Born in 1626, Richard Ayleward was the son of a minor canon at Winchester Cathedral, also called Richard. Ayleward sang as a chorister in the Winchester cathedral choir under the director of music Christopher Gibbons, son of Orlando Gibbons. Ayleward must have paid attention, or received a significant amount of tuition since his handwriting style for text and music is almost identical to Gibbons! During the English Restoration, Ayleward was organist and choirmaster of Norwich Cathedral from 1661-1664, and again from 1666-1669. It's not clear why Ayleward gave up his post temporarily in 1664 but he was reappointed in 1665 and remained until his death in 1669.
During the Civil War Interregnum Ayleward must have privately composed many choral pieces, since after the Restoration he was able to quickly produce twenty highly original anthems, one written for the Coronation of Charles II. Ayleward seems to have had distinct Royalist sympathies, and possible connections to the Royal Court, which would have not made him a popular figure during the Interregnum and hence suggests a possible reason for composing privately until the Restoration.
However Dr. Hugo Janacek, a member of a Facebook Choral Evensong group, piqued my interest recently when he shared some research of his. Janacek researches East Anglian choral music, and has used a complete set of 17th century partbooks written in Ayleward’s hand and signed by him. All the manuscripts of Ayleward's compositions were owned by Norwich Cathedral, purchased by A. H. Mann in the nineteenth century and published. However whilst Mann deserves much credit for preserving Ayleward's work, he seems to be the source of some confusion around Ayleward's dates, writing in 1886 that Ayleward's birth year was 1626, later admitting he was without proof. As part of his research, Janacek ha in fact uncovered a good candidate for Ayleward’s baptism record, which suggests he was in fact baptised in April 1625 in a village close to Winchester.
The surviving choral music consists of 20 verse anthems, 2 verse settings of the evening canticles (the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis) and the Short Service, which contains settings of music for the whole daily office. it is his Short Service which is best known. His responses, with which I was already familiar, are from this Service.
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".
Ascension
The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, also called Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday, commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. In Christian belief Ascension is on the 40th day after his Resurrection (Easter being reckoned as the first day), this year falling on Thursday 21st May. Jesus' final moments with his disciples focus on the commission that will shape their lives as apostles, as they spread the gospel beyond those who encountered Christ in the flesh to those who believe based on testimony. This culminates in St. Paul using the term "the body of Christ" to describe the Church.
There are many well known anthems composed for Ascension, Stanford's "Coelos ascended hodie" is another favourite of mine, and our choir have recorded Byrd's "Non von relinquam orphanos" remotely this week. See bottom of this post.)
Finzi's "God is Gone Up" Op. 27b was written in 1951, the same year in which he learned he was suffering from Hodgkin's Disease, from which he eventually died in 1956. The text is taken from a longer poem by Edward Taylor (c1642-1729) and is the second of his three opus 27 anthems. It was written in 1951 for a St Cecilia's Day Service at St Sepulchre's Church in Holborn. This anthem has rightly become an integral part of the choral repertoire, and is probably Finzi’s most well-known piece of sacred music.
Twitter users may be aware of the recent hugely popular "World Cup" of Evensong Canticles, run by @TheEvensongCup account. The canticles cup was won by Howells' Gloucester Service (no, I didn't vote multiple times, nor bribe anyone!) but most importantly the process introduced many choral music lovers to canticles they had not heard previously, new composers, and of course gave us all a wonderful opportunity to enjoy and discuss old favourites at a time when most of us would cut off our right arm to be back in church singing them with our choirs....
The account is now hosting a "World Cup" of evensong anthems, and after much discussion and preliminary voting, the two page list below has been put together. Voting has (only just) begun, and there is a pinned thread to explain the process here.
Because I obviously don't have anything better to do (what could be better than listening to hours of evensong anthems?!) I have put together a Spotify playlist of all but the most recent compositions which are yet to make it to Spotify. You can click the image below and it should take you to my playlist, which is public. I found most of the missing anthems on Youtube with little effort - I highly recommend Sarah MacDonald's "Crux Fidelis" which is on Soundcloud and Anna Thorvaldsdottir's "Heyr þú oss himnum á".
Biography
Much has been written about Stanford, undoubtedly one of the leading musicians of his generation who had a profound effect on the development and history of English music as a performer, conductor, composer, teacher and writer.
