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

Sunday 30th November 2025 First Sunday in Advent

 Matin Responsory

This is traditionally sung on the first Sunday if Advent. The words are translated from the First Responsory of Advent Sunday in the Office of Matins (early medieval Roman rite).  The music is adapted from a Magnificat by Palestrina (as sung at e Advent Carol Services in King's College Chapel, Cambridge)

I look from afar

and lo, I see the power of God coming, and a cloud covering the whole earth.

Go ye out to meet him and say:

Tell us, art thou he that should come to reign over thy people Israel?

High and low, rich and poor one with another,

Go ye out to meet him and say:

Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep,

Tell us, art thou he that should come?

Stir up thy strength , O Lord, and come to reign over thy people Israel.

Glory be to the father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

I look from afar

and lo, I see the power of God coming, and a cloud covering the whole earth.

Go ye out to meet him and say:

Tell us, art thou he that should come to reign over thy people Israel?

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (between 3 February 1525 and 2 February 1526 – 2 February 1594) was an Italian composer of late Renaissance music. The central representative of the Roman School, with Orlande de Lassus and Tomás Luis de Victoria, Palestrina is considered the leading composer of late 16th-century Europe.

Primarily known for his masses and motets, which number over 105 and 250 respectively, Palestrina had a long-lasting influence on the development of church and secular music in Europe, especially on the development of counterpoint. According to Grove Music Online, Palestrina's "success in reconciling the functional and aesthetic aims of Catholic church music in the post-Tridentine period earned him an enduring reputation as the ideal Catholic composer, as well as giving his style (or, more precisely, later generations' selective view of it) an iconic stature as a model of perfect achievement."

Palestrina left hundreds of compositions, including 105 masses, 68 offertories, at least 140 madrigals and more than 300 motets. In addition, there are at least 72 hymns, 35 magnificats, 11 litanies, and four or five sets of lamentations. The Gloria melody from Palestrina's Magnificat Tertii Toni (1591) is widely used today in the resurrection hymn tune, Victory (The Strife Is O'er).

His attitude toward madrigals was somewhat enigmatic: whereas in the preface to his collection of Canticum canticorum (Song of Songs) motets (1584) he renounced the setting of profane texts, only two years later he was back in print with Book II of his secular madrigals (some of these being among the finest compositions in the medium). He published just two collections of madrigals with profane texts, one in 1555 and another in 1586. The other two collections were spiritual madrigals, a genre beloved by the proponents of the Counter-Reformation.

Palestrina's masses show how his compositional style developed over time. His Missa sine nomine seems to have been particularly attractive to Johann Sebastian Bach, who studied and performed it while writing the Mass in B minor. Most of Palestrina's masses appeared in thirteen volumes printed between 1554 and 1601, the last seven published after his death.

Sunday 23rd November 2025 Christ The King

 Ye Servants of th'all Bounteous Lord   Samuel Webbe Junior

This is a two verse anthem scored for SATB suitable for all occasions. It is a joyful anthem praising God eternally.  This is a setting of Psalm 113, which is in regular use in Jewish, Catholic, Anglican and Protestant liturgies. It has been set to music often. 

Samuel Webbe the younger (1768–1843) was an English music teacher and composer and was the son of Samuel Webbe (1740–1816), he was born in London, and studied the organ, piano, and vocal composition under his father and Muzio Clementi.

Webbe in his active interest in glee clubs followed in the footsteps of his father, and composed many canons and glees. In 1798 he moved to Liverpool, as organist to the Paradise Street Unitarian Chapel, where John Yates (1755–1826) was minister.

Around 1817 Webbe joined John Bernard Logier in London, teaching the use of the chiroplast. There Webbe became organist to the chapel of the Spanish embassy, before returning to Liverpool, where he was appointed organist to St. Nicholas and to St. Patrick's Roman Catholic chapel. He died at Hammersmith on 25 November 1843.

