Sunday 13th July 2025 Sea Sunday

Crossing The Bar  Sir H Parry   Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Anthem was the famous poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, put to music by C H H Parry.

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) was a British poet, and for much of Queen Victoria's reign was Poet Laureate.

Crossing the Bar was written in 1889. There are two competing stories as to its birth. One is that it is written whilst crossing the Solent from his home Aldworth in Blackdown to another home, Farringford in Freshwater Bay on the Isle of Wight , the bar in question being a sand bar in the Solent. The other is that Tennyson was berthed on a yacht, anchored in Salcombe where there is a moaning sandbank. Tennyson said that the words came in a moment. Shortly before his death , he asked this poem be put at the end of all the editions of his poetry. It is an extended metaphor comparing death to crossing the bar and the Pilot is God.  Sir Hubert Parry set this poem to music for a four part chorus in 1893.

Alfred Lord Tennyson, from Wikipedia

C H H Parry was born in Bournemouth in 1848 into a rich family and was educated at Eton where he also gained his music degree.  He went to study further at Oxford.  His music influenced other great English composers such as Elgar and Vaughan Williams.  He wrote his best music in his later years and this include his Songs of Farewell.  He died in Rustington in 1918, just before the end of the Great War.

Sir Parry from Wikipedia

Sunday 6th July 2025 Evensong

 Magnificat and Nunc DImitis  Thomas Morley

This rendition of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis is sung more like a psalm. 

Thomas Morley (1557 – early October 1602) was an English composer, theorist, singer and organist of the Renaissance. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Referring to the strong Italian influence on the English madrigal, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians states that Morley was "chiefly responsible for grafting the Italian shoot on to the native stock and initiating the curiously brief but brilliant flowering of the madrigal that constitutes one of the most colourful episodes in the history of English music."

Living in London at the same time as Shakespeare, Morley was the most famous composer of secular music in Elizabethan England. He and Robert Johnson are the composers of the only surviving contemporary settings of verse by Shakespeare.

Morley was active in church music as a singer, composer and organist at St Paul's Cathedral. He was also involved in music publishing. From 1598 up to his death he held a printing patent (a type of monopoly). He used the monopoly in partnership with professional music printers such as Thomas East.

Life

Morley was born in Norwich, the son of a brewer. Most likely he was a singer in the local cathedral from his boyhood, and he became master of choristers there in 1583. He may have been a Roman Catholic, but he was able to avoid prosecution as a recusant, and there is evidence that he may have been an informer on the activities of Roman Catholics.

It is believed that Morley moved from Norwich to London sometime before 1574 to be a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral. Around this time, he studied with William Byrd, whom he named as his mentor in his 1597 publication A Plain and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke. Byrd also taught Morley's contemporary, Peter Philips. In 1588 he received his bachelor's degree from the University of Oxford, and shortly thereafter was employed as organist at St. Paul's in London. His young son died the following year in 1589. He and his wife Susan had three more children between 1596 and 1600.

In 1588 Nicholas Yonge published his Musica transalpina, the collection of Italian madrigals fitted with English texts, which touched off the explosive and colourful vogue for madrigal composition in England. Morley found his compositional direction at this time, and shortly afterwards began publishing his own collections of madrigals (11 in all).

Morley lived for a time in the same parish as Shakespeare, and a connection between the two has been long speculated, but never proven. His famous setting of "It was a lover and his lass" from As You Like It has never been established as having been used in a performance of Shakespeare's play during the playwright's lifetime. However, given that the song was published in 1600, there is evidently a possibility that it was used in stage performances.

While Morley attempted to imitate the spirit of Byrd in some of his early sacred works, it was in the form of the madrigal that he made his principal contribution to music history. His work in the genre has remained in the repertory to the present day, and shows a wider variety of emotional colour, form and technique than anything by other composers of the period. Usually his madrigals are light, quick-moving and easily singable, like his well-known "Now Is the Month of Maying" (which is actually a ballett); he took the aspects of Italian style that suited his personality and anglicised them. Other composers of the English Madrigal School, for instance Thomas Weelkes and John Wilbye, were to write madrigals in a more serious or sombre vein.

In addition to his madrigals, Morley wrote instrumental music, including keyboard music (some of which has been preserved in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book), and music for the broken consort, a uniquely English ensemble of two viols, flute, lute, cittern and bandora, notably as published by William Barley in 1599 in The First Booke of Consort Lessons, made by diuers exquisite Authors, for six Instruments to play together, the Treble Lute, the Bandora, the Cittern, the Base-Violl, the Flute & Treble-Violl.

