace Goodrich 1871–1952 | interpretationregistrationstyle | A report from Boston on French touch and phrasing as a model. | “the finest nuances of rhythm, accent and phrasing are obtained” | Goodrich, The Organ in France | 1917 | Documented |
| John Stainer 1840–1901 | tempo | A standard definition of rubato in the Stainer & Barrett dictionary (Novello, London and New York). | “Tempo rubato represents the alteration made in the time, when some notes are held for more, and others for less than their strict duration.” | Stainer & Barrett, Dictionary, p. 389 | 1898 | Documented |
| A. Madeley Richardson (not in dataset) | chanttempo | Chanting pace and accent should follow cultured reading of poetry. | “should be similar to the reading of poetry by a person of culture” | Richardson, Church Music, § 126, p. 72 | 1904 | Documented |
| A. Madeley Richardson (not in dataset) | chanttempo | Each psalm has its own pace. The penitential psalm is taken at least twice as slowly as the jubilant one. | “at least twice as slowly as” | Richardson, The Psalms, § 60–61, pp. 28–29 | 1903 | Documented |
| English Hymnal (music editor) | tempo | English Hymnal preface (d) "Speed": English congregations sing much too fast. The marks assume a fairly large building. | “The present custom in English churches is to sing hymns much too fast.” | The English Hymnal (1906), preface (d) | 1906 | Documented |
| English Hymnal (music editor) | tempointerpretation | Free rather than mechanical hymn rhythm. | “a stiff clock-work rendering should be avoided” | The English Hymnal (1906), preface (d) | 1906 | Documented |
| Henry Coward (not in dataset) | conductingvoice training | Sheffield choral method: staggered breathing allocated by surname initials, so that the line is never broken. | “whose name initials commence from A to H” | Coward, Choral Technique and Interpretation, p. 67 | 1914 | Documented |
| Francis E. Howard (not in dataset) | voice training | An American public-school supervisor argues on a "scientific" basis for head voice in children. | “head-voice” | Howard, The Child-Voice in Singing, preface | c.1898 | Documented |
| Charles W. Pearce (not in dataset) | chantinterpretation | Against the Anglican chant: musical and verbal accent should coincide. | “complete coincidence between musical and verbal accentuation” | Pearce, "Futility of the Anglican Chant" (MQ 1920) | 1920 | Documented |
| Institution / setting | Place | Method | People | Sources | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Agnes' Chapel, Trinity Parish | New York | Boy-choir training by soft descending scales in the "thin" register. Organist as conductor at service. Chant drill against hurried recitation. | George Edward Stubbs | Stubbs, Practical Hints; Stubbs, Adult Male Alto | Documented |
| St James' Church / New Music Review | New York | Choirmaster beats time in vowel and consonant drills. Qualified head-register teaching. Chanting rules: no "pulling up", antiphonal breathing. | Walter Henry Hall | Hall, Essentials of Choir Boy Training | Documented |
| Northwestern University; Hale Lectures 1908–9 | Evanston and Chicago, Ill. | Hymn tempo and rhythm. Organist guides from the console. Verse distribution between choir and congregation. A cappella choir directed by Lutkin (recording credited). | Peter C. Lutkin | Lutkin, Music in the Church; Lutkin, Hymn-Singing and Hymn-Playing | Documented |
| Trinity Church | New York | Hymnal with metronome marks throughout (1893). Organ-seat conducting (1870). Account of the 1858 tempo change under Cutler. | Arthur Henry Messiter | Messiter, The Hymnal (1893); Messiter, History of the Choir and Music of Trinity Church | Documented |
| Joint Commission on the Hymnal (Episcopal) | USA | Printed chanting rules: same pace in recitation and inflection; accents of good reading. | Walter Henry Hall, Horatio Parker, T. Tertius Noble, Peter C. Lutkin, Wallace Goodrich, Miles Farrow | The New Hymnal (1916/1918) | Probable |
| Organ teaching treatise (Schirmer) | New York | Chant accompaniment, quartet-choir accompaniment without a conductor, against interludes. | Dudley Buck, Samuel P. Warren | Buck, Illustrations in Choir Accompaniment | Documented |
| Organ teaching (Boston) | Boston | Registration within strict metre; marking rhythm in hymns. | Everett E. Truette | Truette, Organ Registration | Documented |
| Trinity Church, Boston; New England Conservatory | Boston | French touch and phrasing as a model for American organ teaching. | Wallace Goodrich | Goodrich, The Organ in France | Documented |
| Brick Presbyterian Church | New York | Console direction of the choir (nod, hand substitution). Staccato against dragging. Rubato taught as technique. | Clarence Dickinson | Dickinson, Technique and Art of Organ Playing | Documented |
| Novello Music Primers (Westminster Abbey) | London → USA | Organist as conductor-accompanist: pace, ensemble and pitch. | Frederick Bridge, John Stainer | Bridge, Organ Accompaniment of the Choral Service; Stainer & Barrett, Dictionary | Documented |
| Sheffield Musical Union | Sheffield | Staggered breathing by surname initials; taking breath with the conductor's beat. | Henry Coward (not in the index) | Coward, Choral Technique and Interpretation | Documented |
Period recordings in archive.org and the Library of Congress National Jukebox. Their tempi have not been measured; durations are given as found.