Webbe published, with his father, A Collection of Original Psalm Tunes, 1800. He was also the author of anthems, madrigals, and glees, besides a Mass and a Sanctus, and a Chant for St Paul's Cathedral. He wrote settings for numerous songs and ballads. About 1830 he published Convito Armonico, a collection of madrigals, glees, duets, canons, and catches, by well-known composers.

Webbe married Diana Smith in 1803. Their son Egerton Webbe (1810–1840) wrote on musical subjects; and their daughter Louisa married Edward Holmes.

Taken from Wikipedia

Sunday 16th November 2025 Second Sunday before Advent

Benedictus in C    C V Stanford

This is the Canticle of Zechariah, father of John the Baptist,  and is taken from Luke's Gospel (Luke 1:68-79) It is sung daily at Morning Prayer.

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

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring   J S Bach

This is the common title of the 10th and last movement of the cantata “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben” (BVW 147) composed in 1716 and 1723.  It is commonly played at weddings and Christian festive seasons of Easter and Christmas.  Much of the music of this cantata comes from Bach’s Weimar period (the 1716 parts) finished in 1723 in Leipzig.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He was a highly respected organist in his lifetime, although not recognised as a composer of magnitude (possibly one of the greatest) until a revival of his works in the first half of the 19th century. He showed considerable skill in counterpoint and harmony. He was able to adapt rhythm, form and texture from abroad. He was a prolific composer of church music due to the demand for huge numbers of cantatas over the Christian year.  It is thought her wrote over 300 with only around 200 surviving. He also wrote many other works sacred and secular.  It is now agreed that his music has technical command, intellectual depth and artistic beauty.

Sunday 9th November 2025 Remembrance Sunday

So They Gave Their Bodies  Peter Aston (1938- 2013)  From Pericles' Funeral Oration (Athens 431BC) translation Alfred Zimmern

Peter Aston was born in Birmingham.  He studied at The Birmingham School of Music and The University of York.  In 1964 he was a lecturer in music at The University York. Ten years layter he was appointed Professor of Music at The University of East Anglia and eventually Emeritus Professor of Composition.  He is best known for his liturgical works although also wrote chamber works for voice and instrument, choral and orchestral works and an opera for children. He was a lay canon in Norwich Cathedral and founded the Norwich Festival of Contemporary Church Music. He founded the Tudor Consort and English Baroque Ensembles.

Peter Aston from The Morley Consort of Voices

Pericles' Funeral Oration was written by Thucydides for his history of the Peloponnesian war. Pericles delivers the oration to not only bury the dead, but to praise democracy.

"So they gave their bodies to the commonwealth and received, each for his own memory, praise that will never die, and with it the grandest of all sepulchres, not that in which their mortal bones are laid, but a home in the minds of men, where their glory remains fresh to stir to speech or action as the occasion may require."

Pericles' Funeral Oration by Philipp Foltz

 

Sunday 2nd November 2025 All Saints

Family Service and Evensong.

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]

 

Saturday 1st November 2025 Service for All Souls

 Requiem Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

Gabriel Fauré, born in 1845, was appointed titular organist a La Madeleine, Paris, in 1896 and director of the Paris Conservatoire in 1905.

Fauré started to think about the composition of a requiem in 1885 after the death of his father.  Unlike Berlioz and Verdi he removed the Dies Irae sequence, which he considered over theatrical.  Hence the Offertorium comes up much sooner than is usual in a requiem mass setting.  He permits himself only a brief reference to the “day of wrath” in the Libera me baritone solo.

Gabriel Fauré

Fauré’s Requiem happily lends itself to a liturgical performance by amateur choirs, being particularly popular with English choirs, with the organ taking the place of the orchestra. This seems to have been recognised early on its life, coinciding as it did with liturgical experimentation in the Church of England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – experiments now adopted and sanctioned for universal use with the introduction in 1980 of the Alternative Service Book and more recently the Common Worship services. These owe their formation to the proposed 1928 Prayer Book and the English Missal (1933) and their structure, including additions to the Book of Common Prayer, fit best with Fauré’s arrangement of sections. The 1928 Prayer Book and English Missal largely formalised a variety of liturgical practices which had been used in sung Communion services previously. 

