Music for Lammastide

History
The name Lammas Day comes from the Anglo-Saxon hlaf-mas, meaning "loaf-mass". It is a Christian holiday celebrated on August 1st in the Northern Hemisphere, and February 1st in the Southern Hemisphere, also known as Loaf Mass day due to the tradition of making a loaf from the first wheat harvest and bringing it to the church to bless of the "first fruits" of the harvest. A similar religious offering of the first agricultural produce of the harvest was present in classical Greek, Roman and Hebrew religions. In Judaism it corresponds with the Hebrew Festival of Unleavened Bread in April when a sheaf from the barley harvest was offered, followed by the Festival of Weeks in May when the first wheat harvest was offered up; both as an act of thankfulness for bringing the Israelites into the Promised Land. (Deuteronomy 16; 10-16).

In the Bible, Jesus' resurrection was referred to as "First Fruits" in Corinthians 1:-

"But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep."

In the Middle Ages the idea of offering the first fruits was adapted by the Christian church. This was called a tithe and was basically a tax to support the local clergy and church demesne. In England, every tenth egg, sheaf of wheat, lamb, chicken, and all other animals were given to the church as a tithe, farm products were expected to be donated throughout the year and not only on Lammas Day.

Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash

Ralph Vaughan Williams

I gained first awareness of the composer Vaughan Williams as a child. Aged 9, (in what would now be school Year 5) I was chosen to sing the opening verse of "Linden Lea" to open a whole school concert. Bearing in mind this was a school which went from ages 3-18, and could summon a large audience of parents and governors, I should have been somewhat daunted at the prospect. (I certainly would be now.) But children either possess an uncanny self confidence or are completely oblivious of occasion,  which keep nerves completely at bay and I don't remember being remotely nervous. I knew the song and enjoyed singing - so what was the problem?! (I do however remember wondering how the composer's name was pronounced and being rather grateful I was not called upon to read any introduction!)

Biography
Born 12 October 1872 Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer whose works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions written over sixty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his work marked a "clear break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century." (Wikipedia)

A student at Charterhouse, he entered the Royal College of Music rather than completing his education, briefly transferring to Trinity College, Cambridge to study music. Vaughan Williams' first composition teacher at the RCM was Hubert Parry, whom he idolised. In his "Musical Autobiography" of 1950 Vaughan Williams describes a quote from Parry which gives perspective to his choral work.

Parry once said to me: "Write choral music as befits an Englishman and a democrat". We pupils of Parry have, if we have been wise, inherited from him the great English choral tradition, which Tallis passed on to Byrd, Byrd to Gibbons, Gibbons to Purcell, Purcell to Battishill and Greene, and they in their turn through the Wesleys, to Parry. He has passed on the torch to us and it is our duty to keep it alight."

At Cambridge Vaughan Williams studied composition with Charles Wood, and after graduating in 1894 he returned to the RCM to find Charles Villiers Stanford as his new professor of composition. Once a maverick who blazed a trail, Stanford had become musically deeply conservative and the two clashed frequently, although it's acknowledged Stanford held Vaughan Williams in deep affection, recognising his talent. Vaughan Williams became a friend and fellow critic of Gustav Holst, a fellow student who became a lifelong friend.

Initially Vaughan Williams focussed on collecting folk songs, building on his passion for Tudor music and tight modal style. His mature style developed as he produced choral music, orchestral works and chamber music. Born into a family with a strong morality and progressive social outlook his aim was to make music accessible, rather than focus on the ornate and challenging.

Despite being forty one in 1914 Vaughan Williams volunteered for active service in the Great War, and stopped composing during the war years. Older than most the war took a huge emotional toll on him and contributed to deafness which he suffered in later years. By 1936 the shadow of war was looming again and he was compelled to write Dona nobis pacem as a plea for peace.

He died suddenly, (in rude health despite reaching the age of 85) on 26th August 1958. His ashes were interred near the burial plots of Purcell and Stanford in the north choir aisle of Westminster Abbey.

Music
At the turn of the century Vaughan Williams was among the first to travel into the countryside to collect folk songs and carols from singers, preserving them for future generations to enjoy. As musical editor of The English Hymnal he composed several hymn tunes that remain popular (including Sine Nomine, “For all the Saints” and Down Ampney, “Come down O love Divine”). But is perhaps as a composer of symphonies that he is best known. Although Vaughan Williams did not complete the first of them until he was thirty-eight years old, the nine symphonies span nearly half a century of his creative life.