Morley's Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (published 1597) remained popular for almost two hundred years after its author's death, and is still an important reference for information about sixteenth century composition and performance.

Thomas Morley was buried in the graveyard of the church of St Botolph Billingsgate, which was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666, and not rebuilt. Thus his grave is lost.

Taken from Wikipedia

Through the Day Words by T Kelly (1769-1854) Music from Thomas Morley's First Book of Ayres (1600) adapted by Rev H W Sparking

The words are taken from an anthem for Compline, a service at the end of the day, set to music by Thomas Morley. It is set for two voices.

Through the day thy love has spared us;

Now we lay us down to rest;

Through the silent watches guard us,

Let no foe our peace molest:

Jesu thou our guardian be;

Sweet it is to trust in thee.

Pilgrims here on earth and strangers,

Dwelling in the midst of foe,

Us and ours preserve from danger, 

In thine arms we may repose,

And when life's sad day is past,

Rest with thee in heav'n at last.

Thomas Kelly (13 July 1769 – 14 May 1855) was an Irish evangelical, known as a Church of Ireland cleric to 1803, hymn writer and founder of the Kellyites.

Life

He was the son of Thomas Kelly (1723–1809), judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) and Frances Hickie, daughter of James Jephson Hickie of Carrick on Suir, and was born at the family seat, Kellyville (formerly Derrinroe), Queen's County, on 13 July 1769. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1785, graduating B.A. in 1789. He was admitted to London's Middle Temple in 1786.

In Dublin, Kelly was influenced by John Walker (1769–1833), also a Trinity College undergraduate. He had been impressed with the views of William Romaine and the Hutchinsonians. Giving up on a legal career, he was ordained in the Church of Ireland in 1792; Walker was ordained too, by 1793. Two other friends were ordained at this period, Henry Maturin and Walter Shirley. Rowland Hill visited Dublin in 1793, and Kelly began to preach on grace in line with Hill's views. With others, he gave the Sunday afternoon sermons at St. Luke's Church, Dublin in early 1794. These provoked Robert Fowler, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, who inhibited them on doctrinal grounds.

Kelly reacted first by preaching in unconsecrated Dublin locations: one on Plunket Street, another the Bethesda Chapel (which for a time he was a trustee). He went on to Athy. In 1795 he married, and moved out to Blackrock, where he built himself a chapel of ease.

With his allies, Kelly spread his evangelical views widely in Ireland. In 1802 he founded the religious sect that became known as the Kellyites, with half a dozen congregations, recruiting some ministers from Scotland, where the same year the seminary run by the Haldane brothers, Robert and James Alexander, moved from Glasgow to Edinburgh and expanded. In 1803 he broke with the Church of Ireland. The same year, Walker had gathered a group naming itself the Church of God, and he was expelled as a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin in 1804.

Kelly died in Dublin on 14 May 1855, having acted as minister in Athy and Dublin for half a century. After his death, his congregation dropped away.

Hymn-writer

Kelly is believed to have written 765 hymns, published over 51 years; one of the most well-known is Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious.. A Collection of Psalms and Hymns (1802) contained 247, of which 33 were by Kelly. Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (1804) ran to four editions, after which there was Hymns of Thomas Kelly, never before published (1815), followed by four further editions. He used unusual metres.

Family

In 1795, Kelly married Elizabeth Tighe, eldest daughter of William Tighe (1738–1782), of Rosanna, County Wicklow, MP for Athboy and a supporter of John Wesley, and his wife Sarah Fownes, daughter of Sir William Fownes, 2nd Baronet. She brought a fortune to the marriage. They had two daughters, Elizabeth, who married Reverend Edward Wingfield, a younger son of the 4th Viscount Powerscourt, and Frances, who married Reverend Thomas Webber, and was the mother of General Charles Edmund Webber.

