Selsey Consort

 Saturday 24th January, the Selsey Consort sang at the Bognor Regis Music Club. The consort is made up of eight people, four of whom are members of St Mary's choir and two who often sing with the church choir although not regular members.You can hear some of All in the April Evening below:

Sunday 25th January 2026 Epiphany 3

 The Call (One of Five Mystical Songs)  R Vaughn Williams

These are a collection of songs composed between 1906 and 1911 based on poems by the Welsh born English poet, George Herbert (1593-1633) who was also an Anglican priest.  There are four poems, Easter being divided into two from his 1633 collection "The Temple: Sacred Poems".  Vaughn Williams was an aethiest, but it did not stop him from setting these overtly religious poems to music.  Vaughn Williams conducted its first performance at the Three Choirs Festival in
Worcester 14th September 1911.  Originally it was composed for Baritone solo with various  accompaniments.

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
Such a Way, as gives us breath:
Such a Truth, as ends all strife:
Such a Life, as killeth death. 

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
Such a Light, as shows a feast:
Such a Feast, as mends in length:
Such a Strength, as makes his guest. 

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
Such a Joy, as none can move:
Such a Love, as none can part:
Such a Heart, as joyes in love. 

Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872-1958)  was born to a wealthy family but with a good moral code and progressive social outlook.  He always sought to help his fellow citizens. He also thought his music should be available and accessible by everyone. He developed late musically not really finding himself until in his thirties. He studied with Maurice Ravel 1907-1908 and this helped him clarify the texture of his music and rid him of Teutonic influences.  He is one of our best known symphonists  encompassing a wide range of moods from the utterly tranquil to ranging fury, mysterious to exuberant. He was strongly influenced by Tudor and folk music.  He was deeply affected by the First World War in which he served. His body of work is vast and his music remains popular and widely performed.

From Wikipedia,

Sunday 18th January 2026 Epiphany 2

The Lamb      Music John Tavener (1944 - 2013), Words William Blake (1757-1827)

Tavener was born in Wembley, London.  He was a music scholar at Highgate School, where a fellow scholar was John Rutter. The school choir was often used by the BBC when they needed a boys' choir. He began to compose whilst at school and was also a pianist good enough to perform with the National Youth Orchestra. In 1961 he was organist and choirmaster at St John's Presbyterian church, Kensington, a post he held for 13 years. He went to the Royal Academy of Music in 1962 where he decided to concentrate on composition and gave up the piano.

He came to prominence with his Cantata "The Whale" in 1968. In 1971 he began teaching at Trinity College of Music in London. In 1977 he converted to Russian Orthodox Church.  Orthodox liturgy became a major influence on his composition.  

"The Lamb" written in 1982 for his nephew's third birthday has become a choral classic.  It was composed in a single afternoon for unaccompanied SATB choir, using William Blake's poem.

He was knighted in 2000 for his services to music. John Rutter describes Tavener as having the "very rare gift" of being able to "bring an audience to a deep silence."

William Blake was largely unrecognised during his life, he is now considered to be one of the seminal figures of poetry and art in the Romantic age. He was born in Soho and although his family were English Dissenters, he was baptised.  The Bible  was a profound influence on his work. In 1772 Blake was apprenticed to James Basire, an engraver, for 7 years. At the end of his term aged 21, he became a profession engraver.  He had been taught an outmoded style and it is thought that this tuition held him back from greatness during his lifetime. 

In 1779, Blake began as a student at the Royal Academy where he was somewhat rebellious against Joshua Reynolds.

In 1800, Blake moved to Felpham, illustrating poetry by William Hayley.  He was unhappy in his work and returned to London after 3 years.

William Blake
Wikipedia

Sunday 11th January The Baptism of the Lord

 Ave Verum Corpus Mozart

Ave Verum Corpus (Hail, true body) is a setting of the Latin Hymn, in D major.  It was written for Anton Stoll, a friend and church musician of St Stephen, Baden.

