Not really unexpected....
Apr. 24th, 2007 05:03 am You scored as Highbrow Protestant. You find "praise band" music more regretable than sinful, and you long instead for the likes of Wesley and Watts (all verses!), fancy choral anthems & descants, and organ pieces in minor keys. </td>
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I discovered traditional English congregational singing when I first came to England to learn the language, and was bowled over. The wealth of beautiful hymns and the eagerness of the congregation to sing them made an enormous contrast with my Italian Catholic background; and it did not hurt that the very first hymn I ever heard sung was one of the very loveliest ("O worship the King all glorious above..." - set to the mighty Hannover tune, for you Americans who unfortunately seem to suffer from an inferior setting). Since then, congregational singing is the one thing in which I have been more Wesleyan than Catholic. Gregorian chant can be very inspiring, and the great church repertory of the Church from the middle ages through Palestrina to the great classical composers is obviously matchless, but it is too professional; I would rather hear a whole congregation singing than a professional choir, however brilliant. The best, of course, is to have both, as the best Anglican services manage. (One thing, though. Anglican chant is the boringest thing on Earth - an inferior version of Catholic plainchant. And Anglican anthems, as opposed to hymns, tend to be overrated, unless of course Purcell or Haendel composed them.)