Taken from Wikipedia

Sunday 6th July 2025 Third Sunday after Trinity

 The Irish Blessing.  Bob Chilcott  Words traditional

This is a traditional Irish blessing put to music by Bob Chilcott

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be ever at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

As a composer, conductor, and singer, Bob Chilcott has enjoyed a lifelong association with choral music, first as a chorister and choral scholar in the choir of King's College, Cambridge, and for 12 years as a member of the King's Singers. He became a full-time composer in 1997, embracing his career with energy and commitment, and producing a large catalogue of music for all types of choirs which is published by Oxford University Press.
Music for Christmas forms a considerable part of his most popular repertoire, and works for the season include Wenceslas, My Perfect Stranger, and On Christmas Night. In his carols he sets both new and traditional texts, and writes for mixed-voice and upper-voice choirs.
He has written substantial sacred works including the St John Passion for Wells Cathedral Choir and the Salisbury Vespers. A Little Jazz Mass and the Requiem are amongst a number of works which continue to be performed worldwide. Other works include The Angry Planet, composed for the 2012 BBC Proms, and The Voyage for Age UK Oxfordshire, which in 2017 was nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. He has written many pieces for children, including his much-loved song, Can you hear me?, and a significant amount of music for the church. In 2013 he wrote The King shall rejoice for the service in Westminster Abbey to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the coronation of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
Bob has conducted choirs in more than 30 countries worldwide and has worked with many thousands of amateur singers across the UK in a continuing series of Singing Days. For seven years he was conductor of the Chorus of The Royal College of Music in London and since 2002 he has been Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers.
His music has been widely recorded by leading British choirs and groups including King's College, Cambridge, Wells Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, The King's Singers, The Sixteen, Tenebrae, The BBC Singers, The Bach Choir, Commotio, and Ora. In 2016 Bob enjoyed a collaboration with the celebrated singer Katie Melua and the Gori Women's Choir on the album In Winter, which reached the top 10 in the album charts in the UK and Germany. His first Christmas disc, The Rose in the Middle of Winter, was recorded by Commotio. In 2017 two new discs were released by Commotio and Choralis – All Good Things on Naxos, and In Winter's Arms on Signum, his first recording collaboration with an American choir. Newer recording projects are with Gloucester Cathedral Choir, Houston Chamber Choir, and Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir.
In 2017 Bob was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of The Royal School of Church Music.

Taken from  bobchilcott.com

Bob Chilcott from Wikipedia

Sunday 29th June 2025 Sts Peter and Paul

 Give Us The Wings Of Faith   Words Issac Watts  Music Ernest Bullock

This anthem was written for All Saints' Day, but can be used on any Saint's day, the words from a hymn by Isaac Watts.

Sir Ernest Bullock (1890-1979) was not primarily a composer, but an educationalist and organist.  He was born in Wigan, where he became organist at his parish church. He was then assistant organist at Leeds Parish Church in 1907.  In 1908, he received his Bachelor of Music from the University of Durham, gaining his Doctor of Music in 1914. In 1912, he was assistant organist at Manchester Cathedral.  After WW1 he was organist at St Michael's College, Tenbury, almost immediately moving to Exeter as cathedral organist in 1919.  In 1928 he succeeded Sir Sidney Nicholson as Master of Choristers in Westminster Abbey.  He provided music for the coronation of King George VI, writing most of the fanfares for that and also the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953.
 In 1941, Bullock went to Glasgow as the Gardiner Professor in Music at the university. In 1952 he became director of the Royal College of Music.  He was knighted in 1951 and he retired in 1960.
Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was born in Southampton, the son of a committed religious nonconformist. His father, also Isaac was twice incarcerated for his beliefs.  He received a classical education at the King Edward VI school, but was barred from attending Oxford or Cambridge universities as they were restricted to Anglicans. He went to the Dissenting Academy at Stoke Newington in 1690. He was pastor of a large independent chapel in London where he helped train preachers.  However, his religious opinions were more ecumenical than was usual for a nonconformist. He promoted education and scholarship rather than preaching for a particular sect. He is famous for the writing of the words of hymns. He promoted hymn singing and his prolific hymn-writing helped to usher in a new era of English worship.

Isaac Watts, by unknown artist {Wikimedia commons]

 

Sunday 8th June 2025 Pentecost

Veni, Sancte Spiritus   trans. Edward Caswall, Lyra Catholica, 1849   Music Richard J Clark

This is a sequence for Pentecost Sunday.

Coome, thou Holy Spirit Come!

And from thy celestial home

Shed a ray of light divine!

Come thou Father of the poor!

Come thou source of all our store!

Come, within our bosoms shine!

Thou of comforters the best;

Thou the soul's most welcome guest;

Sweet refreshment here below;

In our labour rest most sweet;

Grateful coolness in the heat;

Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed light diviine,

Shine within these hearts of thine,

And our inmost being fill!

