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.
Sunday 29 May 2022
Thursday 25th May Ascension Day
Sunday 29th May 2022 Easter 7
The above is taken from Wikipedia.
Amen.
Sunday 17 April 2022
Sunday 17th April 2022 Easter Day
On Easter Morn Ere Break Of Day Sung by the Greek Church at Lauds on Easter Day Melody: The Bashful Lover
This is a jolly tune, being almost a hornpipe so goes along at a fair pace. But the words are from the Greek Church, traditionally sung at Easter. It describes the three Marys arriving at Christ's tomb and finding him gone. But this is a tremendous thing as the Bible foretold Christ's ressurection for the good of all mankind.
The music was set to a poem by Robert Burns On a bank of flowers ae simmer day.
Monday 11 April 2022
Sunday 10th April 2022 Palm Sunday
O Saviour Of The World John Goss 1800 - 1880
Sir John Goss was a boy chorister in The Chapel Royal and later a pupil of Sir Thomas Attwood, organist at St Paul's cathedral. He spend a short time in the chorus of an opera company before being organist at a number of churches, finally at St Paul's where he worked hard to improve the musical standards. His works are mostly vocal, both sacred and secular. From 1827 until 1874, he was a professor at The Royal Academy of Music teaching harmony. He taught Arthur Sullivan and John Stainer who succeeded him as organist at St Paul's.
Sir John Goss from Wikipedia |
Sunday 3 April 2022
Sunday 3rd April 2022 Passion Sunday
Sunday 27 March 2022
Sunday 27th March 2022 Mothering Sunday
Fairest Lord Jesus German 17th Century, translated by Lilian Sinclair Stevenson (1870-1960)
Silesian folk song (1842) arranged by Martin How.The music is a folk song from Silesia, a culturally rich area of Europe from the 1st century, now forming part of modern day Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. The words are a 17th century German hymn adapted by British organist, composer and choir master Martin How.
Some think this was originally The Crusader's Hymn, sung by German crusaders as they made their way to the Holy Land.
Franz Liszt used the tune in his oratorio The Legend of St Elizabeth as a crusader's march and so the tune became known as St Elizabeth.
Martin How (1931- ) was born in Liverpool, moving to Brighton and then Glasgow just before the start of WWII. He spent most of his childhood in Glasgow. He was awarded an organ scholarship at Clare College, Cambridge, reading Music and Theology.
He spent most of his career with the Royal School of Church Music, principally as a choir trainer, motivating and training young singers. He initiated and developed the RSCM Chorister Training Scheme used in various forms around the world.
He was appointed MBE for Services to Church Music in the 1993 New Year Honours List .
Monday 21 March 2022
Sunday 20th March 2022 Lent 3
Jubilate Deo in B flat Charles Villiers Stanford
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.
Stanford from Wikipedia |