S 1 N 



in tlie province of Drontheim ; 46 miles S.S.W. of Dron- 



theim. 



SINGFING, a town of America, in New York, on the 

 river Hudfon ; 27 miles N. of New York. N. lat. 41" 8'. 

 W. long. 73° J3'. 



SINGHOLE, a town of Hindooftan, 111 Gurry Mun- 

 della; 36 miles N.N.W. of Gurrah. 



SINGHORE, a town of Hindoollan, in Oude ; 16 

 miles S.E. of Manickpour. 



SINGHYA, a town of Hindooftan, in Bahar ; 10 miles 

 N. of Hajypour. 



SINGILIEV, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 

 Simbirflc, on the Volga ; 24 miles S. of Simbirflc. N. lat. 

 54° i'. E. long. 48 '34'. 



SINGING, the aft of making divers inflexions of the 

 voice, agreeable to the ear, and correfponding to the notes 

 of a fong, or piece of melody. 



The Greek muficians, fays Dr. Smith in his Harmonics, 

 p. 3. note c, rightly defcribe the difference between the man- 

 ner of finging and that of talking. They confidered two 

 motions in the voice ; the one continued, and ufed in talk- 

 ing ; the other difcrete, and ufed in linging. In the con- 

 tinued motion, the voice never refts at any certain pitch, but 

 waves up and down by infenfible degrees ; and in the dif- 

 crete motion it does the contrary, frequently refling or 

 Haying at certain places, and leaping from one to another 

 by fenfible intervals. Euclid's Introduftio Harmonica, p. 2. 

 In the former cafe, the vibrations of the air are continually 

 accelerated and retarded by turns, and by very fmall degrees, 

 and in the latter by large ones. 



The firll thing done, in learning to fing, is to raife a 

 fcale of notes, by tones and femitones, to an oftave ; and 

 defcend again by the fame notes ; and then to rife and fall 

 by greater intervals, as a 3d, 4th, and 5th, and to do all 

 this by notes of different pitch. 



Then thefe notes are rcprefented by lines and fpaces, to 

 which the fyllables fa, fol, la, mi, are applied, and the pu- 

 pil is taught to name each line and fpace by them ; whence 

 this praftice is ufually cnWe A /o/-fa-iiig. The nature, reafon, 

 defefts, &c. of which, fee under the article Sol-fa-ing. 



For the hiltory of finging, as a part of religious worfhip, 

 fee Choral Service. 



Singing, Procejfional. It was about the year 386, dur- 

 ing the perfecution of the orthodox Chriftians by the em- 

 prefs Juftina, mother to the then young emperor Valen- 

 tinian II. that ecclefiaftical mufic was introduced in favour 

 of the Arians. " At this time," fays St. Auguftine, " it 

 was tirll ordered that hymns and pfalms (hould be fung 

 after the manner of eaftern nations, that the people might 

 not langui(h and pine away with a tedious forrow, and 

 from that time to the prefent it is retained at Milan, and 

 imitated by almoft all the other congregations of the 

 world." 



Mufic is faid by fome of the fathers to have drawn the 

 Oentiles frequently into the church through mere curiofity ; 

 who liked its ceremonies fo well, tliat they were baptized be- 

 fore their departure. The generality of our parochial mufic 

 is not likely to produce fimilar effefts ; being f uch as would 

 fooner drive Chriftians with good ears out of the church, 

 » than draw Pagans into ii. 



About this time, during the contention between the or- 

 thodox Chriftians and the Arians, we find by Socrates the 

 hiftorian, (1. vi. c. 8.) that the heretics ufed to fing hymns, 

 marching through the ttreets of Conftantinople in proceffion, 

 with which the vulgar were fo much captivated, that the 

 orthodox, under the direftion of St. Chryfoftom, thought 

 it neceffary to follow the example which had been fet them 



9 



SIN 



by their greateft enemies. Procellional finging had been 

 long praftifed by the Pagans, but no mention is made of it 

 among Chriftians before this period. 



Singing in the Church by the primitive Chri/lians. With 

 refpeft to the mufic that was firil ufed by the Chriftians, or 

 eftablifhed in the church by the firft emperors that were con- 

 verted, as no fpecimens remain, it is difficult to determine 

 of what kind it wa*;. That fome part of the facred mufic 

 of the apoftles and their immediate fucceffors, in Paleftine 

 and the adjacent countries, may have been fuch as was afed 

 by the Hebrews, particularly in chanting the pfalms, is 

 probable ; but it is no lefs probable that the mufic of the 

 hymns which were firit received in the church, wherever Pa- 

 ganifm had prevailed, refembled that which had been many 

 ages ufed in the temple-worlhip of the Greeks and Romans. 

 Of this, the verfification of thofe hymns affords an indif- 

 putable proof, as it by no means refembles that of the 

 pfalms, or of any other Hebrevir poetry. And examples 

 may be found in all the breviaries, miffals, and antiphonaries, 

 ancient and modern, of every Ipecies of verfification which 

 has been praftifed by the Greek and Roman poets, particu- 

 larly the lyric ; fuch as the Alcmanian, Alcaic, Sapphic, &c. 

 St. Hilary, bifhop of Poiftiers, and St. Ambrofe, are faid 

 to have been the firft that compofed hymns to be fung in the 

 welterii churches. Both thefe fathers flourifhed about the 

 middle of the fourth century ; but Prudentius, a Chriftian 

 poet, contemporary with Theodofius, who died in 395, was 

 author of moft. of the hymns in the Roman breviary. 



Singing, Cetejlial. It feems as if the primitive Chrif- 

 tians had had no conceptions more fublime of the employ- 

 ment of the bleft in the celeftial abode, than that they were 

 eternally finging. The ancient hymn, " Te Deum lauda- 

 mus," ftill retained in the church, appears to have fumilhed 

 the poet Dante with a model of the 28th canto of his 

 " Paradifo," where, under three different hierarchies, con- 

 fifting each of three choirs or chorufes, the heavenly hoil of 

 cherubim and feraphim are finging perpetual hofannahs. 

 Milton has adigned them the fame employment : 



■ Their golden harps they took : 

 Harps ever tun'd, that glittering by their fide 

 Like quivers hung, and with preamble fweet 

 Of charming fymphony they introduce 

 Their facred fong, and waken raptures high ; 

 No voice exempt, no voice but well could join 

 Melodious part, fuch concord is in heaven. 



Parad. Loft, book iii. 



Orazio Benivoli compofed, in the laft century, a mafs for 

 the ceffation of the plague at Rome, upon the fame idea, 

 for fix choirs, of four parts each, the fcore confifting of 

 twenty-four different parts : it was performed in St. Peter's 

 church, of which he w^s maeftro di capella, and the fingers, 

 amounting to more than two hundred, were arranged in dif- 

 ferent circles of the dome ; the fixth choir occupying the 

 fummit of the cupola. 



Singing in England by Madrigalifis. Choral compofi- 

 tions, madrigals, and fongs in that ftyle, always of many 

 parts, being the only vocal mufic that was in favour with 

 mafters and their moft powerful patrons, precluded all re- 

 finement in the performance : as fugues, canons, and full 

 chorufes, of which they chiefly confifted, are founded upon 

 democratic principles, which admit of no fovereignty ; and 

 whatever good they contain, is equally diftributed to all 

 ranks in the mufical ftate ; the art of finging, therefore, in 

 thefe times, further than was neceffary to keep a performer 

 in tune and time, muft have been unknown : the pofl'eflor of 

 the moft exquifite voice had no more frequent opportunities 



allowed 



