musica - Studia

STUDIA UBB MUSICA, LVII, 1, 2012 (p. 53-64)
(RECOMMENDED CITATION)
HYMNS OF REPENTANCE IN THE WORSHIP PRACTICE
OF THE REFORMED CHURCH OF TRANSYLVANIA
ÉVA PÉTER 1
SUMMARY. Since the end of the 18th century so called hymns of repentance
formed an outstanding category of hymns. These are sung during the weeks of
preparation before the great religious holidays. The past and present of the
hymns of repentance in the worship of the Reformed Church of Transylvania
has two main sources: the hymnbooks of various churches and the repertory of
hymns passed over as an oral tradition. The paper hereby deals primarily with
the tunes of the hymns, it analyzes them, it reveals their sources, their versions
represented in the hymnbooks of various centuries and how they were altered
while passed over in oral tradition.
Keywords: hymns of repentance, tune versions, exchanging lyrics and tunes,
ballads, original function
The past and present of the hymns of repentance in the worship of the
Reformed Church of Transylvania has two main sources: the hymnbooks of
various churches officially published through the centuries and the repertory of
hymns passed over as an oral tradition. As printed scored hymnbooks attest
Transylvanian congregations had a vast repertory of hymns already at the
beginning of the 18th century. As far as lyrics are concerned these were dealing
with various topics. Since the end of the 18th century so called hymns of
repentance formed an outstanding category of hymns. There were relatively few
hymns of repentance, but they were widely known in the congregation.
Some hymns of repentance had their own tune; some were sung using
the tunes of popular psalm or worship tunes. Therefore the writers of the hymns
of repentance mainly attempted to increase the number of appropriate stanzas;
it was not their aim to widen the musical repertory. Despite of this fact it is worth
analysing which was the tunes considered appropriate to be applied to the lyrics
of repentance. In the collection of psalms of Geneva there were 7 items which
can be considered hymns of repentance. Among these Psalm 38 is outstanding,
the most popular psalm of repentance in Transylvania. As part of the ad notam
practice also other stanzas were attached to it.
1 Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Reformed Theology, Musical Pedagogy Department,
RO-400535, Cluj-Napoca, Horea str. 7. E-mail: evapeter@hotmail.com.