"Ave Maria" Robert Parsons

The world of Choral Evensong has perhaps never enjoyed such an exciting, high profile, edge-of-seat week since the Reformation; or since Thomas Tomkins was fined for urinating on the Dean of the Chapel Royal. As the final few anthems competed for the increasingly coveted top spot to win the "Evensong Anthem World Cup" title, even Radio 3 got involved! The final resulted in a draw between Harris' "Faire is the heaven" and Bainton's And I saw a new heaven"; an incredibly appropriate result since Harris and Bainton were reputed to be friends. (And let's face it, most of us were just grateful we didn't break Twitter all over again with the 48:52 result which looked likely a few hours previously!)

During the competition intense discussion proliferated on the specific criteria for an evensong "anthem", although the definition is fairly broad:

a musical composition for a choir, usually set to words from the Bible, sung as part of a church service. a religious chant sung antiphonally.

Or from Wikipedia:-

An anthem is a piece of music written for a choir to sing at an Anglican church service. The difference between an anthem and a motet is that an anthem is sung in English. Also most anthems are accompanied by an organ.

The best description I have found is from John Ewington (General Secretary, Guild of Church Musicians):-

In origin, an anthem was written especially for a choir to sing during Anglican services, usually matins or evensong, when, after the third collect, the rubric states: "In Quires and Places where they sing here followeth the Anthem." It was normally sung in English. A motet is a piece that was sung at mass and was usually in Latin. At various times, anthems have also been composed with Latin words, and motets have similarly been composed with English words. These days, they seem to be interchangeable. 

This obviously leaves the floor pretty open and the competition had ten minute pieces such as Howells' (incredible) "Take Him Earth for Cherishing" which is not only challenging to sing but pretty long for your average evensong service; and the equally long (and amazing) "The Deer's Cry" by Arvo Pärt. The firm favourites were there too, you can check out the full list on my earlier post here. (There is also a link to the Spotify playlist I created which is a fantastic way of enjoying familiar pieces again and discovering some fabulous new ones!)

So with 128 anthems from 100 composers there was something for everyone. Until there wasn't. In the preliminary rounds alone 89 942 votes were cast and as voters' favourites left the competition the visceral attachment we have to our choral music became all too apparent. Deprived of all opportunities to sing these wonderful anthems during the pandemic our only option was to fight their corner at every turn...

My personal favourite is "Ave Maria", by Robert Parsons.
Born around 1535, little is known about Parson's early life but it is likely that he was a choir boy. He was an assistant to Richard Bower, Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal and was later appointed as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. Parsons is especially noted for his choral motets, of which "Ave Maria" is the best known after its inclusion in the Oxford Book of Tudor Anthems in 1978. Recognised as a master of polyphonic writing for choirs, Parsons was composing during the religious upheaval of the Reformation. He is thought to have collaborated with John Sheppard in the 1550s (or at least been influenced by him) and Richard Farrant in the early 1560s. It is believed he taught William Byrd at Lincoln Cathedral. He died prematurely from drowning in the Trent River.

Parson's "Ave Maria" ("Hail Mary") was likely written in the 1550's under Queen Mary 1; it's a Catholic prayer which would have found little favour later in Elizabethan England and it's also likely he was a Catholic sympathiser, like Sheppard, Tallis and others. Parsons' "Ave Maria" is a truly magical setting of the text with *the* most exquisitely beautiful Amen coda. It encapsulates the very essence of early english choral music, combining scripture with music to capture the hearts and minds of both choir and congregation. It sends our prayers soaring, surely elevating our worship.

So for me, this post should really be titled "The anthem which *should* have won the Evensong Anthem World Cup on Twitter", because of every anthem on the list, the one piece which will have me crying with total happiness and contentment when I'm back in the choir stalls is Robert Parsons' "Ave Maria".

Amen.

The English Reformation and its impact on liturgy and music

A brief discussion on the impact of religious change in sixteenth century England on church music and liturgy, from a layman's 21st Century perspective!

The Reformation is a hugely misunderstood and underestimated period of flux in Europe and beyond over the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. I have long been intrigued by the way religion not only underpinned society at every level during the Early Modern period, but how those influences are still relevant today. Having studied this period of history in depth at university I believe there are two significant themes of the English Reformation and its impact on liturgy and music:-

1) The Reformation was not an event which occurred at a single point in time.

The Reformation was not an event, it was more an evolutionary phase which spread out from Henry's break with Rome in 1530 like a mycelium which infiltrated every aspect of English life - and then re-wove itself through again and again creating a vast web of differing experiences, opinions and outcomes. It was the all and everything for the English people for almost 200 years, whether they participated religiously or not. In religious life it encompassed "English Catholics" with their highly latinised services, and Quakers who worshipped in words and silences only.

Henry VIII lived and died a Catholic, his break with Rome was a matter of convenience only. Whilst the establishment of the Church of England was hugely significant nationally and internationally, the average parishioner would have noticed very little difference in daily worship during Henry's reign. For the common people, the dissolution of the monasteries would have had a far greater impact on their lives, since these institutions helped the poor and sick and were paid to sing masses for the souls of the dead. (i-see below)

Henry VIII

Whilst Henry VIII did indeed break with Rome in 1530 and become Head of the Church of England via the Act of Supremacy in 1534; Henry he remained a Catholic, taking the last rites on his deathbed. Indeed, on 11 October 1521 Pope Leo X granted Henry and his descendants the title "Defender of the Faith" in recognition of Henry's book "Assertio Septem Sacramentorum" (Defense of the Seven Sacraments), which defended the sacramental nature of marriage and the supremacy of the pope in defence of the ideas of Martin Luther. (ii)

Music and Liturgy after the dissolution
Most parish churches had been endowed with chantries, each maintaining a stipended priest to say Mass for the souls of their donors, and these continued unaffected under Henry. In addition there remained over a hundred collegiate churches in England, whose endowments maintained regular choral worship through a body of canons, prebends or priests. All these survived the reign of Henry VIII largely intact, only to be dissolved under the Chantries Act 1547, by Henry's son Edward VI.

Edward, Mary and Elizabeth
After the death of Henry VIII in 1547, the new king Edward VI advanced the Reformation in England, introducing major changes to the liturgy of the Church of England. Thomas Cranmer had significantly greater freedom under Edward and in 1549, Cranmer's new Book of Common Prayer swept away the old Latin liturgy and replaced it with prayers in English. Church choirs began singing some songs in English, eg Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s.  This brand new liturgy suddenly demanded that new music should be written for the church in English, and musicians of the Chapel Royal such as Thomas Tallis, John Sheppard, and Robert Parsons were called upon to demonstrate that the new Protestantism was no less splendid than the old Catholic religion. Some composers also began writing in a more chordal style because it was argued that the words were easier to hear and understand that way.