Annual choir photo taken after the Good Friday service.
Welcome to the Saint Mary choir blog. We are a SATB (ie: four part harmony) choir. We sing at the 10:00am service most Sundays through out the year.We welcome new members to our choir. If you are interested in joining us please contact our Director of Music (Joanna) via the Contact Us page.
There follows a description of some the music that we have sung.
Wednesday 19 April 2017
Maundy Thursday 13th April 2017.
The choir sang Duruflé’s Ubi Caritas from Quatre motets sur des themes grégoriens Op 10
for choir a capella (1960).
Duruflé was born in 1902 and was a chorister in
Rouen Cathedral choir school. Moving to Paris when he was 17, he took organ
lessons and joined the Conservatoire de Paris in 1920, graduating with first
prizes in organ, harmony, piano accompaniment and composition.
Ubi caritas is a hymn of the western church
traditionally used as one of the antiphons for the washing of feet on Maundy
Thursday. The Gregorian melody was composed sometime between 4th and 10th
centuries with the text believed to be from early Christian gatherings before
the formalisation of the Mass.
At the ending of the service Psalm 22 was sung in plainsong, women and men alternating verses as the altar was stripped ready for the Gethsemeny Watch.
Good Friday 14th April 2017
Olivet to Calvary John Henry Maunder (1858-1920) words by Shapcott Wensley.
Maunder was born in Chelsea and studied at The Royal Academy of Music in London. He was organist at St Matthew's, Sydenham and St Paul's, Forest Hill, as well as churches in Blackheath and Sutton. He was an accompanist at The Albert Hall and trained the choir for Sir Henry Irving's original production of Faust in 1887.
His sacred cantatas were widely performed and admired but went out of fashion, to be revived in the Netherlands and UK.
Olivet to Calvary is considered to be a fine example of music written for the late Victorian/early Edwardian Anglican church. Some today may find it sentimental, but it has a sincerity and dedication which has carried the piece onwards despite being a product of its time. It considers the last few days of the life of Christ on earth.
The choir's rendition was interspersed with readings which reflected the music.
Sunday 6 November 2016
Music for November 2016 at St Mary our Lady
6th November Family Service All Saints (transfered)
197 For all the Saints
Motet by Junior Choristers 'Mathew ,Mark, Luke and John' by Lindley
478 Ye Watchers and ye holy ones
Anthem Give us the Wings of Faith Bullock
231 Palms of glory raiiment bright
War March of the Priests Mendelssohn
13th November Village Remembrance Service
490 Judge eternal, throned in splendor
417 O God our help in ages past
Anthem So they gave their bodies Aston
488 Jerusalem
413 Now thank we all our God
Fugue in E flat BWV 552
20th November Christ the King
443 Rejoice the Lord is King
388 Jesus shall Reign where'er the sun
O Thou, the central Orb
352 Crown him with many crowns
197 For all the Saints
Motet by Junior Choristers 'Mathew ,Mark, Luke and John' by Lindley
478 Ye Watchers and ye holy ones
Anthem Give us the Wings of Faith Bullock
231 Palms of glory raiiment bright
War March of the Priests Mendelssohn
13th November Village Remembrance Service
490 Judge eternal, throned in splendor
417 O God our help in ages past
Anthem So they gave their bodies Aston
488 Jerusalem
413 Now thank we all our God
Fugue in E flat BWV 552
20th November Christ the King
443 Rejoice the Lord is King
388 Jesus shall Reign where'er the sun
O Thou, the central Orb
352 Crown him with many crowns
Wednesday 5 October 2016
Music for October 2016 at St Mary our Lady
2nd October 10:00 Family Eucharist Trinity XVIII
259 Come ye thankful people Harvest Thanksgiving
Gloria Ode to Joy/ Parish Mass Murray
261 To thee, O Lord, our hearts we raise
304 Once, only once, and once for all
The Lord has been mindful of us Wesley
262 We Plough the fields and scatter
Choral Prelude 'Nun danket' Karg-Elert
18:00 Village Harvest Thanksgiving
separate service sheet
Thou visitest the earth Greene
Nunc dimittis in C Stanford
Piece d'Orgue BWV 572 J S Bach
9th October Parish Eucharist Trinity XIX
440 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
404 Lord of our life and God of our salvation
324 Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old
Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face Whitlock
300 O food of men wayfaring
Sheet To God be the Glory
Alla Marcia Ireland
16th October Matins Trinity XX
232 Awake my soul and with the sun
Psalm 119 97-104
Let thy merciful ears, O Lord Mudd
357 Father, hear the prayer we offer
484 The Curch's one foundation
Sonata No 2i Hindesmith
23rd October Parish Eucharist Last after Trinity XXI
644 Thou who's almighty word Bible Sunday
359 Fight the good fight
398 Lift up you hearts
O for a closer walk with God Stanford
295 Let all mortal flesh keep silent
312 He who would valient be
Sonata No 3 Mendelssohn
30th October 10:00pm Parish Eucharist Fourth before Advent
233 Glory be to thee, who safe hast kept
402 Lord it belongs not to my care
376 I heard the voice of Jesus say
