About Evensong…
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Cathedral churches were staffed by canons whose duty it was to recite the Divine Office each day. These canons were often chosen for their musical abilities, and from the Middle Ages onward musical settings, especially of the Magnificat at vespers, became more and more elaborate, as did the ceremonial of the office. Canons frequently deputed their duty to other more musical clerics or laymen, and schools arose to train boy singers for cathedrals and monasteries.
At the Reformation in England, Thomas Cranmer, the author and editor of the first Book of Common Prayer, reduced the daily offices to two - Morning and Evening Prayer. He eliminated many medieval enrichments (or accretions!) so that the only books necessary to pray the offices were the Prayer Book and the Bible. The old services of Matins and Lauds became Morning Prayer and the services of Vespers and Compline were combined to form Evening Prayer, or Evensong. The choirs of Cathedral and Collegiate churches were preserved, still with the obligation of singing the offices in choir. The offices themselves preserved the basic shape of the older services, including the Gospel canticles and a monthly repetition of the entire psalter, but provided for more ample readings from scripture. In the Episcopal 1979 Book of Common Prayer, the offices of Noonday Prayer and Compline have been returned, but the glory of Evensong was shaped in the tradition of Cranmer’s texts and the modest revisions that followed.
By a stroke of luck for Anglicans, Cranmer displayed artistic genius in his English translations of the Latin texts. England one generation later was blessed with an extraordinary group of composers and musicians under the patronage of the Tudor monarchs. Byrd, Tallis, Gibbons and many others set about composing music that transcended the merely functional for the reformed liturgy. Cranmer’s translations and the works of these composers became a religious and cultural gem, but because of their particular function they are little known outside of the English-speaking world.
The fortunes of British cathedral music waxed and waned over the ensuing centuries. During the Civil War the iconoclast Cromwell eliminated the cathedral choirs and musical activity came to a halt. The Restoration brought their reestablishment and renewed compositional activity, most notably by the genius Henry Purcell. A period of mediocrity and nonchalance then set in, until the Oxford revival of the 19th Century, when new emphasis was brought to the liturgical life of the Church of England. The level of Cathedral choirs and choral music in general improved markedly, and Morning and Evening Prayer were once again given a full and reverent choral rendition in cathedral and some parish churches. Capable and often famous composers from the entire English-speaking world composed music for the Anglican liturgy, most notably for Evening Prayer.
Morning and Evening Prayer can still be recited silently in one’s room or in a monastic cell, or by a small congregation in a church or chapel. They are still rendered chorally in cathedrals, especially in England. At Trinity Swarthmore, we try to sing Evensong in its full choral splendor once or twice a year, often in Advent and Lent. For the choir it is an opportunity to explore the rich heritage of music written for this service. We hope that for the congregation it is an occasion to join spiritually with the choir in the daily office of praise and prayer.
James Smith, Director of Music
Trinity Church, Swarthmore
At the Reformation in England, Thomas Cranmer, the author and editor of the first Book of Common Prayer, reduced the daily offices to two - Morning and Evening Prayer. He eliminated many medieval enrichments (or accretions!) so that the only books necessary to pray the offices were the Prayer Book and the Bible. The old services of Matins and Lauds became Morning Prayer and the services of Vespers and Compline were combined to form Evening Prayer, or Evensong. The choirs of Cathedral and Collegiate churches were preserved, still with the obligation of singing the offices in choir. The offices themselves preserved the basic shape of the older services, including the Gospel canticles and a monthly repetition of the entire psalter, but provided for more ample readings from scripture. In the Episcopal 1979 Book of Common Prayer, the offices of Noonday Prayer and Compline have been returned, but the glory of Evensong was shaped in the tradition of Cranmer’s texts and the modest revisions that followed.
By a stroke of luck for Anglicans, Cranmer displayed artistic genius in his English translations of the Latin texts. England one generation later was blessed with an extraordinary group of composers and musicians under the patronage of the Tudor monarchs. Byrd, Tallis, Gibbons and many others set about composing music that transcended the merely functional for the reformed liturgy. Cranmer’s translations and the works of these composers became a religious and cultural gem, but because of their particular function they are little known outside of the English-speaking world.
The fortunes of British cathedral music waxed and waned over the ensuing centuries. During the Civil War the iconoclast Cromwell eliminated the cathedral choirs and musical activity came to a halt. The Restoration brought their reestablishment and renewed compositional activity, most notably by the genius Henry Purcell. A period of mediocrity and nonchalance then set in, until the Oxford revival of the 19th Century, when new emphasis was brought to the liturgical life of the Church of England. The level of Cathedral choirs and choral music in general improved markedly, and Morning and Evening Prayer were once again given a full and reverent choral rendition in cathedral and some parish churches. Capable and often famous composers from the entire English-speaking world composed music for the Anglican liturgy, most notably for Evening Prayer.
Morning and Evening Prayer can still be recited silently in one’s room or in a monastic cell, or by a small congregation in a church or chapel. They are still rendered chorally in cathedrals, especially in England. At Trinity Swarthmore, we try to sing Evensong in its full choral splendor once or twice a year, often in Advent and Lent. For the choir it is an opportunity to explore the rich heritage of music written for this service. We hope that for the congregation it is an occasion to join spiritually with the choir in the daily office of praise and prayer.
James Smith, Director of Music
Trinity Church, Swarthmore