Astonishingly hymn singing was outlawed by the Church of England until 1819, the direct word of God was officially preferred.
From a recently published book "O Sing Unto the Lord" by Andrew Grant, a lecturer in music and longtime choirmaster of the Chapel Royal.
A consequence of our Civil War which was a battle between supporters (mainly Catholic) of the monarchy and the parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell and essentially Protestant. Cromwell is a great hero of democracy but became a dictator and had a Guantanamo style prison in the island of Jersey centuries before the one in Cuba.Cromwell's Commonwealth banned all church music except unison psalm singing. Happily Purcell and Handel came along later with their royal court compositions and a constitutional monarchy.
From a recently published book "O Sing Unto the Lord" by Andrew Grant, a lecturer in music and longtime choirmaster of the Chapel Royal.
A consequence of our Civil War which was a battle between supporters (mainly Catholic) of the monarchy and the parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell and essentially Protestant. Cromwell is a great hero of democracy but became a dictator and had a Guantanamo style prison in the island of Jersey centuries before the one in Cuba.Cromwell's Commonwealth banned all church music except unison psalm singing. Happily Purcell and Handel came along later with their royal court compositions and a constitutional monarchy.