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FOR THE

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER·

BEING A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF SACRED MUSIC FOR
THE WORSHIP OF THE

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH;

DESIGNED ESPECIALLY FOR

CONGREGATIONAL USE.

EDITED BY

REV. GEORGE T. RIDER, M. A.

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY MASON BROTHERS,

108 & 110 DUANE STREET.

1856.

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In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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PREFACE.

THIS Manual was prepared by the editor to supply a want; long and deeply felt in the communion wherein he is privileged to minister: viz., of a book of Chai s and Tunes for Congregational use; that should contain, in convenient order and form, all the music required for an edifying and devotional use of the Liturgy; a book, that should answer for the chancel, the choir, and the congregation; and thus, on account of the simplicity and excellence of its material, together with its adaptation to the popular want, make congregational singing practicable, and, at the same time, a matter of easy achievement.

The editor is familiar with no other single Manual, that contains full provision for the music of our Liturgy, in a form that congregations can easily make use of; indeed, it is a matter of frequent experience, that choirs are obliged to resort to a variety of publications, manuscript collections, &c., for a full supply of music: and this striking want of some suitable compilation, complete, yet convenient for the pew and worshipper, as well as the chorister, may have discouraged our progress towards a juster and more edifying character of music.

This work, then, is mainly one of arrangement and compilation.

In its arrangement, the outline of the Liturgy has been as steadily adhered to as was practicable, so that the "Plain Music" might be with the "Prayer Book." The convenience of this to the worshipper will be at once apparent.

Concerning the compilation: the question was, what to reject from the great mass of material at hand, but scattered through a dozen different publications. While it was designed to supply good music for all the occasions of our worship, it was also meant to include nothing that was not strictly pertinent and useful.

A surfeit of material is perhaps as seriously inconvenient, and would go as far to defeat the end continually held in view, as even poverty of material itself. Accordingly, chants and tunes, most widely known, and within the ordinary compass of the voice, were selected; a number not large enough to confuse the worshipper with novelty, and not so limited as to be really meagre and insufficient.

These selections are for the most part simple, generally known, of established merit, and within the range of most voices.

They were made with patient and earnest reference to the wants of the worshipper, rather than the tastes of amateurs and virtuosi.

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