Ritmennt - 01.01.2001, Page 86

JÓN ÞÓRARINSSON
RITMENNT
the greater part of the book is taken up hy 70 hymns, nearly all Catholic
in origin and arranged de tempore. Thcir primary source must have
been a Catholic hymnarium. These are omitted in the two younger
school collections, from the first half of the 18th century, their main
substance being the same morning and evening hymns as in HS, with a
few Latin prayers added.
When comparing these manuscripts, three stages in the decline of
Latin singing in the Icelandic schools during the 16th-18th centuries
become apparent. AH (ca 1570), which is in fact the oldest "school
song-book" preserved, is a true antiphonal, with music to every syllable
of the words, but only short indications of hymns easily available in
other books. In HS (1687) antiphonal singing has practically disap-
peared, hymns for every day of the week are put in the foreground, but
the bulk of the contents is copied from old Catholic hymn-books. Only
21 tunes are notated, either in part (first line only) or in full (15 tunes).
The younger versions of HS (early 18th century) leave out the Catholic
hymns, and contain no music at all.
Of the 21 hymns mentioned in AH, all Catholic in origin, 14 are
found in HS. The hymns of the Reformation are completely ignored in
AH. But they received full attention in Bishop Guðbrandur's sub-
sequent publications, the Hymnbook for public use (1589) and the
Graduale (1594). Both books contain Icelandic translations of many
Reformation hymns, and some of them have long held an honored place
in the hymnals of the Icelandic church.
But the ancient hymns were also given room in bishop Guðbrandur's
publications. In the hymnbook are found 11 of the 14 hymns common
to AH and HS, and at least 3 more that only are in AH, as well as the
canticles Benedictus and Magnificat, which are the pillars of the morn-
ing and evening services in AH, and Te Deum, which also is found
(incomplete) in AH. All these Catholic hymns and canticles are identi-
fied in the hymnbook (1589) hy their Latin beginnings, but in the
Graduale (1594) the Latin identification is omitted.
82