Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
3 MUSICAL INTERACTION AND CHANGES
3.4 Methods for Music Theory as well as Church-Singing and Playing
As mentioned in Chapter 2.1, many German and Swedish organ methods were in use in Finland and Ingria. Many of them also included music theory and instruc-tions to congregational singing. In the second half of the nineteenth century, two extensive methods were published in Finnish for teaching music theory and con-gregational singing, as well as playing the psalmodikon and violin but also a bit the piano and harmonium. It is noteworthy that neither of them included instructions for organ-playing. There might have been three reasons for the solution: firstly, the organ was not yet a common instrument in Finnish churches; secondly, there was no need for Finnish organs methods in addition to German and Swedish ones; and finally, these methods were meant for churchwardens, primary school teachers and common parishioners, not organists.
The first method was published in 1857 by the Churchwarden of Ikaalinen, Daniel Henrik Kukkasela (1814–1858) with the title ‘Pieces of advice and instructions for congregational singing, plus a notebook for Finnish hymns and the Mass as well as metrical classes of hymns and an introduction to play the psalmodikon and violin’109. Kukkasela’s starting point was to offer a ‘method for congregational singing to the singers of the parishes and all of the inhabitants of our country who love congre-gational singing, as well as to the teachers of the primary schools’ and naturally, to the churchwardens, of whom Kukkasela used the word ‘cantor.’ In his preface, Kuk-kasela also pointed out that since no Finnish method had been published before, this songbook had been expanded with a textbook (Kukkasela 1857, 4, 10).
In his book, Kukkasela first taught voice skills, breathing and a good posture for singing. Then, he advised the name of the notes, for although his collection was one-part, he did not use sifferskrift numerical notation but Western stave notation.
Following that, there were rehearsals, first with three notes and then, little by little, with an increasing number of notes. The rehearsals were meant to be sung, but with the help of a violin or a psalmodikon. There was a wealth of systematic
informa-109 Kirkko-veisun neuvoja ja opetuksia, ynnä suomalaisten virtten nuotti-kirjan ja messun sekä virtten luok-ka-laskun, että virsi-kanteleen ja vioolin soitannos-johdatuksen kanssa.
tion on registers and clefs, accidentals, major and minor scales, intervals, chords and scale degrees, rhythms and note values, as well as time signatures (Kukkasela 1857, 11–32). When all of this had been well practiced and understood, it was time to start singing some easier hymn melodies. Nevertheless, music-theoretical exercises continued with a deeper understanding of minor scales and seventh chords, as well as the medieval church modes (ibid., 32–41). Thereafter, Kukkasela went through the special features of some hymns, listed the hymns by metrical classes and gave instructions for building a note board necessary for teaching (ibid., 42–49).
Then, it was time to move on to the instruments. As for the violin, Kukkasela (1857, 49–50) gave only brief instructions on how to find each note in each string. The reason for the narrowness was probably that Kukkasela considered the psalmodikon more suitable for those who had not played the violin before or who intended to learn to play an instrument only for learning singing. Regarding the psalmodikon, Kukkasela, on the other hand, gave detailed construction instructions with the mea-surements of a fingerboard and corresponding notes (ibid., 51–53). Finally, the rest of the book consisted of all of the melodies of the Finnish Hymnal as well as litur-gical melodies (see Chapter 4.3), which means that Kukkasela’s work was also both a chorale book and collections of liturgical melodies.
After Kukkasela, the Vicar of Kärsämäki, Berndt Leonard Frosterus (1808–1887), published a book the first edition of which was titled, ‘Easily comprehensible basic knowledge in every kind of playing, especially for congregational singing, intended mainly for churchwardens, primary school teachers and everybody who are learn-ing congregational slearn-inglearn-ing’110. The concise book, with only twenty-one pages, was meant to be a method for congregational singing at the beginning of a chorale book, which Frosterus edited in 1851 and 1852, but which was never published due to high printing costs. When it became clear that the book would not be published, Fros-terus slightly expanded the method part for the needs of the new primary school (Frosterus 1871, 3).
110 Helposti käsitettäwä Perustus-Tieto Kaikenlaiseen Soitantoon erinomattain Kirkkoweisuun, aiwottu pää-asiallisesti Lukkarein, Kansakouluin ja Kirkkoweisua opettelewaisten hywäksi.
Frosterus did not recommend using numerical notation either but Western stave notation. The book began with the measurements of the psalmodikon and the pic-torial instructions for marking the notes on a fingerboard (Frosterus 1871, 4–5).
The most extensive content of the book was entitled ‘About church-singing and ec-clesiastical playing.’ It started a little surprisingly with the history of the pipe organ.
