Roman Catholic Church Music in England, 1791–1914: A Handmaid of the Liturgy?

Thomas Muir read History at Oxford and taught History and Politics at Stonyhurst College, for whom he wrote the definitive history Stonyhurst College 1593-1993, now in its second edition. Between 1997-2005 he read Music at the universities of York and Durham. His doctoral thesis 'Full in the Panting Heart of Rome', Roman Catholic Church Music In England 1850-1962 broke new ground in the use of database technology for the large-scale analysis of performance repertoire, providing much of the basic research material on which this book is based. The author of numerous historical and musicological articles, he is an experienced composer, his latest project being the composition of a large cycle of chamber music inspired by the legend of the Green Man.

’...a good account of the changes in Catholic liturgy and the musical adaptations made to accommodate these ...it will be of interest to many church musicians, including from other denominations.’ Church Music Quarterly ’Thomas Muir has done English musical history a great service by his detailed study... Muir's discussion of the musical issues of plainchant style, and the politics associated with the various parties is illuminating. ... Muir has made a major and very welcome contribution to the process of restoring some balance to the history of religious music in England in the nineteenth century.’ British Institute of Organ Studies Journal ’... this study is packed with interesting facts and figures and is to be welcomed for shedding more light on what has been a badly neglected area in both Roman Catholic and wider liturgical history.’ Recusant History ’The book is fully indexed and there is a detailed bibliography, together with a list of Internet sources. The specialist, organist or choirmaster, will find much interesting, and indeed intriguing, information on the origin and development of our church music and a general reader, diving into the book at certain sections, will find many aspects of Catholic history illustrated by the church music. Dr. Muir is to be congratulated and thanked for providing this throrough, yet accessible, account of the hymns and masses with which we are familiar, but which we all too easily take for granted.’ The Stonyhurst Magazine ’... the book’s importance lies in its historical treatment of the Church’s struggle to establish a satisfactory English musical tradition ... [and] should be used as a richly detailed source of information about the practice of music in English Catholicism, and about the many and varied ideologies, institutions, and personalities that contributed to its unique development.’ Music and Letters ’This is a groundbreaking book ... an essential read for anyone interested in th

• List of Figures, List of Tables, List of Music Examples, Acknowledgements, List of Abbreviations and Terminology, Preface, General Editor’s Series Preface, Introduction: Nineteenth-Century English Catholic Music: A Neglected Heritage, I. HERITAGE, HISTORY AND LITURGY, 1. The Historical Background, 2. The Liturgical Framework, II. CATHOLIC MUSIC IN THE LATE EIGHTEENTH AND EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURIES, 3. Plainchant in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries, 4. Music at the London Embassy Chapels and their Successors, III. ULTRAMONTANE INFLUENCES ON CATHOLIC CHURCH MUSIC, 5. Plainchant Reinterpreted, 6. The Revival of Renaissance Polyphony, IV. MUSIC FOR EXTRA-LITURGICAL SERVICES, 7. Catholic Vernacular Hymnody c.1842–1913, 8. Music for Benediction, V. THE IRON FRAME: CATHOLIC MUSIC DURING THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, 9. The New Legislative Framework, 10. Plainchant from Solesmes, 11. Renaissance Polyphony with an English Inflexion: The Work of Sir Richard Terry, Conclusion: Catholic Church Music in the Early Twentieth Century: Visions of Uniformity – Diverse Reality, Select Bibliography, Index