Sunday 29th September 2019 Harvest Thanksgiving

O Lord How Manifold Are Thy Works   Joseph Barnby 1838-1896 

Joseph Barnby was born in York, the son of an organist and from age 7 was a chorister at York Minster.  He was educated at he Royal Academy of Music and in 1862 appointed organist at St Andrew's, Well St, London where it is said he raised the services to a high degree of excellence!

He conducted "Barnby's Choir" from 1864 and in 1871 was appointed conductor of the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society. In 1875 he was director of music at Eton College and in 1892 became principal of the Guildhall School of Music and in the same year was knighted.

From Wikipedia

O Lord How Manifold Are Thy Works is a Harvest anthem taking the words from  Psalm 104 -65 and 103.

21st July 2019 Matins Trinity 5

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

Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring

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.

J S Bach from Wikipedia

Sunday 7th July 2019 Trinity 3 Sea Sunday

I Give To You A New Commandment   Peter Nardone

The anthem today is based on  John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you.  What makes this anthem particularly lovely is the Latin hymn Ubi caritas which is sung by the men after the ladies have sung through the New Testament words as a wonderful counter-tune below the ladies.
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est. Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor. Exsultemus et in ipso jucundemur. Timeamus et amemus Deum vivum. Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.
















Peter Nardone - (Bach Cantatas Website)

[Where charity is true, God is there. The love of Christ has gathered us into one. Let us rejoice and be glad in him. Let us fear and love the living God. And from a sincere heart let us love one another.]

Peter Nardone was born in Scotland in 1965 and studied organ and piano at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He later studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music, London. In 2012 he was Organist and Director of Music at Worcester Cathedral and artistic director of the Three Choirs Festival.  As a singer, he has sung with the Monteverdi Choir, Tallis Scholars, Kings Consort  and many others.

His compositions are mostly religious.


Crossing The Bar  Sir H Parry   Alfred Lord Tennyson

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



Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson by George Frederic Watts
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 Charles Hubert Hastings Parry
From Wikipedia

Sunday 30th June 2019 Trinity 2 St Peter and St Paul

Communion Service in F major  Herbert Sumsion

The choir sang the Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei  from the setting.

Herbert Whitton Sumsion (14.1.1899 - 11.8.1995) was an English musician and organist at Gloucester Cathedral from 1928 -1967. As a major figure is the Three Choirs festival he had links with the major 20th century composers.  Although known primarily as a cathedral organist, his work was far ranging.

Give Us The Wings Of Faith  Ernest Bullock  Text Issac Watts

Sir Ernest Bullock (1890- 1979) was an English organist, composer and teacher. He was born in Wigan, Lancashire and joined the local church choir as a small boy.  Both his parents died when he was still a boy and the organist there, Edward Bairstow, under took his education, taking him as an articled pupil.  He went to the local Grammar School.  In 1906, Bairstow moved to Leeds and took Ernest along with his own three children. As a non residential student, he qualified with a degree in Music from Durham University in 1908 and obtained a Doctor of Music in 1914.  He qualified in 1909 as a fellow of the Royal College of Organists.

In 1928 he became organist and master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey where he stayed until 1941 having involvement musically in  the coronation of King George VI. In 1941 he moved to Scotland, as Professor of Music in Glasgow. He is noted for his church music and in particular his anthems. 

Sir Ernest Bullock from Wikipedia

Give Us The Wings Of Faith was written by Issac Watts (1674-1748) who was the son of a schoolmaster and born in Southampton. He had a precocious talent and was studying Latin before he was four and writing verse by the age of seven. He went to London to study for the ministry at the age of sixteen.  He was an assistant minister and pastor in London before at the invitation of Sir Thomas Abney, moving to Abney Park and remaining there for the rest of his life.  He was a prolific writer and his collected works were first published in 1720. He is best known for his hymns which he often wrote to consolidate the meaning of his sermon, coming after he had preached. He published more than 800 hymns.  There is a monument to him in Southampton and also one in Westminster Abbey.

Issac Watts from hymntime.com

Sunday 23rd June 2019 Trinity1

Tantum Ergo  Louis Vierne

Tantum ergo is the incipit of the last two verses of Pange lingua.  This is a Medieval Latin hymn written by St Thomas Aquinas c. 1264. The Genitori genitoque and Procedenti ab utroque portions are adapted from Adam of Saint Victor's sequence for Pentecost.  An incipit, is the opening phrase,or in music the opening sequence of notes.
The singing of Tantum ergo occurs during veneration and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in the Catholic Church and other denominations that have this devotion. We sang it as out anthem at the end of Holy Communion.

Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937) was a french organist and composer.  He was born in Poitiers, with very poor vision due to congenital cataracts.  However it was discovered at a young age that he had a gift for music. He was schooled initially in the provinces and then went to the Paris Conservatoire. In 1892, he was assistant organist to Charles-Marie Widor and subsequently was organist at Notre Dame de Paris from 1900 until his death.  He suffered greatly from his own ill health, the loss of his brother and son during World War One and he almost lost a leg after a severe accident. Although his leg  was saved it took a year for him to relearn to use it to play the organ. His organ in Notre Dame was in a severe state of disrepair and he undertook a tour of America, playing to raise money for its refurbishment. This tour was a huge success but it took its toll on his health.

He was playing a recital at his organ in Notre Dame, and had completed the majority of the programme.  He suddenly pitched forward with his foot on the low E pedal and died with the note echoing through the great cathedral.  He had often said he wished to die at the console of the great organ of Notre Dame and so fulfilled his wish.  Maurice Durufle (another great french composer and organist)  was at his side as he died.

Vierne in about 1910 from Wikipedia

Sunday 16th June 2019 Trinity Sunday

Today was Matins.  We sang the Herbert Sumsion setting of Te Deum Laudamus in G.

This was written for the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester 1935.

The Te Deum Laudamus is a very early Christian hymn of praise traditionally attributed to Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine.  It is sung as part of Matins.

Herbert Sumsion (14.1.1899 - 11.8.1995) was an English musician and organist at Gloucester Cathedral from 1928 -1967. As a major figure is the Three Choirs festival he had links with the major 20th century composers.  Although known primarily as a cathedral organist, his work was far ranging.

H Sumsion from Discogs

The anthem was Ye Servants of th'all bouteous Lord (Laudate Peuri) by Samuel Webbe Junior.  

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 (1768-1843) was the son of self taught musician Samuel Webbe.  He studied organ, piano and vocal composition, with his father and Muzio Clementi.  Like his father he had an active iterest in Glee clubs and composed many canons and glees.

Sunday 9th June 2019 Pentecost

Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire       Thomas Attwood 1765 - 1838

This is based on Veni Creator Spiritus, with the lyricist John Cosin translating.  It is an office hymn for Pentecost.

Attwood was born in London, the son of a musician in the royal band. He became a chorister in the Chapel Royal by the age of nine.  He was sent abroad to study at the expense of the Prince of Wales (later George IV) who was impressed by his skill at the harpsichord.  He was a favourite pupil of Mozart. He returned to London in 1787.

In 1796 he was made organist of St Paul's and the same year composer of the Chapel Royal.  For George IV's coronation he wrote the anthem "I was glad".

Much of his work is forgotten, only a few anthems regularly performed including "Turn thy face from my sins" and today's anthem.

Thomas Attwood from Wikipedia