The service is an act of worship, to include remembrance of the departed, and may sound something like a similar service in an English church at about the time of Faurés death in November 1924, when sections of his requiem were sung at his funeral at La Madeleine.

Faure in 1907 from Wikipedia

26th October 2025 19th Sunday after Trinity

Alleluias of Saint James  (Let all mortal flesh keep silence) Words Liturgy of St James  Music Trad. French melody arr. A. J. Greening

This is a translation from the Greek Liturgy of St James. It is usually set to the traditional French tune of Picardy. Today's arrangement of this hymn tune was verses 1 and 3 in unison and verses 2 and 4 sopranos and tenors being the leader and altos and basses the follower singing in canon, but to a slightly different tune.

Most people will recognise this as the hymn "Let all mortal flesh keep silence".

October 12th 2025 Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

 Ave Verum Corpus    Edward Elgar

Ave verum corpus  is traditionally a communion hymn written by Pope Innocent VI, set to music by many composers over the years.

Edward Elgar (1857-1937) was born in a village close to Worcester.  His father had a music shop in Worcester and tuned pianos. Elgar was mostly self taught.  His influence grew in the 1880's and 1890's  despite his being a Roman Catholic in a largely Anglican community. In 1889 he married one of his pupils, Caroline Alice Roberts, against opposition from her family. She played a major part in his career development.

Elgar is one of the great English composers, who has left a legacy of great orchestral and choral works.

from Wikipedia

 

Sunday 5th October Harvest and Evensong

  "Thou Visitest The Earth" from "Thou O God Art Praised in Sion" Dr Maurice Greene (1696 - 1755)

"Thou Visitest The Earth" is a setting of Psalm 65 for solo tenor or baritone and SATB chorus.  In our case today, the solo was taken by one of our altos.  It is commonly used as a Harvest anthem speaking of God's blessings on the earth.

Maurice Green was born in London, his father, Thomas Greene, was chaplain of the Chapel Royal and canon of Salisbury. Young Maurice began his studies under Jeremiah Clarke and Charles King at St Paul's Cathedral. In 1714 he gained his first musical post as organist at St Dunstan-in-the-West on Fleet Street. In 1717 he became organist at St Paul's Cathedral.

Greene was a founder member of the Castle Society, established in 1724. He also helped found the Academy of Ancient Music.

In 1730, Greene was admitted "Doctor in Musica" at Cambridge University and later was made a professor of music there.

In 1735, Greene was elected Master of the King's Music, the highest musical position in the land.

Originally a friend of Handel, Handel had a disagreement with another composer, Giovanni Bononcini, but when Greene continued his friendship with Bononcini, this upset Handel and a lifelong feud ensued.

Sunday 21st September 2025 St Matthew, Apostle

Benedictus in C    C V Stanford

This is the Canticle of Zechariah, father of John the Baptist,  and is taken from Luke's Gospel (Luke 1:68-79) It is sung daily at Morning Prayer.

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

Ye Servants of th'all Bounteous Lord   Samuel Webbe Junior

This is a two verse anthem scored for SATB suitable for all occasions. It is a joyful anthem praising God eternally.  This is a setting of Psalm 113, which is in regular use in Jewish, Catholic, Anglican and Protestant liturgies. It has been set to music often. 

Samuel Webbe the younger (1768–1843) was an English music teacher and composer and was the son of Samuel Webbe (1740–1816), he was born in London, and studied the organ, piano, and vocal composition under his father and Muzio Clementi.

Webbe in his active interest in glee clubs followed in the footsteps of his father, and composed many canons and glees. In 1798 he moved to Liverpool, as organist to the Paradise Street Unitarian Chapel, where John Yates (1755–1826) was minister.

