Tag: church music

Benedictus

Byartsyhonker May 24, 2014 0 Comments
Some of my favourite words in the New Testament are from the Benedictus: said or sung at Morning Prayer in the Anglican tradition, this canticle is the song of Zechariah at the birth of his son, John the Baptist. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel : for he hath visited, and redeemed his people; And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us : in the house of his servant David; As he spoke by the...

Open Volume

Byartsyhonker May 21, 2014 0 Comments
I am looking for words and music for a hymnal. The working title is "Open Volume: singable, photocopiable hymns". The intent is to create a body of new hymnody which will be available to churches as a supplement, or as individual pieces; to showcase the work of writers and composers who might not gain the attention of traditional publishers; and to make the advantages of Creative Commons...

Up-Hill

Byartsyhonker May 15, 2014 0 Comments
This is another piece written for Song Cycle, a big project of mine this summer. The text was suggested by the Revd Canon Kathryn Fleming, due to be installed at Coventry Cathedral on 31st May, and I'm very pleased with how it has turned out. – Does the road wind up-hill all the way? – Yes, to the very end. – Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? – From morn to night, my...

Trinitie Sunday

Byartsyhonker March 2, 2014 0 Comments
A few weeks ago when Fr Duncan and I were discussing hymn lists, he said he'd like to have a lot of George Herbert this Sunday. It seemed like as good a reason as any to write an anthem. I launched into a setting of "Love (III)" but it didn't quite "sit" right, wasn't working out, and was perhaps a little long. So instead I decided to set the poem "Trinitie Sunday" as an anthem. It isn't Trinity...

O Radix Jesse

Byartsyhonker December 18, 2013 0 Comments
O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem Gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare. O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples; before you kings will shut their mouths, to you the nations will make their prayer: Come and deliver us, and delay no longer. This is an interesting one to try and relate to, at first glance....

Cheerful voices: As pants the hart

Byartsyhonker December 14, 2013 0 Comments
This anonymous piece is one of my favourite settings of Psalm 42. I know it from playing and singing with London Gallery Quire, though I've recorded one more verse than we usually sing in order to better portray the hopeful tone of the psalm near the end. The setting is edited by Dr Francis Roads. Psalm 42 is the sort of thing that many people think of as a bit miserable. It is a psalm of crying...

Wedding Hymn

Byartsyhonker October 28, 2013 0 Comments
When I was choosing music for the wedding, I had a bit of a hard time: there was so much that was good, and that I wanted to include, but it was also important that the wedding itself not be completely taken over by the music; also that the service itself wouldn't go on for too long! With some regret I limited myself to five hymns and an anthem. One of my favourite hymns is "O Love divine, how...

Early Music Experiences

Byartsyhonker October 13, 2013 1 Comment
Ruth of Moss and Jones asks: What are your earliest music experiences? What do you remember, perhaps vaguely, being played in your house when you were a toddler / pre-school aged child? This is interesting: I think for me, the first question and the second aren't necessarily the same. My instinctive answer to "What are your earliest music experiences", you see, isn't to do with listening to music...

Evensong at St Paul’s — from the inside

Byartsyhonker January 1, 2013 1 Comment
This week I am singing with the Ontario Cathedral Singers as they are doing a "cathedral week", singing services in cathedrals while the regular choristers are away. I met their director, and had an organ lesson with him, this past summer while visiting my parents in Canada. We've sung two services in St Paul's so far. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we'll be at Southwark Cathedral for Evensong at 5.30pm,...

AcWriMo 10: Colworth CM

Byartsyhonker November 12, 2012 0 Comments
Since I stumbled across them in the "confirmation" section of the New English Hymnal -- in fact the one hymn makes up the entire section -- I've liked these words by Matthew Bridges (1800-94): 1 My God, accept my heart this day, And make it always Thine, That I from Thee no more may stray, No more from Thee decline. 2 Before the Cross of Him Who died, Behold, I prostrate fall; Let every sin be...