ART AND MUSIC.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20623, 12 August 1932, Page 15

ART AND MUSIC.

RELATION TO OXFORD MOVEMENT. REV. F. R- RAWLE'S ADDRESS. The relation of the great nineteenth century revival in the Church of England, known as the Oxford Movement, to art and music was the subject of an address by tho Rev. F. E. Eawle last night, in continuation of a series of lectures on the Movement, the centenary of which falls due next year. - Mr T. Vernon Griffiths, who presided over the meeting, introduced Mr Eawle. He said that their lecturer had made a wide study of his subject—not only for the purpose of putting his knowledge to practical use, but also for tho loVe of pure scholarship. "A great stir was caused in London about two years ago by an exhibition of church art at Claxton Hall. Curiously enough, a festival of church music was being held in Loudon at tho same time, and the activities of Dr. Sidney Nicholson's School of Churzh Music was attracting attention," said tho lecturer. One hundred years ago, ho continued, none of these things could have taken place. The spread of Calvinistic doctrines and methods of worship during the seventeenth aud eighteenth centuries made the outward form of religion ugly—literally made it lOso its soul. At the end of the eighteenth century such church art as existed in England was a relic of proReformation days. Church music was not congregational, but was meagre — literally was sung by hired children to the tune of a barrel-organ. The cathedrals were treated less as places of prayer than as museums. The Catholic revival rose like a dawn to change all this.

Little Concern With Art at First. It should be pointed out, however, Mr Eawle went on, that the first tractarians of the Oxford Movement had not the time to concern themselves deeply with art and music. Their purpose was to eradicate tho primo causos of the docav, and not until they had done this "did they turn their attention to other things. But the tractarians were all artistic men, and when the rediscovery of the Catholic heritage was complete, they found it possible to sympathise with tho romantic revival against the pseudo-classicism of the eighteenth century, which was taking place in literature. One result of tins coincidence of purpose in two movements was the Gothic revival, which restored much of the glory of the primitives to ecclesiastical architecture. Architecture. The first monument to tho Oxford Movement, said Mr Eawle, was the Church of St. Saviour's, Leeds. it was consecrated on October 28th, 184.), three weeks before Newman's secession. The spirit of enthusiasm for church restoration the building thereafter leapt from parish to parish and county to county. Cathedrals everywhere were restored to their former glory, new churches were built by dis-< tinsruished architects, adherents of the movement; and old churches were swept out, decorated, and made worthy of the object for which they wore consecrated. ' Sir Gilbert Scott did much of the work. Ho of course was responsible for Christchurch Cathedral.

Relation to Art. Holman Hunt once said that in the eighteenth century there was no demand for art from Church or State, continued the lecturer. Again, Constable prophesied in 1821 that 30 years honce English art would cease to exist. Fortunately, however, reformers arose who by their insistence on, a return to Nature stopped the dVy-rot. Important work was done by the Pre-Raphaelites, chief among Whom wore Millais, Eossetti, and Holman Hunt. Now these painters all took religious subjects for their pictures, and they wore undoubtedly influenced by, as much as they'influenced, the Oxford Movement. Millais's "Christ in the House of His Father," for instance, caused its painter to be accused of Romanist propaganda.

Church Music. It was said that at the Reformation hitherto silent congregations began to sing. This was because of the new Prayer Book, which was mainly adapted for choral use. Church music, nevertheless, reached a low ebb prior to the Catholic revival. People wefo actually prevented from singing as the prayer book exhorted them. With the Oxford Movement, however, a revival of choral eucharists took place everywhere. In 1871 Richard William Church was appointed Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, whore proper church music had not been hoard for years; and John Stainer was appointed organist. Under these two men the services of the cathedral were transformed into great choral acts of worship, and no less an authority than Gounod said that the choral services at St. Paul's were the best in Europe. The publication of "Hymns, Ancient and Modern," in 1860 was a monument to the work of the reformers. In a healthy-minded community the House of God would be the fairest and the best-served house of all, Mr, Eawle went on. When cheapness was the consideration, howevor, art went out; the Oxford reformers exhorted men to adorn their worship with the glory it deserved. Mr Eawle was thanked for his address.