It was composed in 1791 whilst visiting his wife Constanze who was pregnant with their 6th child and staying at the spa Baden bei Wien.  It was composed for the feast of Corpus Christi.  Mozart's manuscript has only "Sotto voce" marked at the beginning with no other markings.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

Mozart was a child prodigy competent on keyboard and violin.  He began composing at the age of five. He performed around Europe for royalty.  At the age of 17 he was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court but was restless and travelled looking for a better position.  Whilst visiting Vienna he was dismissed from his position in Salzburg.  He remained in Vienna, where he gained fame but no financial security.

He composed more than 600 works, many acknowledged as the finest in symphonies, concertante, operatic, chamber and choral music.  He remains one of the best loved classical composers, whose work influenced many composers.  Joseph Haydn said of Mozart "Posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years."

W A Mozart from Wikipedia

Sunday 4th January 2026 EPIPHANY

 In The Bleak Midwinter  Christina Rossetti  Harold Darke

"In the Bleak Midwinter" is a poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti, commonly performed as a Christmas carol. The poem was published, under the title "A Christmas Carol", in the January 1872 issue of Scribner's Monthly, and was first collected in book form in Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress and Other Poems (Macmillan, 1875).

Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English poet who wrote romantic, devotional, and children's poems. "Goblin Market" and "Remember" remain famous. She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in the UK: "In the Bleak Midwinter", later set by Gustav Holst and by Harold Darke, and "Love Came Down at Christmas", also set by Darke and by other composers. She was a sister of the artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti and features in several of his paintings.

Harold Edwin Darke (29 October 1888 – 28 November 1976) was an English composer and organist. He is particularly known for his choral compositions, which are an established part of the repertoire of Anglican church music. Darke had a long association with the church of St Michael, Cornhill, in the City of London.

His first organist post was at Emmanuel Church, West Hampstead from 1906 to 1911. He became organist at St Michael Cornhill in 1916, and stayed there until 1966, leaving only briefly in 1941 to deputise for Boris Ord as Director of Music at King's College, Cambridge during World War II. It is widely accepted that the Cornhill Lunchtime Organ Recitals series begun by Darke in 1916 is the longest-running lunchtime organ concert series in the world; the series has flourished under his successors Richard Popplewell 1966–1979 and the present Organist, Jonathan Rennert, from 1979 to the present. Darke died in Cambridge, aged 88.

Darke's work as Conductor of St Michael's Singers was crowned in 1956 on the occasion of the Choir's 40th Anniversary with the first performance of a number of now well-established works composed especially for the occasion – notably "Jerusalem" by George Dyson and "A Vision of Aeroplanes" by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Taken from Wikipedia

Sunday 21st December 2025 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

Adam Lay Y'bounden   Boris Ord (1897-1961)

Boris Ord (1897 - 1961) was born Bernhard Ord.  He was a British organist and choirmaster of Kings College, Cambridge (1929 - 1957)  He served in the RAF during World War 2. His arrangement of Adam Lay Ybounden is his only published work.

Boris Ord, photographed by Antony Barrington Brown from Wikipedia

I Saw Three Ships  English traditional carol arranged by David Willcocks

Taken from Wikipedia

"I Saw Three Ships (Come Sailing In)" is a traditional and popular Christmas carol from England. The earliest printed version of "I Saw Three Ships" is from the 17th century, possibly Derbyshire, and was also published by William Sandys in 1833.

The lyrics mention the ships sailing into Bethlehem, but the nearest body of water is the Dead Sea about 20 miles (32 km) away. The reference to three ships is thought to originate in the three ships that bore the purported relics of the Biblical magi to Cologne Cathedral in the 12th century.

Another possible reference is to Wenceslaus II, King of Bohemia, who bore a coat of arms "Azure three galleys argent". Another suggestion is that the ships are actually the camels used by the Magi, as camels are frequently referred to as "ships of the desert". 

Sir David Valentine Willcocks, CBE, MC (30 December 1919 – 17 September 2015) was a British choral conductor, organist, composer and music administrator. He was particularly well known for his association with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, which he directed from 1957 to 1974, making frequent broadcasts and recordings. Several of the descants and carol arrangements he wrote for the annual service of Nine Lessons and Carols were published in the series of books Carols for Choirs which he edited along with Reginald Jacques and John Rutter. He was also director of the Royal College of Music in London. 

