Early Hymns
In the public services of the Church the people's
share was confined to uttering the response, "Kyrie
Eleison, Christe Eleison," at certain intervals during
the singing of the Latin hymns and psalms. These
words were frequently repeated, sometimes two or
three hundred times in one service, and were apt to
degenerate into a kind of scarcely articulate shout, as
is proved by the early appearance, even in writing, of
such forms as "Kyrieles." But soon after
Notker
had created the Latin Sequence, the priests began to
28
imitate it in German, in order to furnish the people
with some intelligible words in place of the mere outcry
to which they had become accustomed. They
wrote irregular verses, every strophe of which ended
with the words, "Kyrie Eleison," from the last
syllables of which these earliest German hymns were
called Leisen. They were, however, never used in
the service of the mass, but only on popular festivals,
on pilgrimages, and such occasions. The most
ancient that has been handed down to us is one on
St. Peter, dating from the beginning of the tenth
century, of which we give an imitation, as well as
we can manage it, in English; and also of a prayer
from the tenth century, which is found at the close
of a copy of Otfried's work, inscribed, "The Bishop
Waldo caused this Evangelium to be made, and Sigibart,
an unworthy priest, wrote it." The language
of both differs so widely from modern German, as
to be unintelligible without a glossary; but both are
written in irregular metre, and in rhyme, though the
rhymes are very imperfect.
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