Where thou art not, man hath nought,

Nothing god in deed or thought,

Nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;

On our dryness pour thy dew;

Wash the stains of guilt away;

Bend the stubborn heart and will;

Mel the frozen,warm the chill;

Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful, who adore

And confess thee evermore

In thy sev'nfold gift descend;

Give them virtue's sure reward;

Give them thy salvation, Lord.

Give them joys that never end.

Edward Caswall, CO, (15 July 1814 – 2 January 1878) was a clergyman and hymn writer who converted to Catholicism and became an Oratorian priest. His more notable hymns include: "Alleluia! Alleluia! Let the Holy Anthem Rise"; "Come, Holy Ghost"; and "Ye Sons and Daughters of the Lord".

He was born at Yateley, Hampshire on 15 July 1814, the son of Rev. R. C. Caswall, sometime Vicar of Yateley, Hampshire.

Caswall was educated at Chigwell School, Marlborough Grammar School and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1836 with honours and later proceeded to Master of Arts. In 1838 he was ordained deacon, and in 1839 priest, in the Church of England. Before leaving Oxford, he published, under the pseudonym of Scriblerus Redivivus, The Art of Pluck, a satire on the ways of the careless college student.

He was curate of the Church of St Lawrence at Stratford-sub-Castle, near Salisbury from 1840 to 1847. As curate, he would invite the children who had attended morning services to the parsonage and give them breakfast. On the anniversary on one's baptism, he would give some money to buy clothes. In the summer of 1846 he, his wife, and his brother Tom visited Ireland.

He resigned his curacy and, in January 1847, was received into the Catholic Church by Cardinal Januarius Acton in Rome. His brother Tom had converted to Catholicism previously. Caswall's conversion caused an estrangement from some members of his family, including his mother and brother Alfred. His wife, Louisa Stuart Caswall, who had also become a Catholic, died of cholera on 14 September 1849 while they were staying at Torquay. The following year Caswall joined the Oratory of St. Philip Neri under future-cardinal John Henry Newman, to whose influence his conversion to Catholicism was due. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1852. Caswall was delegated the responsibility of establishing the Oratory school, which opened in 1859. He often served as acting superior in Newman's absence.

He died at the Birmingham Oratory, Edgbaston on 2 January 1878 and was buried at Rednal, near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.

Caswall c1860

Taken from Wikipedia

RICHARD J. CLARK is an eclectic musician — composer, conductor, organist, pianist, and songwriter. He is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross where he plays the 101-rank 1875 E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings organ, Opus 801. He previously served for twenty-eight years at St. Cecilia Parish, Boston. At the age of twenty-three, he was appointed Director of Music in 1992 after serving as Organist since 1989. He has also has served the Jesuit Community as Chapel Organist (Saint Mary’s Chapel) at Boston College since 2004.

Over the years, he has served the Archdiocese of Boston in numerous liturgies, conferences, and liturgical projects, including directing the Office of Divine Worship Saint Cecilia Schola in recordings of the ICEL Chants from the Roman Missal, Third Edition.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer hails his “compelling,” and “emotionally committed” organ playing. The Boston Globe calls the music of the Cathedral Choir “stirring” and “profound.” The American Organist magazine praises Gregorian Impressions for its “engaging developments,” and Ministry & Liturgy Magazine has called his music “transformative” as well as “expertly arranged and prayerfully sung.”

Clark’s compositions have been performed worldwide including performances in Russia of his organ work Ascent to Freedom by American virtuoso Mark Husey and various performances by the American Boychoir under the direction of GRAMMY-winning conductor Fernando Malvar-Ruiz. His Te Deum for Orchestra, soloists, and chorus was premiered in Paris in April of 2022. Ministry & Liturgy Magazine has called his music “transformative” as well as “expertly arranged and prayerfully sung.” His liturgical, choral, and organ works are published by World Library Publications, Lorenz/The Sacred Music Music Press, CanticaNOVA Publications, RJC Cecilia Music, and Corpus Christi Watershed.

As performer and composer his eclectic appearances include St. Patrick’s Cathedral (NY), Saint-Eustache (Paris), the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (D. C.), EWTN, the Celebrity Series of Boston, Fenway Park, and the New York Songwriters Circle at NYC’s historic “The Bitter End.”

