![]() ![]() Its meetings were therefore intended to supplement rather than replace the formal liturgies of parish churches. The earliest leaders of Methodism, especially John and Charles Wesley, intended it as a revival movement within the Church of England. Methodism's liturgical history, its model of centralized authority and the diversity of its expression in local contexts have all meant that it has never developed a distinctive musical repertory that has influenced musical culture more broadly, such as the choral music or chant associated with Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran or Orthodox churches. It argues that their works reveal the porous boundaries between sacred and secular music while also challenging assumptions about Methodism's engagement with and attitude towards the arts.Įarly Methodism's institutional engagement with broader musical culture is worth considering in some detail before turning to the compositions of these five musicians, as it provides an important background for assessing the history, content and reception of these musical settings. It considers the relationships of each with John and Charles Wesley and with Methodism more generally, as well as the musical environments within which they operated. This article examines one aspect of the interaction between Methodism and musical culture in the long eighteenth century: original settings of Charles Wesley's hymn texts by art-music composers, including John Frederick Lampe (1702/1703–1751), George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), Jonathan Battishill (1738–1801), and two of Charles Wesley's children: Charles junior (1757–1834) and Samuel (1766–1837). While such engagements have exerted relatively little influence on Methodist practice and have received limited historiographical consideration, they offer revealing insights into the diversity of Methodism throughout its history. Footnote 2 However, the predominance of congregational hymnody within Methodism has tended to marginalize other ways in which it engaged with musical culture more broadly. Methodist hymnody has long been a subject of scholarly endeavour, especially the hymns of Charles Wesley, but also the work of other Methodist hymn-writers and the uses of music in Methodist practice. Footnote 1 Music has occupied a significant place in people's experiences of Methodism throughout its history, as well as being a matter that has warranted serious attention from the leaders of Methodism's many branches. These texts shaped its practical and theological development in numerous ways, establishing for Methodists a reputation and legacy as a ‘singing people’ that has endured ever since. It argues that Methodism was not, contrary to popular perception, uniformly opposed to or detached from the aesthetic considerations of artistic culture, that eighteenth-century Methodism and John and Charles Wesley cannot be regarded as synonymous and that, in this period, sacred music encompasses rather more than church music and cannot be narrowly defined in opposition to secular music.Ĭharles Wesley's vast corpus of hymn texts is the most defining cultural artefact of eighteenth-century Methodism. The article examines the textual and musical characteristics of these the better to understand their relationship with both eighteenth-century Methodism and fashionable musical culture of the period. The personal musical preferences of John and Charles Wesley brought them into contact with several leading musical figures in eighteenth-century London and initiated a small corpus of original musical settings of some of the latter's hymns. It argues that the strong emphasis on congregational singing in popular and scholarly perceptions of Methodism, including within the movement itself, masks a more varied engagement with musical culture. This article considers eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Methodism's relationship with art music through the original settings of poetry by Charles Wesley by five notable musicians: John Frederick Lampe, George Frideric Handel, Jonathan Battishill, Charles Wesley junior and Samuel Wesley.
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