Choral Evensong

Please see the music list below for the Autumn term and we look forward to seeing you in September.

A history of Choral Evensong

Choral Evensong has roots going far back into ancient Judaism. We are told in the book of Acts that the early Church met together regularly for times of prayer. What they did was to continue the Jewish tradition of reciting prayers at various times of the day with virtually the same texts. The focus of these meetings was the chanting of the psalms and the recitation of Old Testament readings. The early Church then started to add readings onto this from the Gospels, Acts and the epistles plus canticles such as Mary’s song, the Magnificat.

After the Reformation, Archbishop Cramner laid out the structure of Choral Evensong as we know it today, using as the basis the ancient monastic Offices of Vespers and Compline. The first version appeared in the Book of Common Prayer in 1549. Cranmer was motivated by educating English people in the scriptures. Thus the liturgy was in English. He would have been familiar with St Augustine’s statement that ‘the New Testament is hidden in the Old and the Old is revealed in the New.’ As such, the liturgy contained both Old and New Testament readings, psalms for each day and a canticle, all linked together thematically.

The result is a wonderful sweep of scripture in a short, neatly contained service, all sung to wonderful music. In fact, the service of Choral Evensong has inspired composers to write some of their most brilliant music. This is a tradition that continues to this day. One prays this service from beginning to end, allowing the music to lift one’s spirits up into heavenly places.

You can find a link to our wonderful choir here, singing a work from our recent album, Soul’s Desire. This piece is called Present Yourselves a Living Sacrifice by James O’Donnell.

Here is a link to the album Soul’s Desire.

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