His compositions have been broadcast on radio in New York, New England, and Europe. He appears with his wife, clarinetist Kara Gretschel Clark, on the Cathedral Encores CD featuring the 1875 E. & G.G. Hook, Opus 801, at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (Boston). He also appears with trumpeter Richard Kelley on RJC Cecilia Records of his 2012 Requiem pour une américaine à Paris, and the 2022 release Fearfully and Wonderfully Made CD which includes a collaboration with GRAMMY-nominated poet E. Ethelbert Miller on the track “If My Blackness Turns to Fruit.” His 2021 release of the Boston Cathedral Singers From the Bell Tower has been featured on Rome Reports TV, and SIRIUS XM’s Sounds from the Spires with Dr. Jennifer Pascual. He has also been featured by the Organ Media Foundation (here and here.) He has also served as conductor for Pueri Cantores and on the faculty of the Sacred Music Symposium in Los Angeles, California. He has been a featured speaker and performer for National Pastoral Musicians (NPM) national meetings. He currently serves on the Executive Board of the National Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions (FDLC).

Born in Greenwich Village, New York City, he grew up in Long Island, New York. He currently lives with his wife and four children in Milton, Massachusetts.

Richard J Clark

Taken from RJC Cecilia Music.

Sunday 1st June 2025 Ascensiontide Family Service and Evensong

God Is Gone Up  William Croft  1678 - 1727  Organ part Vincent Novello

Croft was born at the Manor House, Nether Ettington, Warwickshire. He was educated at the Chapel Royal under the instruction of John Blow, and remained there until 1698. Two years after this departure, he became organist of St. Anne's Church, Soho and he became an organist and 'Gentleman extraordinary' at the Chapel Royal. He shared that post with his friend Jeremiah Clarke.

In 1707, he took over the Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal post, which had been left vacant by the suicide of Jeremiah Clarke. The following year, Croft succeeded Blow (who had lately died) as organist of Westminster Abbey. He composed works for the funeral of Queen Anne (1714) and for the coronation of King George I (1715).

In 1724, Croft published Musica Sacra, a collection of church music, the first such collection to be printed in the form of a score. It contains a Burial Service, which may have been written for Queen Anne or for the Duke of Marlborough. Shortly afterwards his health deteriorated, and he died while visiting Bath aged 48.

One of Croft's most enduring pieces is the hymn tune "St Anne" written to the poem Our God, Our Help in Ages Past by Isaac Watts. Other composers subsequently incorporated the tune in their own works. Handel used it, for instance, in an anthem entitled O Praise the Lord and also Hubert Parry in his 1911 Coronation Te Deum. Bach's Fugue in E-flat major BWV 552 is often called the "St. Anne", due to the similarity (coincidental in this case) of its subject to the hymn melody's first phrase. Croft also wrote various violin sonatas, which are not nearly as often performed as is his religious music, but have been occasionally recorded.

Perhaps Croft's most notable legacy is the suite of Funeral Sentences which have been described as a "glorious work of near genius". First published as part of the Burial Service in Musica Sacra, the date and purpose of their composition is uncertain. The seven Sentences themselves are from the Book of Common Prayer and are verses from various books of the Bible, intended to be said or sung during an Anglican funeral. One of the sentences, Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts, was not composed by Croft, but by Henry Purcell, part of his 1695 Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary. Croft wrote:

"...there is one verse composed by my predecessor, the famous Mr Henry Purcell, to which, in justice to his memory, his name is applied. The reason why I did not compose that verse anew (so as to render the whole service entirely of my own composition) is obvious to every Artist; in the rest of that service composed by me, I have endeavoured as near as I could, to imitate that great master and celebrated composer, whose name will for ever stand high in the rank of those who have laboured to improve the English style..."

Croft's Funeral Sentences were sung at George Frederic Handel's funeral in 1759, and have been included in every British state funeral since their publication. They were used at the funerals of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 2002, Baroness Thatcher in 2013 and Prince Philip in 2021.

Picture source:Wikimedia

"God is gone up" is an appropriate anthem to sing at Ascensiontide.  

God is gone up with a merry noise

and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet.

This was sung at the Family Service and also Choral Evensong.

Magnificat and Nunc DImitis  Thomas Morley

This rendition of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis is sung more like a psalm. 

