Choral Evensong

Choral Evensong is a form of worship centered on musical settings of prayers and Biblical texts. It has its roots in the daily services for specified times of the day known in the early church as canonical hours; these are often referred to collectively as the daily or divine office. Evensong, linguistically and liturgically, is what one might call a descendant of the canonical hour of vespers, which takes place at sunset.

The practice of singing the daily office can be traced to the fourth century. While the text was originally sung to plainchant, a declamatory musical style akin to heightened speech, composers quickly began to elaborate on these simple text settings. They composed rich, complex choral works throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, many of which rival the most complicated compositions of the Romantic and Modern periods in their nuance and complexity. Choral Evensong can be viewed as a culmination of this musical evolution. It comprises a rich corpus of English music derived from the Book of Common Prayer, from which the Church of England sets forth its version of the daily office. What we recognize as “Evensong” began to be offered in the sixteenth century.

Choral Evensong is generally a more contemplative way to worship than a Eucharist, requiring only minimal active participation from the congregation. Therefore, it is ideal for those who are new to the Episcopal tradition of worship. And because it is so beautiful, it is also often central to the spiritual practice of those who are well acquainted with the tradition, especially those who follow the routine of daily worship.

The Psalms

One of the most cherished traditions of the Christian faith is the daily recitation or singing of the psalms, a collection of sacred songs from the Ketuvim (Writings), the third and final section of the Hebrew Bible. Every possible experience of human emotion is expressed in the psalms: joy, devotion, despair, loss, love in its many forms, and everything in between. There are set psalms appointed for each day of the month, so that congregants become acquainted over time with the psaltery as with an old friend.

In the context of Choral Evensong — essentially a sung version of Evening Prayer, which is one of the daily services held in many churches of Anglican Communion — the psalms are either set to Plainsong or Anglican Chant. Plainsong is a musical style dating back to the fourth century, and inspired by even older traditions of the ancient Greeks. It is sung in unison, and at Saint Thomas Church is almost always sung by the men of the choir. Anglican Chant, also called English Chant, can be traced back to the English Reformation. By the eighteenth century it was a fixture of Anglican worship. It differs from Plainsong in that the texts of the psalms are set for multiple voices singing in harmony. Both Plainsong and Anglican Chant share the aspect of being “unmetered”, meaning that the flow of the music is completely determined by the text. This creates a sense of “heightened speech” even in the context of Anglican Chant, in which the harmonies are quite rich and complex.

Versicles and Responses

Both the Versicles and Responses are a kind of call and response between the Officiant (the priest overseeing Evensong or Evening Prayer) and the congregation or choir (depending on whether the service is sung or said). The texts are set prayers from the Book of Common Prayer, recited at every single service of Evensong or Evening Prayer. The Versicles are offered at the very beginning of the service, and the Responses are offered following the confession of faith known as the Apostles’ Creed.

Much like the psalms, the musical settings of the Versicles and Responses typically give the effect of heightened speech, influenced by the fact that these words were usually said and not sung. This was particularly true during the English Renaissance. However, more ambitious settings of the texts abounded in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, and have become a musical genre in their own right.

Perhaps the central musical offering of Choral Evensong is the singing of the two evening canticles set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. A canticle is, simply put, a musical setting of text from the Bible other than the Psalter. The Catholic Church has set canticles for each day of the week. The English Book of Common Prayer also makes extensive use of canticles, but the four best known are the two for Morning Prayer: the Te Deum and Jubilate Deo, and the two for Evening Prayer: the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis.

The Magnificat — the Song of Mary — is the text that the Holy Virgin sang at the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel declared to her that she would bear the Christ child. The Nunc Dimittis, also known as the Song of Simeon, was sung by Simeon when Jesus was presented to him at the temple in Jerusalem. God had promised Simeon that he would not rest (die), until he saw the Savior.

The sheer number of masterful settings of these two texts, from the Renaissance up to modern times, is staggering. It is a testament to the devotion of hundreds of composers and their desire to enter into the mysteries of the daily office. We invite you to come experience it in all of its splendor.