Music and the Wesleys.

Proksch, Bryan

Music and the Wesleys. Edited by Nicholas Temperley and Stephen Banfield. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2010. [xviii, 274 p. ISBN 978-0-252-03581-4. $80]

Music was a family business for the Bachs, Mozarts, Haydns, Mendelssohns, and--as evidenced by the present collection edited by Nicholas Temperley and Stephen Banfield--the Wesleys. Prior to this group of articles, one might have been forgiven for overlooking the Wesleys, hailing as they did from the typically marginalized English "long" eighteenth century. Colloquially at least, Britain was a land of imported music throughout the era, as evidenced by Handel's long-term residency, Haydn's two London journeys and the "London" Bach (Johann Christian). In light of the research presented in Music and the Wesleys, however, it is high time to discard such gross generalizations.

Originating with a 2007 conference at the University of Bristol commemorating the tercentenary of Charles Wesley's birth (1707-1788), this book includes sixteen essays as well as a catalog of works by Charles Wesley the Younger (1757-1834), compiled by John Nightingale. As may be evident already from the preceding sentence, distinguishing the individual Wesleys presents somewhat of a problem, since the essays address no fewer than five different Wesleys over three generations. Fortunately the editors thoughtfully provided a family tree and also carefully cross-referenced the articles when certain topics related to one another.

The first eight essays of the book deal with the evolution of Methodist musical identity. Temperley's opening chapter addresses the founder (Charles) and his more musically inclined brother, John (1703-1791). John's theological ideals for music were mitigated by Charles' more practical viewpoint. Temperley concludes that their sometimes-contradictory opinions created a paradox of high- and low-church values which hindered the development of a single Methodist approach to music for a century. J. R. Watson and Carlton R. Young both address Charles Wesley in detail in their respective chapters. Watson examines his "ever-restless" poetry, and, while he concludes that there is underlying musicality to the texts, it is curious that he never examines a musical setting. Young's chapter provides the other half of the equation, as it is exclusively on the musical settings of Charles Wesley's hymns up to the present.

Robin A. Leaver, Martin V. Clarke, and Sally Drage each deal with musical genre and worship practice in early English Methodism. Leaver surveys the different published collections of hymns, distinguishing those which were designed for weekly societal meetings from those modeled on the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and geared towards Sunday services. Clarke examines the Sunday "high" service in more detail with specific reference to Frederick Lampe's hymn settings. Lampe's hymns achieved popularity because they combined Methodist theology with the compositional style seen in contemporary British musical theater. Drage deals with the more formal "set pieces" designed for choral singing. These through-composed works fused music and text but stood at odds with John Wesley's designs for full congregational participation (in 1779 he even exhorted his followers to "sing no anthems").

Anne Bagnall Yardley and Geoffrey C. Moore both examine Methodist music in nineteenth-century America. Yardley argues that predictability determined which hymn tunes became popular and which failed to cross the Atlantic, though her assertion that [M.sub.ARTYN] is a bland tune which fails to capture the restlessness of the text "Jesus Lover of My Soul" hardly seems fair considering the melody's consistent popularity. Moore's contribution examines the increasingly important role played by the Wesleys' Hymns on the Lord's Supper, as American Methodists gradually worked towards a unified musical practice. However, this changed abruptly at the end of the nineteenth century, when the publication was largely abandoned with the rise of the Pietistic "better music movement."

The second half of this collection deals with the Wesleys as composers and performing musicians. The younger generations of Wesleys feature prominently: Charles the Younger (1757-1934), Samuel (1766-1834), and (Samuel) Sebastian (1810-1876). Banfield provides a broad overview of the life, careers, and compositions of all three. His enthusiasm is evident, but it seems a bit odd to praise the Wesleys as "the finest English composers across the best part of a century" (p.121). The accuracy of the point is not in dispute, rather the significance: how did England's best influence the larger world of music? Until the Wesleys' story is integrated into the broad picture of European music history, they are likely to remain in the purview of specialists.

The private and public musical life of the family dominates a number of essays in this section of the book. Jonathan Barry takes a close look at the Wesleys' family life in Bristol, discerning the ways in which nurture and nature collaborated to create a musical powerhouse. Philip Olleson looks specifically at the father-sons relationship between Charles and his two sons (Charles and Samuel) over the course of their careers. Peter Forsaith coaxes hidden meanings from the portraits of the younger Wesley brothers, providing a better understanding about how the family wished to present itself to the musical world. Alyson McLamore works on the details of the outside world's interaction with the Wesleys through the lens of their public concerts. Her source work with the detailed family ledger is commendable--it is lamentable that the Wesleys did not preserve their program offerings as carefully as their finances!

Three analytic essays close the volume. Peter Holman investigates Samuel Wesley's fascination with "old" music at a time when, aside from Handel, new music reigned. Samuel's distinctive compositional style only partly reflected his musical tastes, as newer techniques (e.g. Haydn's late symphonic style) mingled with older galant and Baroque practices. Peter Horton does much the same for the youngest Wesley, Sebastian, with specific reference to his anthem texts. Banfield and Temperley close with a joint chapter on the legacy of Sebastian. They acknowledge that he was the "finest English composer of the early Victorian period" (p.216) and yet that he had limited influence on other composers. Their survey of performances surprisingly shows that Sebastian's works reached the height of their popularity just prior to World War II, a heyday of English church choir performance that coincided with the purely nationalistic interest in promoting "native" music.

With five key personages in the Wesley family examined over sixteen essays and a catalog, it is clear that this book redefines our understanding of the genesis of Methodist musical practice as well as the Wesleys' place in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English musical life. Despite some overlap in the topics presented, the book is a much needed resource. However, the question remains: will generalist musicologists think the Wesleys are important enough to stop for a look? It remains to be seen how the major continental musicians of the Classical and Romantic eras interacted with the English family or to what extent they influenced their own countrymen from later eras (Britten, Vaughan Williams, etc.). Perhaps with time and the placement of the Wesleys in a broader European context, the generalist will have no choice but to look. Either way, the present collection will serve as a solid foundation upon which to build future research.

Bryan Proksch

McNeese State University, Lake Charles, Louisiana