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor. Born and raised in Dublin, he was the only son of a prosperous Protestant lawyer. Stanford was educated at the University of Cambridge, initially as an organ scholar at Queen's College, before studying music in Leipzig and Berlin. While still an undergraduate, Stanford was appointed organist of Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1882, aged 29, he was one of the founding professors of the Royal College of Music, where he taught composition for the rest of his life. From 1887 he was also Professor of Music at Cambridge. You can read more on the pages of the Stanford Society here.
As a teacher Stanford was sceptical about modernism, and based his instruction predominantly on classical principles as exemplified in the music of Brahms. (Brahms' music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Classical masters. The diligent, highly constructed nature of his works was a starting point and an inspiration for a generation of composers. Embedded within his meticulous structures, however, are deeply romantic motifs.)
Stanford was a traditionalist during his teaching career. Ironically though his own rejection of conservatism in his youth in favour of Brahms' style was precisely the route adopted by many of his pupils, who diverged from the path he instructed them on and with considerable success. Surely this is the fundamental role of the teacher though, to provide a secure foundation for pupils from which to launch their own careers? This was certainly the view of George Dyson.
"In a certain sense the very rebellion he fought was the most obvious fruit of his methods. And in view of what some of these rebels have since achieved, one is tempted to wonder whether there is really anything better a teacher can do for his pupils than drive them into various forms of revolution."
Among his pupils were rising composers whose fame went on to surpass his own, such as Herbert Brewer, George Dyson, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Charles Wood. (The latter succeeded him as Professor of Music at Cambridge University.) As Professor at the Royal College of Music Stanford taught Herbert Howells, and also Ivor Gurney and George Butterworth, both casualties of the Great War. His legacy in my view is as the grandfather of twentieth century Anglican music.
Music
Stanford's best-remembered pieces are his choral works for church performance, composed in the Anglican tradition. (Choral Wiki has a list here. )He was a prolific composer, although many of his non-ecclesiastical works declined in popularity after his death this was not true of his church compositions. Anthems such as "Beati Quorum Via", "Justorum Animae", "Coelos Ascendit Hodie" and "For lo I raise up" are staples in the repertoire of many churches and cathedrals. Who hasn't sung his Evening Canticles in B flat, C and G? His services in A (1880), F (one whilst at Queen's, Cambridge and known as the "Queen's Service" (1872), a second in F Op36 (1889) and C (1909) are less well known to me, although considered the most important and enduring according to historical musicologist Nicholas Temperley. His second Magnificat in F is beautiful, listen to it here . As with all composer's, Stanford's style did change over time - no matter how conservative his stylistic views. Compare his Queen's Service Magnificat in F (Op2) written in 1889 here :- With his well known Magnificat in B flat written in here :-
Here is his Magnificat in A Major, complete with score to sing long to :-
Those of you who know me are well aware of my love of Howells' wonderful music, and will be unsurprised to learn of my support on Twitter for Howell's in G over Dyson in D in the "World Cup of Evensong Canticles! Sadly my "team" were knocked out of the second round, but I graciously concede we lost to an equally impressive canticle setting!!
(If you want to follow the "World Cup" of evensong canticles, follow @TheEvensongCup on Twitter! You can even vote for the equally wonderful Howell's Gloucester service later today...)
The wonderful Rodolfus foundation under the baton of Ralph Allwood, is launching a Virtual Choir to create a Choral Evensong, inviting everyone to take part. This will be a wonderful chance to unite in musical harmony at a time when we will be missing our usual singing.
There is an introductory video (below) publicly available on YouTube. Instructions to download material are here if you want to get involved!
Biography
George Dyson (1883-1964) began his musical career in the world of Church and organ music. By way of several scholarships, Dyson received formal musical training on the organ and in composition at the Royal College of Music. In 1904 he won the Mendelssohn travelling scholarship which enabled him to study in Italy and Germany for four years. It was during his stay in Dresden in 1907 that Dyson composed the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in D major. After the War, Dyson became head of music at Wellington College and joined the staff of the Royal College of Music. From 1924 to 1937 he was director of music at Winchester College.
In his Evening Service in D Dyson uses broad, expansive phrases and imaginative, descriptive writing like his predecessors Parry and Stanford, and he also understood the power of unison writing. The overall feeling in this setting is one of exaltation.
One of my favourite nuggets of information on Dyson is that in addition to composing and writing books on music he also authored a Manual of Grenade Fighting, which was adopted by the War Office in the First World War!
Music
You can sing along with the Kings' College, Cambridge recording on Youtube below, and you can currently download the score from the Rodolfus links above. If you are ready to sing with only an organ accompaniment, download the Rodolfus .mp3 file and have a go!
