Choir and Music
Charles Wood (1886 - 1926)
Choral Evensong for Advent Sunday
Choral evensong for Advent Sunday will commence with the choir processing from the Lady Chapel holding candles as they sing the ancient hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. This hymn has its origins in the plainchant antiphons that were sung at the monastic evening service of vespers on each of the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve.
The introit following the processional hymn continues in a similar monastic mood as the choir sings the Matin Responsory set to music by Palestrina, one of the leading composers of late 16th century Europe. A responsory is a form of chant in which a cantor or a small group sing verses while the whole choir then respond with a refrain.
The canticles (Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis) are sung this evening to the setting in D major by the Irish composer Charles Wood. One of several settings of the canticles by Wood, the D major setting, composed in 1898, is the earliest and regarded by many as his most popular setting. Wood was also known in his day as a great teacher and can count amongst his pupils Ralph Vaughan Williams at Cambridge and Herbert Howells at the Royal College of Music.
Our evensong concludes with the marvellous Advent hymn, Lo, he comes with clouds descending, written by Charles Wesley (1707-1788) which particularly looks forward to the promised second coming of Jesus. The tune Helmsley, with which it is almost invariably paired, is usually attributed to Thomas Olivers, a Welsh Methodist preacher and hymn-writer who allegedly based the tune on an Irish concert song that he had heard whistled in the street. It is reported that Queen Victoria was very displeased after the organist at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, once set the words of the hymn to a different tune. She made her feelings known and instructed that only Helmsley should be used in future! In the unlikely event that Queen Victoria were to join us for this evening’s choral evensong, she would have no reason to feel displeased in any shape or form!
Alleluia! God appears on earth to reign!
I hope very much that you will be able to join us on Sunday for the Advent choral evensong and please also return two weeks later, on 15th December, for our Christmas Carol Service.
Trevor Dawson
(Director of Music)
Music at St Andrew's
By our Director of Music: Trevor Dawson
There has always been a choir at St. Andrew’s for as long as I can remember. I know, because I used to sing in it! Without giving away too many clues as to my age, we’re talking about the 60s here (that’s 1960s!) and I can remember there being about five others in the choir apart from myself.
Following my appointment as organist at the tender age of 14, the choir entered something of a “golden age” in terms of numbers and we had maybe 25+ young people on the books at any one time.
Coming more up to date, our choir has undergone quite a marvellous renaissance! Once a month, on the first Sunday, we sing choral evensong with a choir of around 25 choristers and are continually building upon our repertoire of liturgical music. The choir consists of singers with a distinguished background in music and keen amateurs. For our regular Sunday morning services, we are blessed by a smaller, but equally keen group of singers!
In recent years, the choir of St Andrew's has been invited to sing at various services, including the cathedral churches of York, Norwich, Chester, Wells, Southwell, Ripon, Bristol, Chichester and Christ Church Oxford.
If you are an amateur with an interest in music or a veteran chorister and would like to sing with us, we would love to hear from you!
Choral Evensong usually takes place on the 1st Sunday of the month at 6:30PM