Focus on Plainchant

With churches reopening for services many of us are looking to experience services via personal attendance rather than via streaming services such as Facebook. However, don't expect services near you to return to normal any time soon, and there will, sadly, be absolutely no choral or congregational singing for the foreseeable. Thus the best option currently is for an organist, priest and cantor to be present (the latter two roles may obviously be combined) with a focus on plainchant.

Plainchant, or plainsong is a type of early church music consisting of a single line (monophonic) of unaccompanied vocal melody in free rhythm, with no regular bar lengths. It has been present in Christian worship since its earliest days, possibly influenced by Judaism and certainly by the Greek modal system. It was initially the only type of music allowed in the Christian church. It was believed that music should make the listener receptive to spiritual thoughts and reflections, to achieve this the melody was kept pure, repetitive and unaccompanied.

Plainchant is usually either responsorial (where the cantor/soloist sings a series of verses, each one with a response from the congregation) or antiphonal (verses are sung alternately by soloist and choir, or choir and congregation). For now, I suspect most churches will adopt a cantor only approach. A key feature in plain chant is the use of the same melody for various texts. This is similar to ordinary psalms in which the same formula (the "psalm tone") is used for all the verses of a psalm, just as in a hymn or a folk song the same melody is used for the various verses.

"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.

Sergei Rachmaninov - To Thee O Lord

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) was a celebrated Russian pianist, conductor, and composer who was one of the last Romantic artists in Russian classical music.

Coming from a musical family, his mother gave him piano lessons beginning at four, but after his talent became obvious his grandfather insisted that he receive formal piano training. His earliest compositions were written while he was a student at the Moscow Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1892. Rachmaninov suffered a significant period of depression following negative criticism of his Symphony No. 1 in 1897, until the positive welcome Symphony No. 2 received in 1901. Initial compositions showed the strong influence of Tchaikovsky, but Rachmaninov quickly developed his own style. Following the Russian Revolution his family fled Russia in 1917 and spent a year performing in Scandinavia, eventually coming to the United States where they settled in New York in 1918. His final years would be artistically and personally fulfilling.

Musicologist Joseph Yasser highlighted Rachmaninov's use of an intra-tonal chromaticism that stands in notable contrast to the inter-tonal chromaticism of Richard Wagner and strikingly contrasts the extra-tonal chromaticism of the more radical twentieth century composers like Arnold Schoenberg. This means that rather than using two groups of tonal chromaticism he used one within another. Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale for "Colour" (chroma is greek for colour). So Rachmaninov cleverly embedded his chromatic embellishments within diatonic tonal harmony rather than in contrast to it.

Vivaldi's Gloria

Biography
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and Roman Catholic priest. Born in March 1678 in Venice, Vivaldi's health was problematic as a child. It is now believed that he suffered from asthma, and prevented him from learning to play wind instruments. However he learned to play the violin, and at age fifteen began training for the priesthood. Not long after his ordination, in 1704, he was given a dispensation from celebrating Mass most likely because of his ill health and Vivaldi appeared to withdraw from liturgical duties, saying Mass as a priest only a few times though he remained a member of the priesthood.

In 1711 Vivaldi begin work at Ospedale della Pietà in Venice as Master of Violin. An all-female orphanage, music school and convent Vivaldi composed most of his work whilst there, writing concertos, cantatas and sacred vocal music for them. These sacred works number over sixty and include solo motets and large-scale choral works for soloists, double chorus, and orchestra. Vivaldi had to compose an oratorio or concerto at every feast and teach the orphans both music theory and how to play certain instruments.

Venice in the early 18th century was the cultural centre of Europe, and a visit to the opera was part of the court and social life of the city. Opera houses were however required to close for all important religious festivals, but Venetians still wanted to be entertained. Vivaldi’s all-female orchestras and choirs were legendary sensations, but the girls needed to be protected from noblemen and travellers to the city. To keep them sheltered from the corruption of the visiting public, the choir sang from the upper galleries of the church, hidden behind the patterned grills, which only added to the theatrical sense of drama matched by Vivaldi’s music.

"Those young men in Venice for a stop on the Grand Tour flocked to Vivaldi’s church to hear these mysterious women seen only in silhouette, but sounding like angels."

