@narnian78 I think I read somewhere that CSL did not really have a great ear for music - in comparison to people who really know music.  On a totally unrelated topic - he was an avid sailor by his own account - and this is never discussed by anyone anywhere. 

I have a memory of reading that he didn't like church music, possibly that he left before the final hymn? I'll have to look in SBJ.

I also have a feeling I read somewhere that Lewis didn't like church music in general, but I can't remember any details of whether or not that included hymns specifically. I do recall reading that he detested organ music! Which, considering it's such a standard and traditional part of Church of England services (and many other denominations as well), was a bit unfortunate on his part...  

(Funnily enough, I had something of the opposite problem in my teens. As a music-loving agnostic (at the time) attending a Church of England school, I used to find the hymns were the only part of the church services that I actually enjoyed and found meaningful!!)

@courtenay 

I actually liked songs like “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”, but I disliked “Come Ye Disconsolate”, a sad depressing song that we had to song as children in elementary school.  Some of the songs were almost unbearable. Others were kind of nice and old fashioned.  There were some very sentimental songs like “Jesus Savior Pilot Me”, which is not often sung in churches today. Of course the English words of the songs are very dated and archaic. I don’t know if Lewis ever had to sing hymns like those as a child or as an adult in the churches he attended. I think he would have found “He Leadeth Me O Blessed Thought” rather tiresome. These are hymns sung in Protestant churches and Christian schools here in America. It may have been different in England at the time that Lewis lived. As a child I wouldn’t have dared to say that I didn’t like singing certain hymns in church— especially to my parents or the church consistory. 🙂

@courtenay

I pulled out my copy and found this:

In the last few pages of Surprised By Joy, Lewis says, 'Hymns were (and are) extremely disagreeable to me. Of all musical instruments I liked (and like) the organ least.' 

@coracle 

I wonder what Lewis thought of Bach’s organ works. Maybe he liked Bach’s sacred and choral music better. It would seem that he would be more open to classical music. 

I think CS Lewis' disdain for Hymns in general is fairly unequivocal throughout his life:

"Fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music"

https://andynaselli.com/c-s-lewis-on-his-churchs-hymns-fifth-rate-poems-set-to-sixth-rate-music

"What I, like many other laymen, chiefly desire in church are fewer, better, and shorter hymns; especially fewer.

—CS Lewis in Christian Reflections p. 96.

https://redeeminggod.com/cs-lewis-on-singing-in-church/

“I naturally loathe nearly all hymns: the face, and life, of the charwoman in the next pew who revels in them, teach me that good taste in poetry and music are not necessary to salvation”

(C. S. Lewis to Mary Van Deusen [December 7, 1950], Collected Letters, 3:69).

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/c-s-lewis-on-the-theology-and-practice-of-worship/

@icarus 

Wasn’t the hymn “O Sacred Head Now Wounded”  taken from the music of St. Matthew’s Passion by J. S. Bach? The words are changed, but I believe the tune was taken from Bach. I think “Jesus Priceless Treasure” also had music taken from Bach. I don’t think Lewis would think Bach’s choral music would have been unacceptable. I own the music on CD and love it. I think these pieces of music are very enjoyable even when converted into church hymns, and Lewis might have felt the same way, although I don’t know for sure. He was after all a very well educated man. 🙂

Posted by: @narnian78

I don’t think Lewis would think Bach’s choral music would have been unacceptable. I own the music on CD and love it. I think these pieces of music are very enjoyable even when converted into church hymns, and Lewis might have felt the same way, although I don’t know for sure. He was after all a very educated man. 🙂

Going by Lewis's own repeated comments on hymns (all of them negative), I can only conclude that unless he specifically said somewhere that he liked hymns set to J.S. Bach's music, we'll have to assume he didn't like those either. His animosity towards hymns and church music sounds like it was pretty much universal!!

As a music lover myself who absolutely loves hymns of many kinds, I could wish Lewis might just have made exceptions for at least a few of my favourite hymns and composers (especially Ralph Vaughan Williams, who was a huge champion of church music and of good hymn tunes, despite being an atheist himself, or at best an agnostic!). But it's unlikely he would have, and that doesn't spoil my appreciation of his writings, anyway. I get the impression he wasn't very musical in general and doesn't seem to have liked a huge range of music, classical or otherwise. I do recall reading that he enjoyed Wagner's music, especially for its connections with the Norse / Germanic mythologies he loved, but that's the only music I'm aware of that he definitely liked.

@courtenay he wrote (probably in SBJ) that he was later ashamed of having liked Wagner. 

I generally assume he just didn't like music much. He had so much going on in his brain, in his private and academic life, and in his own reading, that personally I don't need him to have been a music lover as well.

Posted by: @coracle

@courtenay he wrote (probably in SBJ) that he was later ashamed of having liked Wagner. 

Ah, that's interesting. Maybe because Wagner was well known for his rabid anti-Semitic views and was famously Hitler's favourite composer? (For everyone I know who likes Wagner's music, it's a case of separating the genuine talent from the horrible personality. I have no real opinion either way on Wagner myself — I quite like a handful of his pieces, but most of his music just doesn't grab me.)

I generally assume he just didn't like music much. He had so much going on in his brain, in his private and academic life, and in his own reading, that personally I don't need him to have been a music lover as well.

Yes, that's how I feel too. It might have been nice if he'd loved music and had left some interesting and insightful comments on the great composers and on some types of church music that he did like, but that's really not important in light of everything else he did. He created Narnia, and that's more than enough for me!  (And of course, when he got around to writing Narnia's own origin story, it's interesting that he has Aslan creating this new world by singing it into being — so he can't have been completely averse to music!!)

@coracle 

Could Lewis’s regretting that he liked Wagner’s music have anything to do with that the Nazis so admired Wagner’s operas? He may have found out later that Adolf Hitler was an admirer of Wagner, and perhaps that changed his mind. Today people would probably not let something like that keep them from liking a certain composer, but perhaps that was the feeling was back then. During the Second World War some people would avoid things that were German (including music), which was a rather prejudiced attitude. But the fact remains that much of the world’s greatest music was created by German composers. And of course Lewis was fully aware of that. 

@courtenay 

I just thought about something. In The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe the four children are first introduced to Aslan and isn’t it Susan who says that his name is like beautiful music to her? Also, Aslan sings when he creates Narnia in The Magician’s Nephew.  I think it shows that Lewis liked music at least some of the time. If Narnia is created with music the author of the books must have had some admiration for it.    I think Lewis must have had some sensitivity for both art and music, although understandably he may have disliked the way that hymns were sung in the churches he attended. He may have had some bad feelings toward hymns because of poor singing and organ playing in churches at that time. One can’t really blame him too much for that.