Dictionary of Music - Birding America

186 hurtigment. The hurdy-gurdy usually has either onemelody string, or a pair tuned in unison, and threeor four bass strings that sound continuously as adrone or bourdon.hurtig (hoo — r′tiKH) German. A direction to performin fast tempo, hurrying on to the end.hybrid stophydraulisSee under ORGAN.See HYDRAULOS.hydraulos (hī drô′ləs). Also, hydraulis,hydraulus (hī drô′lis). A keyboard instrument ofthe ancient Greeks and Romans. It was long knownonly through written descriptions, but in 1885 asmall clay model and in 1931 portions of an actualhydraulos were discovered. The hydraulos was atype of pipe organ, but it differed from all othertypes in having its wind pressure regulated by thedisplacement of water. Air for the pipes waspumped into a water-filled chamber, pushing someof the water out. When the pipes were sounded,using air from the chamber, the water flowed backin and kept the pressure of the air steady. As aresult the pitch of the pipes did not wobble at eachstroke of the air pumps or if the rate of pumpingchanged.hydraulusSee HYDRAULOS.hymn Any religious song that expresses praiseor love of God, particularly those songs sung inthe various Christian churches. One of the greatearly writers of hymns was St. Ephraim of Syria,who lived during the fourth century. The earliestLatin hymns were probably written in imitation ofGreek and Syrian examples. The most importantearly writer of Latin hymns was St. Ambrose (c.340–397), and many of the hymns written for theRoman Catholic Church during the next few centurieswere modeled on his. However, because thechurch was long ambivalent about permittinghymns (as opposed to psalms), they play a relativelysmall part in the Roman Catholic liturgy.Until about 1400 most hymns had only a singlevoice-part, in the tradition of Gregorian chant.With the growth of polyphony during the lateMiddle Ages, polyphonic (many-voiced) settingsof hymns became more and more common. FromAmbrose’s time, hymn texts consisted of severalshort stanzas of identical poetic structure with thesame melody repeated for each stanza, that is,strophic form. Also, the same melody could readilybe used for other hymns with stanzas of thesame structure, so the use of a single melody fortwo or more different hymns became common inthe Middle Ages and persists to the present day.Conversely, the same text might be sung to any ofseveral melodies; this practice, too, is still common.Hymn texts usually consisted of four-linestanzas, and therefore most hymn melodies consistof four phrases, often different phrases. Thus,the musical form ABCD is also known as hymnform.In the sixteenth century, the leaders of theProtestant Reformation in Germany stressed thatreligious services should be conducted in the languageof the people instead of in Latin. Althoughsome German hymns had existed for centuriesbefore, the Reformation spurred an enormous productionof new hymns in the German language.Some were based on earlier hymns, some on nonreligioussongs, and some were original compositions.One particularly important type was theLutheran CHORALE, which generally was harmonizedwith simple chords for congregationalsinging. In England a similar development tookplace when the Anglican Church separated fromRome. Most of the early English hymns, whichwere in regular meter and sometimes rhymed, weretranslations of the psalms, which were published inbooks called psalters. The newer Protestant denominationstook over some of the Anglican hymns butalso contributed hymns of their own, in which theysometimes replaced the strict meters of the psalterswith freer rhythms and melodies. Important in thisdevelopment were Isaac Watts (1674–1748) andCharles Wesley (1757–1834), many of whosehymns are still sung today in English-speakingProtestant churches.Collections of hymns are published in bookscalled hymnals, which sometimes also include othermusic for religious services. See also SPIRITUAL.