s, and to rely for the
most part on other artistic devices, though any use of melodies in long
notes against quicker counterpoint will be aesthetically
indistinguishable from counterpoint on a _canto fermo_. Thus Handel in
his Italian and English works wrote no entire chorale movements, yet
what is the passage in the "Hallelujah" chorus from "the kingdom of this
world" to the end but a treatment of the second part of the chorale
_Wachet auf_? How shall we describe the treatment of the words "And
their cry came up unto the Lord" in the first chorus of _Israel in
Egypt_, except as the treatment of a phrase of chorale or _canto fermo_?
Again, to return to the 16th century, what are the hymns of Palestrina
but figured chorales? In what way, except in the lack of symmetry in the
Gregorian phrasing, do they differ from the contemporary setting by
Orlando di Lasso, also a Roman Catholic, of the German chorale _Vater
unser im Himmelreich_? In modern times the use of German chorales, as in
Mendelssohn's oratorios and organ-sonatas, has had rather the aspect of
a revival than of a development; though the technique and spirit of
Brahms's posthumous organ chorale-preludes is thoroughly modern and
vital.

One of the most important, and practically the earliest collection of
"Chorales" is that made by Luther and Johann Walther (1496-1570), the
_Enchiridion_, published in 1524. Next in importance we may place the
Genevan Psalter (1st ed., Strassburg, 1542, final edition 1562), which
is now conclusively proved to be the work of Bourgeois. From this
Sternhold and Hopkins borrowed extensively (1562). The psalter of C.
Goudimel (Paris, 1565) is another among many prominent collections
showing the steps towards congregational singing, i.e. the restriction
to "note-against-note" counterpoint (sc. plain harmony), and, in
twelve cases, the assigning of the melody to the treble instead of to
the tenor. The first hymn-book in which this latter step was acted on
throughout is Osiander's _Geistliche Lieder ... also gesetzt, dass ein
christliche Gemein durchaus mitsingen kann_ (1586). But many of the
finest and most famous tunes are of much later origin than any such
collections. Several (e.g. _Ich freue mich in dir_) cannot be traced
before Bach, and were very probably composed by him. (D. F. T.)

CHORIAMBIC VERSE, or CHORIAMBICS, the name given to Greek or Latin
lyrical poetry in which the sound of the c