USA > New York > The Diocese of Central New York; the founding fathers > Part 12
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1 See W. Douglas, Church Music in History and Practice (New York, 1949).
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Cowper, Charles Wesley, and Isaac Watts who firmly believed in congregational singing, produced various collections of hymns and spiritual songs.
Some of these appeared in American editions and were widely used in the Protestant churches. Members of the Episcopal Church, however, followed the Old or New Versions which had been intro- duced into the colonies early in the eighteenth century. Individual clergymen and laymen most certainly knew of the other hymnals but few departed from the metrical psalms and hymns the Church had favored in the past. Indicative of an impending change was Andrew Law's, Rudiments of Music of 1793 which among other things contained plain tunes and chants and, what was equally important, there were rules for chanting. Many tune books, we are told in Leonard Ellinwood's, The History of American Church Music (1953), containing chants, were issued by the close of the century. But because services during this period generally were limited to Morning and Evening Prayer the chants used were only applicable to these devotions. In 1800, however, there was printed at Baltimore, John Cole's, Episcopalian Harmony with musical settings for the responses to the Kyrie, Sanctus, and Gloria tibi.
Meanwhile the popularity of the Versions continued. For ex- ample, when in 1789 General Convention faced up to the problem of a hymnal, it decided to issue an American edition of Tate and Brady to which was added twenty-seven hymns. Later in 1808 a revision appeared with thirty more hymns. These, however, were not to displace the psalms which by rubric were to be "sung at every celebration of divine service." In the same year, Trinity Church, New York, published its own hymnal and during the third decade of the century the Rev. William A. Muhlenberg issued a volume of psalms and hymns "suitable to the festivals and fasts and various occasions of the Church." These in turn stimulated an enlarged collection by General Convention; later in 1833 con- vention also released a new book, commonly known as the "Prayer Book Collection" because it contained the Tate and Brady Psalms, some two hundred hymns, and the Prayers themselves.1
The 1833 hymnal remained as the only authorized book until 1872. It has been described by Louis F. Benson, author of the English Hymnal, as being "decidedly evangelical and quite color- less in Ecclesiastical and Sacramental directions." Moreover, it
1 In the Beauchamp Notes, op. cit., there is reference to the singing of responses to the Commandments in 1839.
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largely consisted of English hymns of the previous century ; how- ever as Henry W. Foote, in his Three Centuries of American Hymnody states a new spirit was shown by the inclusions of such well known hymns as "How wondrous and great are Thy Works," "Shout the Glad Tidings," and "Softly now the Light of Day," all composed by American churchmen. Additional hymns were added from time to time that reflected the influence of Heber's, Hymns (1827), Keble's, Christian Year (1827), and Hymns, Ancient and Modern (1861), of the Church of England. An American edition of the last was released in 1866 and was approved for use in some dioceses. Nor should one forget the impact of Bishop Coxe who, before coming to the Diocese of Western New York, had written several volumes of verses and hymns. The following is one of his best :
Savior, sprinkle many nations ; Fruitful, let Thy sorrows be ; By Thy pains and consolations Draw the Gentiles unto Thee : Of Thy cross, the wondrous story Be it to the nations told ; Let them see in Thee Thy glory And Thy mercy manifold.
But let us turn from verses and musical scores to singing itself as it developed historically in Central New York. Probably the first missionaries, aided by a few willing laymen, managed to enrich devotions by singing a few chants and psalms. If so, the burden of leading fell upon the clerk-that overworked officer of the early church-whose voice frequently was ill-equipped for the assign- ment. In other instances, recourse was had to a pitch pipe as was true of St. Peter's, Auburn, in 1810. At an earlier date, there was a "corister" at Harpursville, an office held by Amos H. How and Abel Howe at Paris Hill in 1813. Later, Ralph Head and Chan- cey Cossitt were the "coristers" at Paris Hill-a parish that in November, 1822, voted to engage a "teacher of music." However effective these various methods may have been, the quality of tone and the volume of sound was not conspicuous. Nor could there have been much improvement when in 1814 a rubric, requiring the congregation to stand while singing, was adopted. Church singing, in brief, was stinted through a lack of musical education. Energetic pastors tried to promote the latter by furnishing leadership through a group of selected adult voices placed at some strategic position in the church.