At the height of his career, Vivaldi received commissions from European nobility and royalty including the French court of Louis XV. Vivaldi's Opus 9, "La cetra" was dedicated to Emperor Charles VI. He gave Vivaldi the title of knight, a gold medal and an invitation to Vienna. It is also likely that Vivaldi went to Vienna to stage operas, especially as he took up residence near the Kärntnertortheater. However, shortly after his arrival in Vienna in 1741 Charles VI died, which left the composer without any royal protection or a steady source of income. Having squandered his fortune Vivaldi became impoverished and died during a pauper in July 1741, aged 63.

Gloria in D
Vivaldi's  Gloria in D is probably one of his best known sacred works, but it also reflects Vivaldi’s
other skill as an opera composer which he regarded as a distraction from his day job at the Pieta.

Dr. John Sentamu, Vision and Change

In the middle of a pandemic, during lockdown; and over a weekend of protests, social disturbance and violence, we can be forgiven perhaps if the retirement of Dr. John Sentamu completely passed us by. And yet the timing of his retirement is striking in several ways. His voice is perhaps needed now more than ever - or have his vision and mission already initiated the change that we so desperately need?

"The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu, accompanied by his wife, the Revd Margaret Sentamu, laid down his crozier of office on the high altar of York Minster on Sunday 7 June. The Dean of York, the Rt Revd Dr Jonathan Frost and Head Verger Alex Carberry were witnesses to this final act as Archbishop. (Music - Recorded previously by York Minster Choristers Psalm 150)"

The following biography is an abridged version of the information on Wikipedia, and other information published this weekend. I knew little and have learned much! There is also much on the Archbishopric of York website.

Dr. John Sentamu
Born in Uganda in 1949, Dr. Sentamu was the sixth of thirteen children. He obtained a Bachelor of Laws at Makerere University, Kampala, and practised as an advocate of the High Court of Uganda.

He incurred the wrath of the dictator Idi Amin, considered one of the cruelest despots in world history. Sentamu was detained for 90 days after refusing to overlook the crimes of one of Amin's family; he fled his home country to arrive as an immigrant in the United Kingdom in 1974.

Sentamu studied theology at Selwyn College, Cambridge and trained for the priesthood at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, being ordained a priest in 1979. He worked as assistant chaplain at Selwyn College, as chaplain at a remand centre and as curate and vicar in a series of parish appointments. Sentamu was consecrated a bishop on 25 September 1996, by George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, at St Paul's Cathedral.

During this time that he served as advisor to the Stephen Lawrence Judicial Enquiry, in 2002 he chaired the Damilola Taylor review - in both cases his personal experience of institutional racism proved invaluable. That same year he was appointed Bishop of Birmingham where his ministry, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was praised by "Christians of all backgrounds".

Sentamu has spoken on issues including young people, the family, slavery, and injustice and conflict abroad. He seemed to have a natural talent for highlighting social ills in an insightful yet tactful way which won supporters. Above all his career has been a constant campaign against injustice.

Florence Price

It would seem that Florence Price was just waiting for me to discover her.

On the RSCM Facebook group I am a member of I saw a post on the fundamentally important theme of #BlackLivesMatter linking to a performance of Price's "Adoration", in memory of George Floyd. I had already searched for a black composer of anglican music to include here, in some small way offering my own contribution to such an important movement - to no avail. But here I was being offered a perfect example, which has also proved wonderfully coincidental as well.

Florence Price was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA on April 9th 1887, one of three children in a mixed race family. She had her first piano performance at the age of four and had her first composition published at the age of 11. by the time she was 14 she had graduated as top of her class, and went on to study music at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, majoring in piano and organ. She achieved a level of renown which defied all expectations for an African-American woman in her day. Acutely aware of her heritage, initially Florence identified as Mexican to avoid prejudice for being African American.

Music for Trinity Sunday - Philip Wilby

Trinity Sunday
This Sunday, 7th June 2020 is Trinity Sunday. Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The triquetra (below) is sometimes used to represent the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is a form of Celtic knot work and is sometimes shown with an interlocking circle, as well, as shown below.

Trinity Sunday is a Principal Feast in the Anglican Church, and marks the start of the second and longest section of "Ordinary Time" in the liturgical year. This period  continues up to the first Sunday in Advent. (The first is from Christ's Baptism to Ash Wednesday.) Trinity Sunday is the Sunday following Pentecost, and eight weeks after Easter Sunday. The earliest possible date is May 17 and the latest possible date is June 20.

Green is the liturgical colour for Ordinary Time, although white is used for Trinity Sunday as a Principal Feast. (An interesting topic in its own right, but worth a read if you are preparing for your Gold Award. It's all useful background knowledge!)

