Gone are the days when we used to sing our Psalms so harmoniously and have a feeling that we are truly praising God face to face in heaven. What happened to our Anglicanism why did we change. These beautiful soul soothing chants are so blessing and remind me of my youth as a true Anglican.
Anglican chants are one of the great post Vatican Ii “discoveries” of Roman Catholic new supplements to English vernacular worship. They are so varied, so adaptable and gracious in spirit poured forth expression. My choirs have enjoyed them for all these years. And they are a musical blend of polyphony and psalmody without distracting pretense.
I've been a classical musician and aficionado my whole life. The Brits aren't known for having many top composers when compared to the continental Europeans. But recently I began singing in an Anglican chorus, and have been blown away to discover the rich vein of Anglican liturgical choral works, which continued to evolve through the 20th century.
@@James_BowieBut not Anglican ones surely? I thought the only pre-Vatican II psalm chants were Gregorian ones sung unaccompanied in unison or with a simple organ accompaniment. Were they chanting 4-part harmony as here?
Bless my soul oh lord for having heard this chants, my family and that of all who are listening to these chants for the sake of thy son jesus christ, and the church say... Amen
I can’t stop myself taking the tenor line as I have always been a Psalm fanatic. Great memories of the Choral life in Beaulieu Abbey and new All Saints Wyke Regis. Evensong was my speciality.
Joyful and Triumphant. DWDrouillard, Head chorister c. 1960, Cathedral of St. Paul, Buffalo, NY, US. Thankfully and respectfully, the spirit embodied here will survive me. And, I trust you to carry it forward. Godspeed. DWD
I have sung at Guildford Cathedral during the 1960s. I was a Treble in a choir in New Haw, Surrey, and we used to sing at a festival there every year. I particularly love the Bairstow chant for Ps. 119., at about 39 minutes and 30 seconds. It's beautiful. Used to use it when I sang Tenor in Northants during the 1980s and 90s, goes well with the Magnificat.
Many of us realised, because that was the culture created. It required sacrifices by choristers and their families, and the demands were heavier, then, than they are today.
Grant, Lord, to keep us this day without sin. Blessed are You O Lord, God of our fathers, and praised and glorified is Your Name for ever. Amen. Lord, let Your mercy come upon us, O Lord, for we have trusted in You. Blessed are You O Lord, teach me Your commandments. Blessed are You O Master, make me to understand Your commandments. Blessed are You, O Holy One, enlighten me with Your commandments. Lord, Your love endures forever; Do not turn away from the work of Your hands. To You belong praise and song. Glory, to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, both now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
O Christ our God, You are worshiped at all times and in all places and are glorified both in heaven and on earth. You are patient, generous in mercy, rich in compassion, loving to the just and merciful to the sinner. You call all of us to repentance through the promise of blessings to come.O Lord, receive our supplications at this very hour. Direct our lives in the way of Your commandments. Sanctify our souls, purify our bodies, set our minds aright, cleanse our thoughts, deliver us from all affliction, wrath, danger and need. Surround us with Your holy angels, so that, guided and guarded by their ranks, we may reach unity of the faith and the knowledge of Your unutterable glory. You are blessed unto ages of ages. Amen
This choir singing is very controlled & disciplined & I remember hearing regular services back in my youth performed in a similar way at Sunday Evensong services,especially in the larger Churches/ Cathedrals.
The difference being, of course, that most cathedrals, together with the top collegiate choirs, sing Evensong every day of the week, as we ourselves did (Wednesdays excluded, we should point out). Herein lies the musical difference, too.
Joyous, peaceful music and happy memories. A friend and I attended Evensong regularly when we were student Health Visitors at Guildford University 1971-2.
Love this setting of Psalm 74. The University of the South (Sewanee) in the US, (which, incidentally was modeled on Oxford University) sang this years ago at an evensong and I fell in love with it then.
The choir itself still exists but this particular part of its musical history ended in 1974, when Barry Rose moved on to St Paul's Cathedral. And thanks for subscribing!
I got my start in M&B choir my last year of high school (early 70s)l. The church had a big M&B choir, and even bigger girls choir, which sang the same music, for a different service. The men sang at both services. But it all came to an end when the new rector wanted to make the music more relevant. He had been an assistant, then rector. Also some women in the parish were upset there was no room for them (they would have been fine in the girl's choir, but the vibrato was too much.) The rector ousted music director and both choirs were replaced with a mixed choir, of adults. The irony was that the rectors son & daughter sang in the choirs , from grade school till they went off to college.
You will have to make a note of the details of every chant and then find which chant book(s) it's published in. Some of these chants, though, have never been published. A good source of information is anglicanchant.nl
The "pointing" is a set of annotations (bar-lines & periods) in the printed text, showing where the choir is to change note within the chant. Most of the individual psalms uploaded on this channel have the text + pointing in the Description box.
If you look at the Psalm in print you will see a short line between the words. This denotes a change in the set music of the chant A double chant is divided into ten parts. Five for each half but a single chant only has five parts. My late Son used to write the Chants used by the Beaulieu Abbey Choir copy which I still have. I always thought that chant singing was the best part of the Service.
Still the best English church music produced in 500 years can only be found in the Anglican commuinion. Rome has a lot to learn to improve the quality of its English language liturgies and offices. The Anglican Ordinariate is a good start, but the true Anglican musical patrimony can only be found in the Church o fEngland 's great cathedral choral tradition. I've yet to hear anything approaching it by copyists and other choirs emulating that tradition. They all fall woefully short of the mark.
Have you ever heard Westminster Cathedral's choir? They knocked spots off ANY Anglican Cathedral choir during JO'D's tenure. And the reason that English church music might be a bit behind in the RC Church is because the language of the Mass was Latin for most of those 500 years, and in England the protestant government made it illegal to be a Roman Catholic for many of those 500 years you reference!
@@jamesreed7671 A reply as ignorant as it is nasty; it’s useful to try to understand the comment to which you are replying before putting finger to keyboard.