After that, Frosterus briefly went through the medieval church modes and invited those more interested in them to get acquainted with Kukkasela’s book. Then came the actual content: scales with whole and half steps, rhythms and note values, rests, time signatures, majors and minors, as well as intervals. Harmonies were not dealt with by Frosterus, as his main purpose was unison congregational singing. Finally, he gave instructions on how the different number of syllables in the different verses of the hymns in the Finnish Hymnal were applied to the chorale melody, and how this implementation could be marked in the score (ibid., 6–20).
In this edition, Frosterus (1871, 8) recommended using only the psalmodikon and not the violin. In contrast, the second edition, published seven years later in 1878, was in many ways broader and more comprehensive, as the title of the book sug-gests: ‘Basic knowledge in music for the fortepiano, harmonium, violin and psalmo-dikon, following Steibelt, Dussek and Cramer’s methods as well as Music Dictionary.
Extract from J. Leonard Höijer’s well-known Music Lexicon’111. It is clear from this title that, through his networks, Frosterus had access to foreign literature. Méthode de Piano ou l’art d’enseigner cet Instrument. Pianoforte-Schule, published in French and Ger-man in 1805 by the GerGer-man composer and pianist Daniel Steibelt (1765–1823), living in Saint Petersburg, Kleine theoretisch-praktische Klavierschule von Pleyel, Dussek und Cramer112, published in Vienna without a year, as well as Musik-lexikon of the Swedish composer and author Johan Leonard Höijer (1815–1884) from 1864 were apparent-ly on Frosterus’s bookshelf.
111 Perustus-Tieto Soitantoon Forte-Pianolle, Harmoniumille, Wiululle sekä Wirsikanteleelle, Steibeltin, Dussekin ja Cramerin Opetustawan mukaan, ynnä Musiikki-Sanakirja. Ulosweto ja Suomennos J. Leonard Höijerin hywäksi tunnetusta Musiikki-Sanakirjasta in Finnish, Grundlära i Musiken för Piano-Forte, Harmo-nium, Violin och Psalmodicon, efter Steibelts, Dusseks och Cramers metoder jemte Musik-Ordbok. Utdrag ur J.
Leonard Höijers välkända Musik-Lexikon in Swedish.
112 Austrian composer Ignaz Pleyel (1757–1831), Czech composer and pianist Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760–1812), and the German-born composer and pianist Johann Baptist Cramer (1771–
1858) who lived in England.
The first part of the Frosterus’s book was an extensive theoretical section that in-cluded the corresponding sections of the previous edition in an expanded form and now, besides Finnish, also in Swedish. There were rehearsals for the violin, psalmodikon, piano and harmonium. This time Frosterus also dealt with chords and harmonies as well as trills and other ornaments. The first part was completed by a series of small pieces of music for the piano or harmonium as well as songs to be accompanied on the same instruments (Frosterus 1878, 1–73). It is noteworthy that these songs were not hymns or even spiritual music. The reason for this might be the fact, which appears in the preface, that Frosterus’s primary goal was no longer to improve congregational singing but to promote playing skills (ibid., III).
Notwithstanding, congregational singing was not left out either but received a more extensive presentation than in the first edition. The second part of Frosterus’s book began similarly to the first edition, with the measurements of the psalmodikon and the pictorial instructions (Frosterus 1878, 74–75). This was again followed by a text about church-singing and ecclesiastical playing. The medieval church modes were now presented more extensively and with scores (ibid., 76–82). This was followed by four-part arrangements of eighteen hymns and Vogler’s Hosanna. Like Nordlund, Frosterus had taken most of the arrangements from Hæffner’s Chorale Book, but there were also individual harmonisations by Abraham Mankell as well as Nordlund and Rudolf Lagi (ibid., 83–93). The second part was concluded by the four-part ver-sions of liturgical melodies, mostly as Frosterus’s own arrangements (ibid., 94–104;
see Chapter 4.3). The third part of the book consisted of a dictionary taken from Höijer’s Musik-lexikon, which Frosterus himself had translated into Finnish (ibid., 105–188).
In addition to these methods, Konstantin Saarelainen (1826–1914) had a chapter with the title ‘Instructions’ (Oswiitta in Finnish) on the second (1875) and third (1883) edition of his chorale book. He advised on the use of the voice, pitch, po-sition, articulation, sound, tempo and characteristics of hymns (Saarelainen 1883, 6–10). Similarly, Fredrik August Ehrström (1837, VII) gave instructions on singing in his collection of liturgical melodies; for instance, liturgical hymns should be sung festive and lively, while Scripture readings, as well as prayers, should be sung in a quicker tempo. He also taught proper breathing and a good singing posture.