the hebrew liturgy , like others , has its transitions of litany , lyric , proclamation , dry statement and blessing ; but this evening , all were one for deronda : the chant of the chazans or readers grand wide-ranging voice with its passage from monotony to sudden cries , the outburst of sweet boys voices from the little choir , the devotional swaying of mens bodies backward and forward , the very shabbiness of the building where a national faith which had penetrated the thinking of half the world was finding a remote echo : all were blended for him as one expression of a tragic , glorious history .