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Others relied upon an organ of which several types, of foreign and domestic make, were in use in America during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Clearly these were the pipe or reed organs, the latter being the melodeans and harmoniums one reads about at the time. In all probability few if any of these were used in Central New York until after 1815 or 1820. However, the Utica Observer, December 11, 1871, quotes the Rev. S. Hanson Coxe, then pastor of Trinity Church, Utica, as saying that in July, 1811, William Whitely & Co., agreed to "rent an organ with three cylinders of fifteen tunes each" to the parish for sixty-eight dollars a year and to sell it at any time for six hundred dollars. Probably this may have been a "barrel" organ and it may have been the one the parish sold in 1831 to the church at Sherburne. The following year a seventeen stop organ was bought of Corrie and Hubie of Philadelphia, which may have been used until 1861 when, accord- ing to the Messenger of January 18, it was offered for sale. It was described as being the parish's "well known organ," ten feet wide, sixteen feet high, and ten feet deep.
How soon St. Peter's, Auburn, had an organ is not known though St. Paul's, Syracuse, was reported as raising funds for an organ in 1827. Two years later, St. James', Skaneateles and St. Peter's, Bainbridge, had organs while St. Paul's, Brownville, found that its expenses had increased through the purchase of an organ. During the 1830's the number of parishes having organs increased greatly. St. Stephen's, New Hartford, bought one in the summer of 1831 for a trifle over three hundred dollars, a sum according to several authorities within the low price range then being asked for organs; some parishes in the country paid higher amounts even as much as three thousand dollars. Other churches having organs in that decade were those at Harpursville, Sackett's Harbor, Perry- ville, Aurora, Moravia, and Owego. Doubtless there were more judging by the references to choir galleries and lofts. During the 1840's the popularity of the organ increased. One A. Andrews of Waterville, for example, built an organ valued at more than three hundred dollars, an instrument that was used as late as the 1880's. Christ Church, Bridgewater, had an organ in 1841 as did St. Paul's, Syracuse, in 1846. St. Thomas, Hamilton, acquired one the same year as did the church at Clayville the following year at a price of about nine hundred dollars. Many parishes reported new instru- ments during the 1850's such as Zion, Rome, and the same is true
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of the years immediately before the founding of the Diocese of Central New York.
As organs became more common the tendency was to engage an organist who soon replaced the clerk in directing the singing. In some cases the office of organist became so professional in nature as to create administrative and financial problems. Was the organist or pastor to have the final word about the choice of hymns and chants and the conduct of the choir? Then again, the organist often believed he deserved a larger salary and that he should select and employ paid singers. In some churches the presence of a choir director added contention and discord. As an illustration of how far matters might go one is reminded of the friction that developed at Grace Church, Utica, between the rector and vestry. Happily the issue was solved in an amicable manner and the rector's resig- nation was withdrawn. These and other unfortunate occurrences were known to Bishop De Lancey and led him in 1857 to address a pastoral letter entitled "Parish Duties." The vestries were re- minded, in this communication, that by church law the rector had sole and entire authority over all music and the choir. "But all know," he added, "that owing to ignorance in some, peculiarities in others, and diversity of taste in all, it had become one of difficult management." Moreover, "if possessed of musical taste and knowl- edge, empowering him to regulate the Choir, the Pastor will not object to the aid and counsel of one of the Vestry in this duty." Finally, he quoted at length from a recent statement issued by the House of Bishops as follows:
From the work of the Ministry, beloved brethren, we would ask your serious attention to-the share which the Organist and the Choir are called to take in the public duty of devotion. In the ancient Church there was a far higher solemnity attached to the office of Chorister than we behold in our day. He was consecrated to his task by a sort of in- ferior ordination, and if he was found to act unworthily, he was openly degraded ... Assuredly, there was good reason in the principle of this, although the form has long since to be found ... For, the singers in the public congregation should praise God in their hearts, or they cannot escape the sin of taking His name in vain. Their work is professedly a part of the worship prescribed ... We cannot, therefore, regard it as anything short of a most grevious and dangerous incon- sistency, when the house of prayer is desecrated by a choice of music and style of performance which are rather suited to the opera than the Church-when the organist and the
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choir seem to be intent only on exciting the admiration of the audience by the display of their artistic skill; and the entertainment of the concert-room is taken as a substitute for the solemn praises of that Almighty Being 'who search- eth the hearts and trieth the reins of the children of men.'
