Can we just lay this one to rest?
I so often see the nineteenth century hymnals described as having “the melody in the tenor.” And it’s not that tenors can’t sing that line—they can and do, and for a long time they have. But the sources themselves explain what the notation is indicating:
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| SOURCE: cropped screenshot from archive.org of Devotional Harmonist (1851) p. [32] |
And, in case there is any doubt what “the upper part in this book” means, the first page of the score labels each staff:
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| SOURCE: cropped screenshot from archive.org of Devotional Harmonist (1851) p. [33] |
The writing is small, but the top stave says TENOR and the third staff says SOPRANO, OR TREBLE.
This usage (and designation) is hardly unique to this book. Seek and ye shall find.
