Constantine in Kerrier Funeral Hymn
Item
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Title
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Constantine in Kerrier Funeral Hymn
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Description
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From: Old Cornwall, Vol II, no. 12, pp. 11-13 (1936).
By M. H. N. Cuthbert Atchley
Until traffic increased so much, it was customary at Cornish funerals to sing hymns as the coffin was borne along the roads to the church. Constantine (or Consténten, Cornish Costentyn, as it should be) had its own hymn, which was sung up to about 70 or 75 years ago (1860s - ed.) as the coffin was carried from the church to the grave side, or at the grave side only.
This melody was remembered and a few written down by an old Constentener, the late Mr. James Roberts, who was born in April 1839. He gave it to a London organist who harmonized it after the manner of the Kieff Kontakion for the Departed.
In this form Mr. Roberts gave it to the writer, who suspected from its mediaeval characteristics that it was a corrupted modal melody and probably originally a folk song. In answer to some questions Mr. Roberts explained that the organist, in composing a harmony, had altered the air itself. This changing, or modernizing, of an ancient tune made it sound harsh and jarring because it altered it out of its modal scale to which it obviously belonged. The organist's harmony merely accentuated this jarring.
The writer approached the late Vicar of Constantine, the Rev. Charles Plank, who became very interested and desired to revive the hymn. With this end in view the 19th century words, which are taken from common inscriptions on grave stones, were amended from the second to the third person so as to make them suitable for use in church. The former final verse was omitted on account of its muddled and chaotic wording, and one substituted from another Cornish grave stone.
The melody given here is as it used to be sung at Constanten. Its modal character indicates that it cannot be much later than the 16th century, though the number of dotted notes implies some corruption between then and now. The harmony here provided is in strict accordance with its mode.
Canon T. H. Davis, Mus. Doc., the Precentor of Wells Cathedral, considers this old Cornish melody to be of such beauty that it is to be sung, with the harmony here printed, as an anthem in that Cathedral.
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Publisher
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Federation of Old Cornwall Societies
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Coverage
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Constantine
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Source
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Old Cornwall, Vol II, no. 12, pp. 11-13 (1936).