Much of the unrest occasioned by human frailities and ambitions, referred to by the Bishop, crept into the vestry minutes and parish registers. In July, 1860, for example, the vestry of Grace, Utica, voted that while a good choir was needed there should be as "few hired singers" as possible and that compensation should be moderate. Voluntary singers should be encouraged. Moreover, "it is no less desirable that the chants and tunes should be for the most part simple and familiar ... that music should be not so much a profes- sional performance as a part of the Public Worship of the Church." Again, a writer in the Messenger, January 10, 1867, spoke most enthusiastically of the Christmas music at Homer. There was no attempt "at that species of drawling known as intoning which the writer regards as a custom more honorable in the breach than in the observance."1 In part the tensions involved in the controversy over concert-room music stemmed from human divergencies and tastes. One should not forget, however, that clergymen sympathetic to high churchmanship were prone to encourage more elaborate music and to tolerate a degree of professionalism that irked many. Final- ly, it may be mentioned that those parishes possessed of means found it easier to promote the choir at the expense of the congrega- tion. That some churches over indulged themselves is quite appar- ent. But to set a point beyond which moderation became luxury, no one, not even the Bishop, was ready to state. Probably there were but few parishes prior to 1868 who found themselves embar- rassed with musical costs of any size. Most parishes depended upon local talent and had no "hired" organists, directors, or choir. In many places "an organ blower" received as much as ten dollars a year ; in others, an organist might earn a hundred dollars. And the largest single figure that has been found was a thousand dollars which included expenses for organ music, hymnals, hired vocalists, and an organist.
In the early years now under review most of the organs were in galleries or lofts at the rear of the church and it was here the choir
1 The litany was sung by the rector at St. Paul's, Syracuse, at an after- noon service for children, who also sang the versicals and prayers at an evening service at Rochester; see Messenger, April 25, 1867 and March 12, 1868.
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was placed. Generally the latter consisted of quartets-single or double-composed of men and women who took their seats in the loft by means of a stairway that led from a vestibule below. There were no processionals or recessionals. Judging from available sources there was much to commend this practice and arrangement. Both the choir and organist were concealed from the congregation except in churches having side galleries or front pews in the nave that faced toward the center aisle. There was little, therefore, to dis- tract the worshipper by the waving arms of a director or the smiles and whispers of the choir. Again, antiphonal singing by the choir in the gallery and the rector and congregation below must have pro- duced a pleasing effect. At the same time, communication between the pastor and the organist sometimes went awry. For example, at Trinity, Utica, while candidates for baptism approached the font the organist became bewildered and with a nod to the choir the chanting started. Dr. Proal, we are told, waved his Prayer Book in wide circles, but the choir and organ continued. Where- upon, "in that splendid voice," he cried out above the sound of organ and choir, "Stop that Chant!"
Circumstances like this and the understandable desire of an organist and choir to be seen as well as to be heard led to no end of debate over the removal of choir and organ from the loft. More- over, as the impact of the Oxford Movement penetrated Central New York there were some who approved moving choir and organ on ritualistic grounds. Although the new arrangement gradually appeared in a few of the older churches and more often in the recently erected edifices, the bulk of the parishes retained the choir galleries. And in the case of a new church at Lowville, in 1864, the choir and organ were placed at the rear of the church slightly raised from the floor of the nave-a location it retains today.
During these years the Messenger devoted considerable space not only as to where the choir should be but also their conduct and quality. In June, 1864, for example, and on the occasion of the consecration of St. George's, Utica, the choir was in the loft, while others from other parishes in the city, were in the chancel and the nave. Two years later at a Diocesan Convention at St. Paul's, Syracuse, a choir composed of the clergy was stationed near the Chancel chanted antiphonally with a choir in the organ loft at the rear of the building. Again at Waterloo, in 1867, "The chanting in the cathedral style, done by two choirs, one a choir of adults in the organ chamber, right behind the chancel, and the other com-
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posed of children placed in the chancel," was said to have been splendidly rendered. The latter illustration suggests not only the removal of the organ and choir but also the use of a children's choir. One also notes references supporting a choir of boys and men or of boys and girls as the best way of eliminating the old quartets with their "Scrannel pipes." Again, as proof of conflicting attitudes, a subscriber pleads: "Oh, do not take the people's part and give it to all the musicians. God has withheld the gift of song from some. Must they always be silent and only say Amen ?" The next year one reads of a splendid service at Zion, Rome, spoiled by the "choir adjoining the Chancel" turning and facing the congre- gation as the "people were receiving the praises of the Almighty."
