John Stainer “God so loved the world” from “The Crucifixion”
“The Crucifixion: A Mediation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer” was composed in 1887 and first performed on 24th February of that year. It was dedicated to his friend and pupil W Hodge and the choir of Marylebone Church. It is a sacred oratorio for tenor and bass soli, SATB choir and organ. W J Sparrow Simpson wrote the libretto. The work has been dismissed in the past, even Stainer himself calling it “rubbish” but it is continued to be a staple of church music since its first performance, especially around Easter. “God so loved the world” is one of the choral pieces, but the text can be used at any time in the church calendar, as it is reflecting part of the Eucharist.
Sir John Stainer (1840 – 1901) was an English composer and organist. He was very popular during his life, but now little of his music is performed other than “The Crucifixion”. He was the Heather Professor of Music at Oxford, and his training of choristers and organists set standard that remain influential today.
He was born in Southwark, London, son of a cabinetmaker. He was a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral at the age of ten. At sixteen he was appointed organist at St Michael’s College, Tenbury. He was later organist at Magdalen College, Oxford and the St Paul’s Cathedral. Whilst at Magdalen he was allowed to study as long as it did not interfere with his duties as organist. He chose to do so and in 1864 gained his BA with his MA coming 2 years later. Due to poor eyesight he had to retire from St Paul’s whist in his forties and returned to Oxford to take up his chair. Queen Victoria honoured him with his knighthood in 1888 for his services to British music, the same year he retired from St Paul’s. He died unexpectedly whilst holidaying in Italy.
picture from Wikipedia
Andrew Carter Grannies and Grandads, a movement taken from Bless The Lord, a subset of movements from his work, Benedicite.
The junior choir sang excerpt from this long piece, picking out the verses applicable to family and "Mothering" as we heard from Fr Chris that anyone is capable of mothering, no matter what gender or age.
Benedicite is a composition for choir, children's choir and orchestra by Andrew Carter. He set the hymn Benedicite from the Book of Common Prayer, and additional free texts based on the model in three movements for unison children's choir. The work was published in 1991 and dedicated to Andrew Fairbairns. A subset of the music for children's choir was published as Bless the Lord.
History
Benedicite was commissioned for the 1989 Singing Day in Edinburgh by the British Federation of Young Choirs. Carter, an English composer and church musician in York, was inspired by the restoration of roof bosses at the southern transept of York Minster, which had been destroyed in a fire in 1984. They depict around 60 images of creatures. The music is written to convey a child-like perspective of the wonders of Creation.
Benedicite was published in 1991 and dedicated to Andrew Fairbairns. A subset of the music for children's choir was published as Bless the Lord.
Structure and music
Carter set the hymn Benedicite from the Book of Common Prayer in six movements, and interspersed three additional movements, whose texts are free variations on the model, to be sung by a unison children's choir.
The movements are titled:
O all ye works of the Lord
Green Things
Sun and Moon
Badgers and Hedgehogs
Ice and Snow
Whales and Waters
Butterflies and Moths
Thunder and Lightning
Spirits and Souls
Grannies and Grandads
O let the earth bless the Lord
The duration is given as 35 minutes. The first movement, beginning "O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord", is marked Molto ritmico (Most rhythmic) and is in 2+2+2+3/8 time.
The three movements based on added text to be sung by a children's choir were also published separately as Bless the Lord, which is concluded with the final movement. The movements are:
Badgers and Hedgehogs (Benedicite No. 4)
Butterflies and Moths (Benedicite No. 7)
Grannies and Grandads (Benedicite No. 10)
O Let The Earth Bless The Lord
Taken from Wikipedia
Andrew Carter’s music is performed worldwide. As composer, guest conductor and workshop leader he has travelled extensively in the United States, Antipodes and Europe. A twenty-five year association with Oxford University Press has established his reputation as a writer of both choral miniatures and larger scale concert works for chorus and orchestra. Of these latter the widely performed Benedicite was followed by Te Deum, Musick’s Jubilee, Horizons, Song of Stillness, and Laudate Dominum. Of similar scale, the Magnificat (MorningStar 2004), is already proving popular. In a lighter vein, the Three Nonsensical Songs for upper voices and orchestra were premiered by Quad Cities Symphony in 2005. After conducting his Magnificat in North Carolina in April 2008, Andrew gave workshops in Toronto and attended the celebrated St Olaf’s College in Minnesota as composer-in-residence.
A particular honour in the field of church music was the invitation to write Missa Sancti Pauli for the 1997 tercentenary celebrations of Wren’s St Paul’s Cathedral. Over the years several of Andrew’s carols have been included in the renowned Christmas Eve broadcast from King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, with Mary’s Magnificat featuring again in 2009. Andrew Carter’s Christmas Carols, conducted by the composer with John Scott at the organ, was named amongst the ‘ten best ever’ Christmas CDs in the BBC Music Magazine (Nov, 2007).
Andrew’s lifelong love of the organ is reflected in the festive Organ Concerto (MorningStar 2008) and an album of organ pieces (Oxford) which includes the much acclaimed Toccata on Veni Emmanuel. More recently, the substantial 22-variation Passacaglia (Banks 2007), written to honour Francis Jackson’s 90th birthday, was premiered by John Scott Whiteley in York Minster.
Born in Leicester in the English Midlands, Andrew Carter studied music at Leeds University before settling in York. During his time as a bass songman at York Minster, he founded the Chapter House Choir, the award winning mixed-voice concert group which he conducted for seventeen years, and for whom he penned many of his early published arrangements.
Taken from Andrew Carter's website
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