Ave verum corpus Byrd
306 Strengthen for thy service, Lord, the hands
363 Glory in the highest to the God of heaven
Festal Voluntary
18:00 Commemoration of All Souls
Messe de Requiem Faure
259 Come ye thankful people Harvest Thanksgiving
Gloria Ode to Joy/ Parish Mass Murray
261 To thee, O Lord, our hearts we raise
304 Once, only once, and once for all
The Lord has been mindful of us Wesley
262 We Plough the fields and scatter
Choral Prelude 'Nun danket' Karg-Elert
18:00 Village Harvest Thanksgiving
separate service sheet
Thou visitest the earth Greene
Nunc dimittis in C Stanford
Piece d'Orgue BWV 572 J S Bach
9th October Parish Eucharist Trinity XIX
440 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
404 Lord of our life and God of our salvation
324 Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old
Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face Whitlock
300 O food of men wayfaring
Sheet To God be the Glory
Alla Marcia Ireland
16th October Matins Trinity XX
232 Awake my soul and with the sun
Psalm 119 97-104
Let thy merciful ears, O Lord Mudd
357 Father, hear the prayer we offer
484 The Curch's one foundation
Sonata No 2i Hindesmith
23rd October Parish Eucharist Last after Trinity XXI
644 Thou who's almighty word Bible Sunday
359 Fight the good fight
398 Lift up you hearts
O for a closer walk with God Stanford
295 Let all mortal flesh keep silent
312 He who would valient be
Sonata No 3 Mendelssohn
30th October 10:00pm Parish Eucharist Fourth before Advent
233 Glory be to thee, who safe hast kept
402 Lord it belongs not to my care
376 I heard the voice of Jesus say
Ave verum corpus Byrd
306 Strengthen for thy service, Lord, the hands
363 Glory in the highest to the God of heaven
Festal Voluntary
18:00 Commemoration of All Souls
Messe de Requiem Faure
Wednesday 2 December 2015
29 November 2015
Today is
Advent Sunday,
the start of the church’s year when we begin a time of preparation for
Christmas and the birth of Jesus.
The choir begins the service by singing the
Matin Responsory:
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.
The text is from the old Latin service of Matins
and is based on the odd verses of the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) and the
doxology (Glory be to the Father ...); this setting is adapted from Palestrina.
The words remind us that Advent is a time of
penitence, anticipation and hope, when the church prepares to celebrate the
coming of the Messiah, which means an anointed one. We await the return of
Christ as judge and king, reigning over the whole world but also judging the
people of the earth as well. During Advent we reflect on the last judgment,
often through the parable of the sheep and goats in St Matthew’s Gospel
(chapter 25).
In our preparation for the coming of the messiah
the church encourages us to consider our lives and to make ourselves ready
spiritually: the traditional way of doing this was through fasting and making
confession. We need to remember that as
well as anticipating the coming of the Saviour with joy, we should also prepare
for it with repentance. This theme is reflected in the motet at communion which
has words taken from Psalm 25 and set to music by Richard Farrant (c1530-1580):
Call to remembrance, O Lord, thy tender
mercies and thy loving kindness which have been ever of old; O remember not the
sins and offences of my youth , but according to thy mercy, think thou on me, O
Lord, for thy goodness.
The organ voluntary is the Fugue in E flat BWV
552 “St Anne” from J S Bach’s Clavier-Übung III.
Monday 2 March 2015
28 March 2015 The Crucifixion by Stainer
Join us for a performance of John Stainers Crucifixion at 6:00pm on 28 March 2015 in St Mary Our Lady Sidlesham,
The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer is an oratorio composed by John Stainer in 1887 and is scored for a full chorus of mixed voices with an organ accompaniment. It features solos for bass and tenor.
Stainer intended that piece would be within the scope of most parish church choirs; it includes five hymns for congregational participation. The text was written by W J Sparrow Simpson, the librettist of Stainer's two earlier cantatas, The Daughter of Jairus and Mary Magdalene. Stainer dedicated his work "to my pupil and friend W. Hodge and the choir of Marylebone Church", who first performed it on February 24, 1887, the day after Ash Wednesday.
The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer is an oratorio composed by John Stainer in 1887 and is scored for a full chorus of mixed voices with an organ accompaniment. It features solos for bass and tenor.
Stainer intended that piece would be within the scope of most parish church choirs; it includes five hymns for congregational participation. The text was written by W J Sparrow Simpson, the librettist of Stainer's two earlier cantatas, The Daughter of Jairus and Mary Magdalene. Stainer dedicated his work "to my pupil and friend W. Hodge and the choir of Marylebone Church", who first performed it on February 24, 1887, the day after Ash Wednesday.
Monday 2 February 2015
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