The appearance of choirs in the nave or chancel led to the use of vestments. Instances of the latter occurred in the eighteenth century at St. Michael's, Charleston, South Carolina. In the 1830's St. Thomas' Hall, Flushing, Long Island, also had a vested boys choir and Ellinwood's, History of American Church Music, has an illustration showing vested choir boys at the Church of the Advent, Boston, about 1856. The surplices worn by these singers reached almost to the floor ; as did the sleeves which were quite full. The neck line was very high leaving only a small space for the black cassock to peek through. A collar of some type was worn as well as a bow tie with extended ends downward. Each boy carried a hymnal. Four years later, a vested boys choir appeared at Trinity, New York.
No reference has been found to a boy choir in Central New York before 1868 though vested adult choirs are to be found in some parishes. Stout opposition, however, continued to this prac- tice. Writing as late as June, 1885, to the Rev. Herbert Codding- ton of Grace Church, Syracuse, Mr. H. S. Stebbins stated: "I am told you have a mixed vested choir ... Will you kindly furnish me such hints in regards to vestments and the procuring of same as you think would be valuable to us here, now as we are about to embark upon such a project." Mr. Stebbins expressed a preference for the style he had seen at the recent Elmira Convention where cassock and cotta were worn by the men and dark gowns with deep cuffs, collars, and caps by the ladies. And it was not until Christ- mas, 1900, that a vested choir appeared at Grace Church, Water- ville.
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CHAPTER XI
PAROCHIAL ESTATES
Earlier in this study reference was made to the advent of the Church into Central New York. It was an effort that tried men's souls and called for courage and much daring. The planting of a mission involved labor and privation that was most exacting on devoted laymen and dedicated clergy. To bring the Gospel to the former, "Messengers" forded streams, followed the beaten paths of Algonquin and Iroquois through forests that have long since disap- peared, and bedded themselves at times in the open. Evidence of their joys and sorrows is abundant. For example, in February, 1805, Davenport Phelps wrote to his friend, Bishop Moore, telling how "sickness in my family and the death of one of the little sons" had prevented a visit to Manlius the previous summer. Later, a "fever," the awesome curse of pioneer life, rendered him helpless for a time. More bothersome, however, was the utter loneliness and silence that surrounded him. Especially dull were these days when he heard nothing from the outside world. Small wonder he felt constrained to write: "not a syllable from either the Bishop or any of my brethren the clergy for more than a year past."
Nor had conditions become more downy a quarter of a century later. "The Rev. John McCarthy, Rector of Christ Church, Os- wego," so runs the Register of Trinity, Constantia,
... frequently followed the trail over the old corduroy roads on horseback to the home of Nicholas Roosevelt at Central Square ... where he frequently remained over night. The following morning .. . they would drive to Constantia, hitching their saddle horses ... The good doctor carried his preaching gown and his surplice (on Communion Sunday only) together with his sermon, Bible, and Prayer Book.
It was all of thirty miles from Oswego to Central Square in those days with ten more before reaching Constantia. Similar conditions prevailed elsewhere for a long time. Witness the item of the Rev. George Engle of Baldwinsville who in 1841 traveled each Sunday to Granby and Martville for a total of twenty-four miles. "I have traveled," he reported, "during the year, 2,775 miles, officiated 140 times, administered the Lord's Supper 8 times, baptised 3 persons, married 1 [couple], instructed Bible classes 18 times, organized 1 parish, and laid the corner stone of three churches."