During the Second World War (1939–1945) he served as an officer in the British Army, and was decorated with the Military Cross for his actions on Hill 112 during the Battle of Normandy in July 1944. His elder son, Jonathan Willcocks, is also a composer. 

Bethlehem Down  Peter Warlock (1894-1930)

Taken from Wikipedia

"Bethlehem Down" is a Christmas carol for SATB choir composed in 1927 by British composer Peter Warlock (1894–1930)—the pseudonym of Philip Arnold Heseltine. It is set to a poem written by journalist and poet Bruce Blunt (1899–1957). Warlock and Blunt wrote the carol to finance an "immortal carouse" (a heavy bout of drinking) over Christmas in 1927. The pair submitted the carol to The Daily Telegraph's annual Christmas carol contest and won. It is characterised by modal harmony with chromatic inflections. The musicologist Barry Smith described "Bethlehem Down" as the finest of all of Warlock's choral works.

In 1930, Warlock composed an arrangement of "Bethlehem Down" for solo voice and keyboard accompaniment. It was the last piece of music that Warlock wrote, less than three weeks before he died. The solo arrangement uses the soprano line from the SATB version as its melody. It features more complex harmony than the choral arrangement, highlighting the text in a more sombre manner.

Peter Warlock was a prolific composer of songs, with over 119 to his name. His choral music is less well-known, but within that genre, "Bethlehem Down" is one of Warlock's most famous carols. The poet and journalist Bruce Blunt told the story behind the creation of "Bethlehem Down" in a letter to Gerald Cockshott, dated 1943. He said that he and Peter Warlock were short on money in the run up to Christmas in 1927, so they had the idea to write a Christmas carol together in the hopes it would be published and earn them enough money for alcohol (or as Blunt called it, an "immortal carouse"). Whilst on a night-time walk between two pubs—The Plough in Bishops Sutton and The Anchor in Ropley—Blunt thought up the words to "Bethlehem Down". He sent the text to Warlock who set it to music within a few days. The completed carol was entered into The Daily Telegraph's Christmas carol competition and won. It was published in the paper on 24 December 1927. The carol would be published again the following year by Winthrop Rogers (now Boosey & Hawkes). Warlock and Blunt worked on other carols together, including The Frostbound Wood, which was published in the Radio Times on 20 December 1929.

The choral arrangement of "Bethlehem Down", written and published in 1927, is written for unaccompanied SATB choir. The piece is in D minor and 6/2 time. It is characterised by long phrasing of lines with melancholic modal harmony in a largely homophonic texture. Smith writes that the music complements the lyrics with a "finely-crafted melody" and "imaginative and sensitive harmony". Chromaticism is used throughout the piece, one example being the Tudor-styled flattened sevenths which populate the melody; Ian Alfred Copley writes that this is a common recurring motif in Warlock's music. A prominent example of a flattened seventh occurs in the soprano line of the fifth bar of each verse:

Each verse ends with a phrase which Smith describes as "haunting".

Smith writes that "Bethlehem Down" is "surely the finest of all Warlock's choral works" and a rare example of a modern carol which captures the essence of the genre. The music critic Wilfrid Mellers described it as a small miracle. Music journalist Alexandra Coghlan writes that the piece is Warlock's "unquestioned carol masterpiece", and is particularly impressive given the fact its creation arose from the simple need for money and alcohol. BBC Music Magazine writes that the carol has a beautiful and sombre tone which can act as a change in pace in carol services.

My Blessed Lady's Lullaby  Christopher Chivers (1967- )

Taken from Wikipedia

Christopher Mark "Chris" Chivers (born 16 July 1967) is an Anglican priest, composer, and author. From 2015 until 2019, he was the Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge, an Anglican theological college in the Liberal Catholic tradition.

Early life

Chivers was born on 16 July 1967. He was educated at Bristol Cathedral School, an all-boys private school in Bristol which provides a choir to Bristol Cathedral. He then studied at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Following graduation, Chivers held musical teaching posts at New College School, Oxford, Cheltenham Ladies' College and King's College School, Cambridge.