Around 1817 Webbe joined John Bernard Logier in London, teaching the use of the chiroplast. There Webbe became organist to the chapel of the Spanish embassy, before returning to Liverpool, where he was appointed organist to St. Nicholas and to St. Patrick's Roman Catholic chapel. He died at Hammersmith on 25 November 1843.

Webbe published, with his father, A Collection of Original Psalm Tunes, 1800. He was also the author of anthems, madrigals, and glees, besides a Mass and a Sanctus, and a Chant for St Paul's Cathedral. He wrote settings for numerous songs and ballads. About 1830 he published Convito Armonico, a collection of madrigals, glees, duets, canons, and catches, by well-known composers.

Webbe married Diana Smith in 1803. Their son Egerton Webbe (1810–1840) wrote on musical subjects; and their daughter Louisa married Edward Holmes.

Taken from Wikipedia

Sunday 14th September 2025 Patronal Festival, Eucharist and Evensong

Ave, Maria  Edward Elgar

Edward Elgar (1857-1937) was born in a village close to Worcester.  His father had a music shop in Worcester and tuned pianos. Elgar was mostly self taught.  His influence grew in the 1880's and 1890's  despite his being a Roman Catholic in a largely Anglican community. In 1889 he married one of his pupils, Caroline Alice Roberts, against opposition from her family. She played a major part in his career development.

Elgar is one of the great English composers, who has left a legacy of great orchestral and choral works.

When Elgar was a small boy, he was given a job with W A Allan a friend of his father's and a solicitor and treasurer of St George's Church. Ave Maria was written for St George’s and revised with Ave verum for publication in 1902 when the opus number was allocated. The music for Ave Maria is dedicated to Mrs H A Leicester, wife of his friend Hubert Leicester.

Elgar c 1900 
taken from Wikipedia

The Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis in B flat  C V Stanford

Taken from Wikipedia.

The Magnificat (Latin for "[My soul] magnifies [the Lord]") is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos . It is traditionally incorporated into the liturgical services of the Catholic Church (at vespers) and of the Eastern Orthodox churches (at the morning services). It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn. Its name comes from the incipit of the Latin version of the canticle's text.

The text of the canticle is taken directly from the Gospel of Luke (1:46–55) where it is spoken by Mary upon the occasion of her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth. In the narrative, after Mary greets Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist, the latter moves within Elizabeth's womb. Elizabeth praises Mary for her faith (using words partially reflected in the Hail Mary), and Mary responds with what is now known as the Magnificat.

Within the whole of Christianity, the Magnificat is most frequently recited within the Liturgy of the Hours. In Western Christianity, the Magnificat is most often sung or recited during the main evening prayer service: Vespers in the Catholic and Lutheran churches, and Evening Prayer (or Evensong) in Anglicanism. In Eastern Christianity, the Magnificat is usually sung at Sunday Matins. Among Protestant groups, the Magnificat may also be sung during worship services, especially in the Advent season during which these verses are traditionally read.

The Nunc dimittis, also known as the Song of Simeon or the Canticle of Simeon, is a canticle taken from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 29 through 32. Its Latin name comes from its incipit, the opening words, of the Vulgate translation of the passage, meaning "Now let depart". Since the 4th century it has been used in services of evening worship such as Compline, Vespers, and Evensong.

The title is formed from the opening words in the Latin Vulgate, “Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine" ("Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord"). Although brief, the canticle abounds in Old Testament allusions. For example, "Because my eyes have seen thy salvation" alludes to Isaiah 52:10.

According to the narrative in Luke 2:25-32, Simeon was a devout Jew who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. When Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem for the ceremony of redemption of the firstborn son (after the time of Mary's purification: at least 40 days after the birth, and thus distinct from the circumcision), Simeon was there, and he took Jesus into his arms and uttered words rendered variously as follows:

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace :

according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen :

thy salvation;

Which thou hast prepared :

before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles :

and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

 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

Sunday 7th September 2025 Twelfth Sunday after Trinity

The choir returned after the August break and sang an old favourite as the anthem.

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 3rd August 2025 Seventh Sunday after Trinity

The Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis in B flat  C V Stanford

Taken from Wikipedia.