Thomas Morley (1557 – early October 1602) was an English composer, theorist, singer and organist of the Renaissance. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Referring to the strong Italian influence on the English madrigal, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians states that Morley was "chiefly responsible for grafting the Italian shoot on to the native stock and initiating the curiously brief but brilliant flowering of the madrigal that constitutes one of the most colourful episodes in the history of English music."

Living in London at the same time as Shakespeare, Morley was the most famous composer of secular music in Elizabethan England. He and Robert Johnson are the composers of the only surviving contemporary settings of verse by Shakespeare.

Morley was active in church music as a singer, composer and organist at St Paul's Cathedral. He was also involved in music publishing. From 1598 up to his death he held a printing patent (a type of monopoly). He used the monopoly in partnership with professional music printers such as Thomas East.

Life

Morley was born in Norwich, the son of a brewer. Most likely he was a singer in the local cathedral from his boyhood, and he became master of choristers there in 1583. He may have been a Roman Catholic, but he was able to avoid prosecution as a recusant, and there is evidence that he may have been an informer on the activities of Roman Catholics.

It is believed that Morley moved from Norwich to London sometime before 1574 to be a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral. Around this time, he studied with William Byrd, whom he named as his mentor in his 1597 publication A Plain and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke. Byrd also taught Morley's contemporary, Peter Philips. In 1588 he received his bachelor's degree from the University of Oxford, and shortly thereafter was employed as organist at St. Paul's in London. His young son died the following year in 1589. He and his wife Susan had three more children between 1596 and 1600.

In 1588 Nicholas Yonge published his Musica transalpina, the collection of Italian madrigals fitted with English texts, which touched off the explosive and colourful vogue for madrigal composition in England. Morley found his compositional direction at this time, and shortly afterwards began publishing his own collections of madrigals (11 in all).

Morley lived for a time in the same parish as Shakespeare, and a connection between the two has been long speculated, but never proven. His famous setting of "It was a lover and his lass" from As You Like It has never been established as having been used in a performance of Shakespeare's play during the playwright's lifetime. However, given that the song was published in 1600, there is evidently a possibility that it was used in stage performances.

While Morley attempted to imitate the spirit of Byrd in some of his early sacred works, it was in the form of the madrigal that he made his principal contribution to music history. His work in the genre has remained in the repertory to the present day, and shows a wider variety of emotional colour, form and technique than anything by other composers of the period. Usually his madrigals are light, quick-moving and easily singable, like his well-known "Now Is the Month of Maying" (which is actually a ballett); he took the aspects of Italian style that suited his personality and anglicised them. Other composers of the English Madrigal School, for instance Thomas Weelkes and John Wilbye, were to write madrigals in a more serious or sombre vein.

In addition to his madrigals, Morley wrote instrumental music, including keyboard music (some of which has been preserved in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book), and music for the broken consort, a uniquely English ensemble of two viols, flute, lute, cittern and bandora, notably as published by William Barley in 1599 in The First Booke of Consort Lessons, made by diuers exquisite Authors, for six Instruments to play together, the Treble Lute, the Bandora, the Cittern, the Base-Violl, the Flute & Treble-Violl.

Morley's Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (published 1597) remained popular for almost two hundred years after its author's death, and is still an important reference for information about sixteenth century composition and performance.

Thomas Morley was buried in the graveyard of the church of St Botolph Billingsgate, which was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666, and not rebuilt. Thus his grave is lost.

Taken from Wikipedia

Sunday 11th May 2025 Fourth Sunday of Easter

 Brother James's Air (Marosa)  arr. Gordon Jacob   Music inscribed to William Hendry

James Leith Macbeth Bain (1860-1925) was a minister, hymn writer and poet known to his peers as Brother James.  He was born in Pitlochry where he was a pupil teacher before going to Edinburgh Free Church College and the Edinburgh Established Church College.  His ministry took him to Liverpool and then to London as a spiritualist minister. He is best known for Brother James's Air which is usually set to The Lord's My Shepherd. This air is perhaps the most beautiful of the many that came to him spontaneously.

Gordon Jacob (1895-1984) is best known as a composer for wind band and instructional texts. He was a prisoner of war in 1917 and was one of only 60 survivors of the 800 in his battalion. On his release he initially studied journalism, but changed to composition, theory and conducting at the Royal College of Music. Because of a cleft palate and a childhood hand injury he was very limited as a performing musician, but found his forte as a composer especially for wind instruments.  He was considered to be conservative in style, but famously said "the day that melody is discarded altogether, you may as well pack up music...".

gordonjacob.net