| Recording | Performers (as credited) | Label / matrix | Date | Duration | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Oh God, our help in ages past" (St Anne, Croft) | Trinity Male Choir (Victor); credits incl. Lambert Murphy, Royal Dadmun, Charles Harrison | Victor, matrix B-26289/3 | 1922-04-06 | 2:59 | Library of Congress National Jukebox transfer. "Trinity" here is a Victor label name; credits list individual recording artists and do not name Trinity Church, New York. |
| Dudley Buck, Festival Te Deum No. 7 in E flat, Op. 63 No. 1 | Trinity Choir with Victor Orchestra; credits incl. Frank C. Stanley, Harry Macdonough | Victor, matrix CC-8722/00 | 1910-03-16 | 5:19 | A recorded performance of a Buck service setting during the period; abridged to fit one side (duration 5 min 19 s). |
| "Angels from the realms of glory" (Regent Square, Smart) | Trinity Choir (Victor); credits incl. Olive Kline, Elsie Baker, Lambert Murphy, Reinald Werrenrath | Victor, matrix C-18533/2 | 1916-10-06 | 3:55 | |
| "The Son of God goes forth to war" (tune by H. S. Cutler) | Trinity Male Choir | Zonophone 3547, matrix 4952 | n.d. | 2:53 | Cutler was organist of Trinity Church, New York, 1858–65 (Messiter 1906). |
| Stainer, The Crucifixion (complete set) | Trinity Choir; Richard Crooks, Lawrence Tibbett; Mark Andrews at the organ | His Master's Voice D 1817–1821 (matrices 42-621 to 42-724) | n.d. (not in archive record) | 4:43 | Duration given is side 1. Mark Andrews is credited "at the organ". Date not in the archive record. |
| "For All the Saints" (Sine Nomine, Vaughan Williams) | Choir of the Temple Church, London; G. Thalben-Ball, organist and conductor | HMV B 2615, matrix 2-4805 | 1927 | 2:58 | English comparison; just after the study period. |
| Mendelssohn, "Hear my prayer" pt 1 | Ernest Lough; Temple Church choir; G. Thalben-Ball | HMV C 1329, matrix CR 1020-6A | 1927–28 | 4:13 | English boy-treble production two generations after E. J. Hopkins (Temple organist 1843–98). |
| "Quaecumque sunt vera" | A Cappella Choir of Northwestern University | Northwestern University label (matrix not legible) | n.d. | 3:04 | Label credits: J. Scott Clark and Haydn as writers, and P. C. Lutkin, under the roles "words by; arranged by; director". Which role is Lutkin's is not clear from the record. |
Persons of the People Index with practice records, by topic (number of records).
| Person | conducting | tempo | interpretation | voice training | chant | accompaniment | registration | diction | style | All |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frederick Bridge | 2 | 2 | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | 2 |
| Dudley Buck | 1 | 2 | · | · | 2 | 2 | · | · | 1 | 4 |
| Clarence Dickinson | 1 | 2 | 1 | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | 3 |
| Miles Farrow | · | 1 | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | 1 |
| Harvey B. Gaul | · | 1 | 2 | · | · | · | 1 | · | 2 | 2 |
| Wallace Goodrich | · | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | · | 1 | · | 1 | 2 |
| Walter Henry Hall | 1 | 3 | · | 1 | 5 | 1 | · | 1 | · | 7 |
| E. J. Hopkins | · | · | 1 | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | 1 |
| Peter C. Lutkin | 2 | 6 | 2 | · | 1 | 3 | · | · | · | 8 |
| Arthur Henry Messiter | 1 | 2 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | 3 |
| T. Tertius Noble | 1 | 2 | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | 2 |
| Horatio Parker | · | 1 | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | 1 |
| John Stainer | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | 1 |
| George Edward Stubbs | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Everett E. Truette | · | 2 | · | · | · | 1 | 2 | · | · | 2 |
Also linked, through a source, method or recording only: Mark Andrews, Samuel P. Warren.
All links were opened on 30 October 2026 and returned the page.