The Magnificat (Latin for "[My soul] magnifies [the Lord]") is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos . It is traditionally incorporated into the liturgical services of the Catholic Church (at vespers) and of the Eastern Orthodox churches (at the morning services). It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn. Its name comes from the incipit of the Latin version of the canticle's text.

The text of the canticle is taken directly from the Gospel of Luke (1:46–55) where it is spoken by Mary upon the occasion of her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth. In the narrative, after Mary greets Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist, the latter moves within Elizabeth's womb. Elizabeth praises Mary for her faith (using words partially reflected in the Hail Mary), and Mary responds with what is now known as the Magnificat.

Within the whole of Christianity, the Magnificat is most frequently recited within the Liturgy of the Hours. In Western Christianity, the Magnificat is most often sung or recited during the main evening prayer service: Vespers in the Catholic and Lutheran churches, and Evening Prayer (or Evensong) in Anglicanism. In Eastern Christianity, the Magnificat is usually sung at Sunday Matins. Among Protestant groups, the Magnificat may also be sung during worship services, especially in the Advent season during which these verses are traditionally read.

The Nunc dimittis, also known as the Song of Simeon or the Canticle of Simeon, is a canticle taken from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 29 through 32. Its Latin name comes from its incipit, the opening words, of the Vulgate translation of the passage, meaning "Now let depart". Since the 4th century it has been used in services of evening worship such as Compline, Vespers, and Evensong.

The title is formed from the opening words in the Latin Vulgate, “Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine" ("Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord"). Although brief, the canticle abounds in Old Testament allusions. For example, "Because my eyes have seen thy salvation" alludes to Isaiah 52:10.

According to the narrative in Luke 2:25-32, Simeon was a devout Jew who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. When Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem for the ceremony of redemption of the firstborn son (after the time of Mary's purification: at least 40 days after the birth, and thus distinct from the circumcision), Simeon was there, and he took Jesus into his arms and uttered words rendered variously as follows:

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace :

according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen :

thy salvation;

Which thou hast prepared :

before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles :

and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

 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

 Lord For Thy Tender Mercy's Sake  Music could be by either Farrant or John Hilton. This arrangement is by Anthony Green. Words from Bull, Christian Prayers and Holy Mediaition (1568)

Richard Farrant (c. 1525 – 30 November 1580) was an English composer, musical dramatist, theatre founder, and Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal. The first acknowledgment of him is in a list of the Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal in 1552. The year of his birth cannot be accurately determined. During his life he was able to establish himself as a successful composer, develop the English drama considerably, found the first Blackfriars Theatre, and be the first to write verse-anthems. He married Anne Bower, daughter of Richard Bower who was Master of the Chapel Royal choristers at the time. With Anne he conceived ten children, one of whom was also named Richard.

Queen Elizabeth I

As a member of the Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, Farrant was active in ceremonies surrounding the royal family. He began his work with the Chapel Royal around 1550 under the reign of Edward VI. Fortunately, for Farrant, this is a time that saw huge developments in Latin Church Music. Composers like William Byrd and Christopher Tye were busy expanding and elaborating on the Church Music of the day. In Farrant's twelve years with the Chapel Royal, he was able to participate in funerals for Edward VI and Mary I, and coronations for Mary I and Elizabeth I. After his work there, he took up a post as lay vicar and organist at St. George's Chapel at Windsor.

For Farrant, the post at Windsor became a permanent one that he retained for the rest of his life. Along with this, he also acquired the position of Master of the Chapel Royal choristers in November 1569. Having the choirs of both of these institutions at his disposal gave him an outlet to showcase all of his compositions and plays. In fact, every winter he was able to produce a play for the Queen herself. These positions also allowed him to move back to London in 1576 and begin a public theater of sorts where he rehearsed some of his choir music openly. It was soon after, in 1580, that he died, having left his house to his wife.