History note on Trinity Sunday in the Anglican church
Thomas Becket (1118–70) was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury on the Sunday after Pentecost (Whitsun), and his first act was to ordain that the day of his consecration should be held as a new festival in honour of the Holy Trinity. This observance spread from Canterbury throughout the whole of western Christendom.

Music for Trinity Sunday
A beautiful piece for Trinity Sunday is Victoria's "Duo Seraphim", you can download the music here. However I absolutely love Geurrero's "Duo Seraphim" which I was fortunate enough to perform in concert a couple of years back. Written for triple choir, this cleverly builds on the text to celebrate the Trinity. The music can be downloaded here.

Pentecost

Pentecost is celebrated fifty days after Easter Sunday, and is also known as Whitsun. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles while they were in Jerusalem celebrating Shavout, or the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.

Wikipedia says:-"The term Pentecost comes from the Greek Πεντηκοστή (Pentēkostē) meaning "fiftieth". It refers to the festival celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover, also known as the "Feast of Weeks" and the "Feast of 50 days" in rabbinic tradition." Pentecost thus falls ten days after Ascension, which is forty days after Easter. 

Pentecost is regarded as the birthday of the Christian church, and the start of the church's mission to the world. The symbols associated with the festival are those of the Holy Spirit and include flames which represent the change brought about by the power of the Holy Spirit, wind which represents the breath of God and a dove to represent God's presence, as in the baptism of Jesus (Mark 1 : 10). The second chapter of the Book of Acts describes a "mighty rushing wind" (a common symbol for the Holy Spirit) and "tongues as of fire". The gathered disciples were "filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance". This represents the fulfilment of the promise that Christ will baptise his followers with the Holy Spirit, mentioned in Matthew and Luke, and differentiated from John's baptism by water.

The Jewish festival of Shavout or "Feast of Weeks" is the Jewish Festival of First Fruits, or their Harvest Festival. It is prophetic therefore that the followers of Jesus should receive the gift of the Holy Spirit at this time, a time which celebrated the culmination of hard work and labour, and the gift of a reward with an eye on the future. Indeed, the verb used in Acts 2:1 to indicate the arrival of the day of Pentecost carries a connotation of fulfilment.

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.

William Byrd

Written by Kitty Thompson

As a Renaissance composer in England during the sixteenth century William Byrd achieved what few other of a similarly high profile did, namely to remain in favour no matter which way the religious wind prevailed in England. Like Thomas Tallis (who is believed to have been his teacher at the Chapel Royal) Byrd managed to navigate the fall out of the Reformation in Elizabethan England and remained popular and published. More than that, sometime during the 1570s he became a Roman Catholic and wrote Catholic sacred music later in his life, whilst keeping his job, and his head!

Byrd's early years
In his will of 15 November 1622, Byrd described himself as "in the 80th year of [his] age", suggesting a birthdate of 1542 or 1543. However a document dated 2 October 1598 written in his own hand states that he is "58 yeares or ther abouts", indicating an earlier birthdate of 1539 or 1540.

There is no documentary evidence on his early musical training. His two brothers were choristers at St. Paul's Cathedral, although evidence suggests William was a chorister with the Chapel Royal where he was a pupil of Thomas Tallis. His first known professional employment was his appointment in 1563 as organist and master of the choristers at Lincoln Cathedral. Lincoln had a strong Puritan influence and in both 1569 Byrd was in trouble for both over-elaborate choral polyphony and organ playing during the liturgy. Perhaps then he realised there was a fine line to tread within the bounds of acceptability?

The Chapel Royal
Byrd obtained the prestigious post of Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1572 following the death of Robert Parsons. Byrd was listed as "organist" but this was not a specific role in the Chapel at that time, he was merely most capable of playing it.

Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) was no Puritan, and retained a fondness for elaborate ritual. Many still presume Elizabeth held a "laissez faire" attitude to religious practise in her country but this was far from the truth. Whatever her personal preferences, she expected compliance and insisted upon it.

In 1559, Queen Elizabeth I of England issued a set of solemn Injunctions to strengthen the nation's Oath of Supremacy and its worship by the Book of Common Prayer. They specified that services should contain a hymn or song of praise to God, "in the best sort of music that may be conveniently devised." This phrase firmly ensconced choral music within the English church service and it helped establish the genre that would later be known as the anthem.

Gerald Finzi's "God is Gone Up" - an anthem for Ascension

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.