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OUR PARISH CHURCH Part 3 CHOIR and Church MUSIC
From the early days of Christianity there have always been those who viewed music with misgivings. The early Fathers were sharply divided in their attitude to music. They all recognised that because of its direct appeal to the hearts and minds of people it had immense power – but was this power an instrument of good or evil? Did it derive from God or the Devil?
“Thus does the devil stealthily set fire to the city? It is not a matter of running up towers or using tar or tow; he uses things more pernicious – lewd sights, base speech, degraded music and songs full of all kinds of wickedness”. John Chrysostom (347-407)
“Yet when I remember the tears I shed, moved by the songs of the Church in the early days of my new faith: and again when I see that I am moved not by the singing but by the things that are sung – when they are sung with a clear voice and proper modulation – I recognise once more the usefulness of this practice” St. Augustine (354 -430)
In other words, the problem posed by Augustine is, up to a point, when music in worship is a good thing but beyond that point a bad thing. Obviously it is a highly personal matter; those who are unmusical may find any form of music an unwelcome intrusion whilst many musical folk would consider a fine anthem far more inspiring and uplifting than a sermon. I would suspect that most people come somewhere between these two extremes. Except for the Quakers nearly all Christian sects in Britain admitted some sort of music as part of their public worship. Questions are raised – should church music be simple and straight forward so that every one can join in or should it be a sacramental act of worship? On the face of it the answer is that a church service is not a musical appreciation class and God is not a music critic. He is not concerned with the aesthetic values of what we sing, our musical skill or the quality of our voices be they pleasing or raucous so long as we give the best we can and sing from our hearts.
From the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries France had been the centre of musical art in Western Europe. During the first half of the fifteen century it switched to England. Then it went into quick decline and dawdled while Europe galloped ahead with magnificent choral foundations in Rome while the music at St. Mark’s, Venice became a serious challenger to Rome itself.
As the sixteenth Century drew to a close a remarkable phenomenon occurred in England when by a curious and unexplained quirk a school of composers appeared so numerous and of such remarkable excellence that they rivalled and indeed surpassed the famed Italian school. Indeed though the late Renaissance produced a number of distinguished musicians in most countries of Western Europe, Italy’s most serious rival in musical leadership was undoubtedly England. These would have included Morley, Tomkins, Weekes and Gibbons but transcending these would have been William Byrd who reached his greatest heights in his sacred music. Linked with Byrd is Thomas Tallis who was right in the vanguard of producing music for the new Book of Common Prayer which was in English for the first time,
The beginning of the 18th Century introduced such illustrious composers as John Blow and Henry Purcell the latter being acknowledged to be one of England’s greatest musicians. It is said though that Purcell, in the limited field of sacred music, gave way to Blow whose church music offers a wide range including eight Services; a number of canticles; and about one hundred anthems.
The nineteenth Century introduced the evangelical revival and also the likes of the Wesleys, John Berridge, George Whitefield, John Fletcher and Henry Venn. These rose to prominence at the time of the decline of musical standards and the serious decline of the Church itself. While Bishops drew stipends of £30,000 and even £50,000 half of the curates were on less than £6o. Holy Communion was administered quarterly. The Reform Bill of 1832 brought in sweeping changes and suddenly the church came awake from its practice of psalms, canticles and responses being recited between parson and parish clerk. In the early years Leeds even supplied a surpliced choir. As hundreds of choirs sprang up all over the country there arose a tremendous demand for music for them to sing. Now that the High Church party at last was won over to hymn singing, from 1850 onwards new hymn books sprang up like flowers in May. By far the most popular and universal of all Anglican hymnbooks, Hymns Ancient and Modern appeared in 1861 and by 1868 no less than four and a half million copies had been sold. I am indebted to Kenneth R. Long author who is commended by Gerald Knight, Director, The Royal School of Church Music
Now, bringing ourselves up to date it was 10 years ago when my wife and I set foot in St. Peters for the first time. I was immediately impressed by a number of things but the most significant was the choir, and being a great lover of church organs I was most pleased with the playing by Martin Bussey. He was succeeded by Stephen Carleston for whom I have a great deal of admiration even though the organ was not behaving itself! (I will be discussing this in my next article which will be exclusively about the organ).
I am reminded of the beginning of this article where it points out that “that they all recognised that because of its direct appeal to the hearts and minds of people it had immense power and that sometimes musical folk would consider a fine anthem more uplifting than a sermon”. I wouldn’t go that far about the sermon because over the intervening years there have been excellent ones but I must confess that some of the anthems the choir have sung have nearly reduced me to tears because of the depth they reached into me. Choir music is an integral part of worship and I feel we are very fortunate in having the voices we have to lead us into worship.
Then I feel it is very important to know who is in the choir and the following are the names together with what parts they sing: Tenor Peter Pemrick, Ted Hale, Judith Paine. Bass Geoffrey Whalley, Geoffrey Chapman, Geoffrey Dowling, Lesley Iddon. Alto Catherine Hale, Kathleen Chapman, Evelyn Weston. Soprano Helen Fisher, Pam Lewis, Victoria Williams, Joyce Baxter, Joan Heyes. I feel there has to be a special mention for Peter Pemrick because in February 1961 Peter joined the choir and he told me he has enjoyed every minute ever since! I speak on behalf of the congregation when I say we enjoy the quality of the music the choir gives us.
David Bevis |