Unlike many composers of his day that stuck to only music composition, Farrant also wrote many plays. One of his most important contributions to drama in England is of course the creation of the first Blackfriars Theatre. This eventually became one of the most important places in London for drama to develop during the Renaissance. Farrant is also one of the earliest and most well known composers that began to mix the two mediums of music and drama. It was this uncommon mixture that allowed him to begin to develop the composition style of 'verse.' This becomes prominent in a lot of his pieces including the anthems When as we sat in Babylon, Call to remembrance and Hide not thou thy face.

John Hilton (the elder) (1565 – 1609(?)) was an English countertenor, organist and composer of mainly sacred works.

Hilton is best known for his anthems "Lord, for Thy Tender Mercy's Sake" (which may actually be by one of the Farrants) and "Call to Remembrance".

Hilton was born in 1565. By 1584 he was a countertenor at Lincoln Cathedral. At the start of 1594 he became organist at Trinity College, Cambridge.

He was the father of John Hilton the younger, also a composer, which makes definitive assignation of their combined sacred works problematic; whereas his only secular work appears to have been the madrigal Fair Oriana, beauty's Queen, which he wrote for The Triumphs of Oriana.

He died, probably in Cambridge, prior to 20 March 1609.

Henry Bull (died 1577) was an English Protestant theological writer. He is now remembered as an ally of John Foxe in documenting the Marian exiles and recent religious history.

A native of Warwickshire, Bull was a demy of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1535, and full fellow and B.A. in 1540. He was a prominent reformer in the college, in a group that included Thomas Cooper, Robert Crowley and John Foxe. He became rector of Courtenhall in early 1553.

When Mary I of England came to the throne later in 1553, Bull, with the help of Thomas Bentham, snatched a censer from the hand of the officiating priest and was expelled from Magdalen. A visitation of the college was held and, on 23 October 1553, the visitors deprived Bull of his fellowship. Anthony Wood says that he went into exile, which cannot be documented, but Strype states that he lived quietly at home as a Protestant.

After the accession of Elizabeth I of England, Bull held benefices, according to Wood. He collected correspondence and manuscripts, that were kept by Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and worked in parallel with Foxe's Actes and Monuments.

Bull edited the Apology of Bishop John Hooper (1562) and, in the same year, Hooper's Exposition of Psalm xxiii. Other commentaries of Hooper's on three psalms appeared in Certeine comfortable Expositions of … Master John Hooper on Psalms 23, 62, 72, 77, gathered by Mr. H. B. (1580). He was also the editor of Christian Praiers and Holy Meditacions which appeared first by 1570; an earlier work from Bull's collection was Lidley's Prayers (1566). Christian Praiers was reprinted later in the century, and by the Parker Society.

The major martyrological collection, Certain Most Godly, Fruitful and Comfortable Letters of such True Saintes and Holy Martyrs as in the Late Bloodye Persecution Gave their Lyves, was published in 1564, as by Miles Coverdale. In effect, it was by Bull.

Bull translated from Martin Luther A Commentarie on the Fiftene Psalmes called Psalmi Graduum, printed by Thomas Vautroullier (1577), with a preface by Foxe.

Biographies from Wikipedia

The words are from "Lydney's Praiers", which form a section of Henry Bull's Christian Praiers and Holy Meditacions, 1568. This anthem has been attributed to Richard Farrant, but his name was never associated until late in the 18th century. The earlier MSS agree to ascribing it to the elder John Hilton, of Trinity College, Cambridge, and there is no good reason to doubt that he was the composer.  The contrapunctal Amen which has sometimes been printed at the concluson, is not found in any text older than the beginning of the 18th century;it was probably first composed and added at about that date.

Taken from RSCM The Cross of Christ - a devotion fro congregation and choir.

Sunday 20th July 2025 Fifth Sunday after Trinity Matins

Benedictus in B flat    C V Stanford

This is the Canticle of Zechariah, father of John the Baptist,  and is taken from Luke's Gospel (Luke 1:68-79) It is sung daily at Morning Prayer.

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

 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 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