Career

Ordained ministry

After studying at Westcott House, Cambridge, Chivers was ordained a deacon on 28 June 1997 at St Paul's Cathedral by Richard Chartres, Bishop of London and a priest on 28 June 1998 at St Pancras New Church by Brian Masters, area Bishop of Edmonton. He served his curacy in the Parish of Friern Barnet. During his time there he was named one of the top ten preachers of the year in The Times 1999 Preacher of the Year competition.

In 1999 he went to Cape Town as Canon Precentor of St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town. While there he witnessed the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and spoke to the worshippers at Friday Prayers in a local mosque.

In November 2001 he was appointed Precentor of Westminster Abbey in London and Chaplain of Westminster Abbey Choir School. He participated in the funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. In 2005 he became Canon Chancellor of Blackburn Cathedral. While there, he was one of the first to teach the Awareness Course.

In 2010 he became Vicar of John Keble Church, Mill Hill, in the Diocese of London and in 2012 a priest vicar of Westminster Abbey.

On 1 August 2015 Chivers became Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge. On Tuesday 31 January 2017, ordinands at Westcott held a service using excerpts from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence's Bible in Polari, an event he described as "hugely regrettable".

His resignation with immediate effect for undisclosed reasons was announced on 20 September 2019.

As author

Chivers has written about his experiences in South Africa and made contributions to other collections. As a journalist he has written for the Cape Times, The Times, The Independent, The Guardian, Church Times, Church of England Newspaper and The Tablet.

Musical work

His choral works have been sung at (amongst others) King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey and Gloucester Cathedral; and include: Our Blessed Lady's Lullaby (1988), Ecce Puer (1994), Mayenziwe Magnificat (2000) and Diptych (2006).

The Sussex Carol  Trad. arr David Willcox

Taken from Wikipedia

The "Sussex Carol" is a Christmas carol popular in Britain, sometimes referred to by its first line "On Christmas night all Christians sing". Its words were first published by Luke Wadding, a late 17th-century poet and bishop of the Catholic Church in Ireland, in a work called Small Garland of Pious and Godly Songs (1684). It is unclear whether Wadding wrote the song or was recording an earlier composition.

Both the text and the tune to which it is now sung were discovered and written down by Cecil Sharp in Buckland, Gloucestershire, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, who heard it being sung by a Harriet Verrall of Monk's Gate, near Horsham, Sussex (hence "Sussex Carol"). The tune to which it is generally sung today is the one Vaughan Williams took down from Mrs. Verrall and published in 1919.

An earlier version using a different tune and a variation on the first line, "On Christmas night true Christians sing", was published as early as 1878 in Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer's Christmas Carols New and Old. The carol has been arranged by a number of composers. Vaughan Williams' setting is found in his Eight Traditional English Carols. Several years earlier, Vaughan Williams had included the carol in his Fantasia on Christmas Carols, first performed at the 1912 Three Choirs Festival at Hereford Cathedral. Erik Routley's arrangement in the 1961 University Carol Book adds a modal inflection to the setting. The carol often appears at the King's College "Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols", where it is performed in arrangements by either David Willcocks or Philip Ledger, both former directors of music at the chapel. Willcocks's arrangement appears in the first OUP Carols for Choirs.

The Three Kings  Peter Cornelius/Ivor Atkins

Taken from Wikipedia

"The Three Kings", or "Three Kings From Persian Lands Afar", is a Christmas carol by the German composer Peter Cornelius. He set "Die Könige" for a vocal soloist, accompanied by Philip Nicolai's hymn "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern" ("How Brightly Shines the Morning Star"), which he erroneously thought was an Epiphany hymn. In fact, it is an Advent hymn in which the morning star is an allegory for the arrival of Jesus, not the Star of Bethlehem. In Cornelius' original second setting, the accompaniment was played on a piano but the English organist Ivor Atkins later arranged the accompaniment for choir, with the choir singing the words of the original hymn. The German words have been translated into English by H.N. Bate. The carol describes the visit of the Biblical Magi to the Infant Jesus during the Nativity and is also used as an Epiphany anthem.

