Choral Mattins & Choral Eucharist

Above: A silver coin from the reign of Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar. Today’s second lesson is Matthew 22:15-22.

Included in worship this morning are hymns sung by the congregation and choir, additional music sung exclusively by the choir, lessons, prayers, a sermon, and a Rite I Mass. All baptized Christians are welcome to receive Holy Communion.

This week the service begins with Choral Mattins, which occurs three times a year at the 11am service. Mattins allows us to offer some extraordinary works of the Anglican choral tradition that our choir normally does not have the opportunity to sing. If you are unfamiliar with Mattins, you are encourged to look at the leaflet and service card posted below.

‚ñ∫You might consider listening to Rector’s Weekly Message, in which he explains why we sometimes combine Mattins with a Choral Eucharist.

‚ñ∫We begin today the third week of the 2012 Every Member Canvass, through which we raise the money to pay for the annual operating expenses of the Church and Choir School.Read more here and consider making a pledge online. We need everyone who worships with us, including the many thousands from around the globe who have listened to at least one webcast, to consider making a pledge in support of our mission.

Music notes: Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, a vigorous Irishman of prodigious musical energies, was born into the Anglican aristocracy in Dublin and educated at Cambridge University, where he was later appointed Organist of Trinity College, and under whom T. Tertius Noble served as an Assistant Organist. He became an immensely influential teacher at The Royal College of Music in London, where such giants as Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Herbert Howells became his pupils.

The Morning and Evening Service in B flat was composed in 1879. Ground-breaking in its day, these settings of the Liturgies brought many innovative techniques, and restored many imaginative forms into play, giving the ancient texts fresh color and splendor.

Jonathan Harvey (b. 1939), along with his compatriot Sir John Tavener, has drawn considerable inspiration for his compositions from scriptural material. Other influences on Harvey have included Britten, Tippett, Messiaen (with whom he studied) and the electro-acoustical experiments of Boulez and his followers at IRCAM in Paris, where some of Harvey’s compositions have originated.

‘I love the Lord’ was written for Martin Neary and the Choir of Winchester Cathedral, with whom Harvey enjoyed a long and fruitful association, and was completed in July 1976. It is scored for 8-part choir and five soloists. Its haunting character is created by the use of an almost continuous G major triad throughout the piece, mostly allocated to solo voices, with a chant-like invocation of the opening text.

• Choral Services
• Worship Services