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These visitations, truly apostolic in their nature, entailed few of the comforts experienced today. Nor was the labor lessened by the absence of a church for worship, a condition that confronted each missionary as he arrived at a new community. In 1803, Phelps held services at General Earll's "Red House" in Skaneateles ; three years later he used the "new court house" at Onondaga Hill. In other places and at other times the clergy found the public school house or a Masonic Lodge suitable for devotions. Again the meet- ing houses of other faiths were acceptable. During their first year, to illustrate the people of Trinity, Utica, shared a home with the Presbyterians, and some thirty years later the Rev. Seth Beardsley officiated twice at the Roman Church in Salina. Military halls, banks, and theatres were used, while at Clayville in 1848 a service was held in the open air. But a mission once established stimulated its members to move a little of heaven and much of earth to erect an edifice of their own.
Precisely when the first church building was constructed is not known. William Berrian, in his Historical Sketch of Trinity Church, New York, mentions a gift from that parish for a church at Constantia in 1797. But nothing, it appears, came out of this effort. It is known, however, that the congregation at Paris Hill bought a building in 1799 that satisfied their needs until 1819 when a church was erected that stands in part to this day. Mean- while, in 1803, Trinity, Utica, erected a modest edifice costing about four thousand dollars. Three years later, St. Peter's, Auburn, raised fifteen hundred dollars for a building that probably was not finished until January, 1811. The following year in December, a wooden church "as large and elegant as any in this part of the country" was built at Manlius for five thousand dollars. St. An- drew's, New Berlin, was erected in 1814; St. Paul's, Oxford, in 1815; St. Peter's, Oneida Castle, in 1816 (?) ; and Christ, Bing- hamton, in 1817 or 1818. During the next two decades edifices were erected at Holland Patent, Waterloo, New Hartford, Syra- cuse, Skaneateles, Oswego, Bainbridge, Moravia, Rome, Marcellus, Brownville, Harpursville, Ithaca, Pompey, Constantia, Perryville, Sherburne, Watertown, Seneca Falls, Sackett's Harbor, Geddes, Norwich, Greene, Fulton, Owego, Homer, Fayetteville, Utica, Jamesville, Constableville, Turin, Pierrepont Manor, Jordan, and Mt. Upton.
Most of these churches were made possible by the subscriptions and collections of their own people. Others assisted through gifts
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of land, building materials, or manual services, and in a number of instances funds were had from the sale or rent of pews. At Steph- en's, New Hartford, for example, Judge Sanger gave fourteen hundred dollars in addition to one hundred and thirty acres of land. Nearby at Paris Hill much of the original cost was met by subscriptions ; this was true at St. Luke's, Harpursville, while at Pompey, the Rev. James Selkrig gave his own labor and skill for a church. Probably most of the expense at Geddes came from the sale of pews. In some instances timely financial aid from Trinity, New York, was of great help as at Oswego, Sherburne, and Big Flats. Then special collections from sister parishes in the diocese aided the cause.
None of these early churches were what might be called large buildings. At Manlius and Sackett's Harbor the edifices were forty by sixty feet, others such as those at Oxford and Syracuse were roughly forty by fifty ; a larger example fifty-six by seventy-four was at Oswego. The church at Paris Hill was fifty by thirty-six while others at Geddes, Oxford, Liverpool, and Sherburne ranged from thirty to forty-five. The Chapel at Constableville, small to this day, must have been the smallest at that time. In general the smaller the structure the smaller the parish. It is stated that the edifice at Holland Patent cost about $620. Harpursville cost less than two thousand, Paris Hill twenty-seven hundred, Sherburne, twenty-five hundred, Liverpool two thousand and fifty dollars. In contrast Trinity, Utica, cost four thousand, Christ, Oswego, below five thousand, and St. John's, Big Flats, is reported to have cost six thousand dollars.
In most instances these churches, regardless of size or cost, reflected a neoclassical style of architecture reminiscent of the New England Meeting House, or as it was also described the "plain puritan style of the period." The edifices at Sackett's Harbor and Oriskany fall into this category as do those at Utica, Auburn, Paris Hill, Holland Patent, and Constableville. All of these had indi- vidual features and characteristics dependent in part upon the whim or attitude of the designer. In the case of Paris Hill there is strong presumptive evidence supporting the idea that plans and drawings were furnished by Trinity, New York. While others may have been so favored it is likely that most of the churches referred to were built by a local contractor or even a carpenter. Finally, it may be noted as indicative of the advent of a new style
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