Composer Peter Cornelius

Cornelius wrote his first version of the German hymn "Die Könige" in 1856 as part of Weihnachtslieder, Op. 8, for a solo voice and piano. This first setting of the text, which does not cite Nicolai's hymn, was published posthumously in 1905 and remained relatively unknown. In 1859 he composed a completely new version again for soloist and piano, using the 16th-century chorale "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern" ("How Brightly Shines the Morning Star") by Philipp Nicolai in the piano accompaniment after a suggestion from Franz Liszt. This version was again revised in 1870 before publication.

Publication

The hymn was originally translated into English in 1916 by W. G. Rothery, as "Three Kings had journey'd from lands afar", and published in Carols Old and Carols New.

A more commonly used English translation, including references to the Magi being from Persian lands, was made in 1928 by H.N. Bate for the "Oxford Book of Carols". The original piano accompaniment by Cornelius was transcribed various times for choir, notably in the 1957 arrangement for solo voice and choir by Ivor Atkins, organist at Worcester Cathedral. This version was included in the first volume of the popular 1961 collection compiled by David Willcocks and Reginald Jacques, Carols for Choirs.

Another arrangement for choir a cappella for five to eight voices was written by Clytus Gottwald in 2011. "The Three Kings" was included in a Nick Hern Books adapted publication of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. In 2016, the carol was included by the head of chapel music at Winchester College, Malcolm Archer, in the 2016 publication of the Carols Ancient and Modern" hymnal.

Resonamus Laudibus  14th Cent, arr Willcox

Taken from Wikipedia

"Resonet in laudibus" (Latin for "Resound in praises") is a 14th-century Christmas carol which was widely known in medieval Europe, and is still performed today. Although probably earlier, in manuscript form it first appears in the Moosburg gradual of 1360 and occurs in several 15th, 16th and 17th century printed collections from both Catholic and Lutheran traditions.

There is no definitive version of the Latin text, and there are many variations and parodies in various sacred songbooks, as well as extended, embellished versions (for example motets by the Franco-Flemish composer Orlande de Lassus or the Slovenian-German composer Jacobus Gallus). Georg Witzel, a contemporary of Martin Luther, referred to the carol as "one of the chief Christmas songs of joy" in 1550. In addition to its literal English translation, it has also appeared as "Christ was Born on Christmas Day" in two different translations by John Mason Neale in 1853 (who based his version on the 1582 Swedish song collection Piae Cantiones) and Elizabeth Poston in 1965.

In Germany, the melody is used for the traditional song "Joseph, lieber Joseph mein (de)" ("Joseph dearest, Joseph mine"), originally sung as a lullaby by the Virgin Mary in a 16th-century mystery play in Leipzig (and doubtfully credited to Johannes Galliculus). The Lutheran poet and composer Johann Walter wrote one of his finest motets using this song. Sir David Willcocks' arrangement in Carols for Choirs 2 titles the work "Resonemus laudibus".

Sunday 21st December 2025 Third Sunday in Advent Matins

  Jubilate Deo in B flat Stanford

Taken from the Novello  Copy

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford has a perverse relationship with posterity.  Remembered today largely for his choral miniatures, this restless symphonist was the unwilling Janus of British music.  A significant presence on the European scene in his own lifetime, he was an outspoken critic of Wagner, Strauss and modernism in general. Nevertheless, as a formalist with flair and skill, his influence catalysed much of the great English music of the 20th century.  As fellow composer George Dyson said: "In a certain sense the very rebellion he fought was the most obvious fruit of his methods."

The Jubilate in B flat displays the composers trademark mastery of thematic structures.

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) thought to be one of our great British composers was actually Irish, born in Dublin, although educated at The University of Cambridge and then studied music in Leipzig and Berlin.

Whilst an undergraduate, he was appointed organist of Trinity College, Cambridge and was one of the founding professors of the Royal College of Music, where he taught composition for the rest of his life.  He was also Professor of Music at Cambridge.  His pupils included Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams whose fame went on to surpass his own.

He is best remembered for his sacred choral compositions for church performance in the Anglican tradition. Along with Hubert Parry and Alexander Mackenzie, he was thought responsible for the renaissance of music in the British Isles. 

C V Stanford in 1921 from Wikipedia