Upbeat The Newsletter of the London Gallery Quire No.21 December 2018 Double Booking Drama at LGQ Rehearsal By Phil Price once we had recovered our composure, the rehearsal went well, and the only drawback was that we weren t in a position to provide ourselves with tea and biscuits in the break. In the end there were upsides to the situation: 1. We got to sing in another beautiful historic London church. 2. We got to meet the new vicar. 3. The vicar now owes us one. 4. The other choir were a bit rubbish. There was a bit of a commotion as the Quire assembled on Wednesday 31 st of October for what was meant to be a routine rehearsal. Normally the Quire does not do commotions, but this time the church was double booked. Another choir was in full force performing some sort of concert. Stella was distraught, and we gathered round to calm her. It was the new vicar s fault. We wondered what was to be our fate, and it seemed to us that he was insufficiently contrite. Eventually he saved us it turned out that he had another church available, not too far away, the illustrious St Michael Paternoster Royal, College Row, just beyond Yo Sushi. Home of the Mission to Seafarers, this smart and meticulous little Wren church is like a little brother to St James s, and Epiphany Party The legendary LGQ Epiphany Party takes place on Sunday 6th January at 3.30-7.30pm, Winchmore Hill URC, Compton Road N21 3NU There will be much singing, some dancing accompanied our own band (who do this as the Garlickhythe Occasionals ), and bring-and-share food and drink. Friends, family all welcome, even if not otherwise involved with the Quire. There are only two kinds of musicians in this world; ones that rush and ones that drag. Trevor Pinnock, Founder, The English Concert Follow the Quire on Facebook, post comments and news items, and, most importantly, Like and Share posts to tell your friends about the Quire and our events.
Review: Evensong St Paul s Woldingham Sunday 21st October 2018 By Richard Link Pictures by David Furber Plans for this visit to the downland settlement of Woldingham in Surrey included close research into transport links to the local station. This is a lonely spot reached by a winding road on the edge of Marden Park. The journey had caused interest to the senior members of the quire who found that they had breached the outer limit of the Freedom Pass by one station. A fleet of cars had assembled to greet the visitors from London. From the station we swept up the wooded hillside and arrived at the church in excellent time, as Francis prefers, allowing us to be able to chat and prepare for our customary rehearsal. In the current edition of Buildings of England (Surrey) there is reference to the meanest little village church as St Agatha s at Woldingham. It still exists but the invitation to the London Gallery Quire had come from the rector of St Paul's at Woldingham built to the designs of Sir Herbert Baker and faced in traditional flint. The Nazim of Hyderabad had supplied 300 agates to set the words 'Glory to God in the Highest' around the walls of the apse. Indeed this theme was reflected in our anthem 'O come hither and behold the works of the Lord', composed by Francis Roads in memory of William Knapp, which closes in the softest tones known to the London Gallery Quire with the words 'Be still and know that I am God'. The occasion was the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the music had been chosen appropriately. Our postlude was 'They that in ships with courage bold' with the vision of sailors as 'they reel and stagger to and fro like men with fumes of wine oppressed'. The contrast had been shown in our prelude 'O lovely peace, with plenty crowned'. Sung by the sopranos and altos it is a beautiful aria from the oratorio 'Judas Maccabeus' by Handel. Such was the nautical theme of our return visit to Woldingham. We sang one of my favourite hymns from childhood 'God moves in a mysterious way' (tune 'London New') which commences with the line 'He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm'. After the service we mingled with the congregation over welcome refreshments in the spacious church hall. We learned that the church had in fact been built in memory of the first Lord Inchcape, a former Chairman of the shipping company P and O. In 1860 his shipmaster father had taken him at the age of 8 on a flax run from Montrose, Angus to Archangel in Russia.
Review: Armistice Day Evensong Christchurch Manchester Road, Isle of Dogs Sunday 11th November 2018 By Stella Hardy Pictures by Phil Price On checking my records I discovered that it had been four years since London Gallery Quire had last provided the music for an Evensong at Christ Church, Isle of Dogs. As this is the nearest church to my home I invited members of the quire for a cup of tea before the event. Those of us who had tea then walked together across the park to the church. It was really pleasing to me to hear the pleasant comments about the area in which I live from those who had various ideas of the Isle of Dogs. As we arrived we found Francis pacing the entrance of the church worrying about our lack of sopranos. Fortunately four very competent sopranos appeared and were able to balance with our many male voices. Chairs were sorted and top and tailing of our music began. It was wonderfully encouraging to see Fr. Tom enjoying our rehearsal as he made his preparations for the service. Apart from the congregation not having all the words for one of the hymns we had 7 verses they only had 4 the service went very well and was greatly appreciated as was shown by the round of applause after out postlude. Fr Tom was so pleased with our efforts he immediately offered us an invitation to return again. For me the highlight of the service was singing O Come Hither and thinking of what Peace meant on Armistice Day and now. If only we now breaketh the bow and knappeth the spear in sunder Editor s Note: A number of us accepted Stella s kind invitation to tea before the service, and were treated to a wonderful spread of home made scones and cakes in her cosy and beautifully situated flat alongside the quay. A very English Sunday afternoon. Detail of the pulpit Doctor s Notes.. by Francis Roads The editor has asked me to write about the different forms of West Gallery music; for example, not everyone knows the difference between a canticle and an anthem. To do this is not as easy as you might think, as definitions tend to be blurred round the edges. The bedrock of our repertoire is the Book of Psalms. In the West Gallery period, many ministers considered that only scriptural texts should be sung in church. Part of the Reformation was the idea that congregations should take an active part in services, and to this end a number of Elizabethan poets compiled what came to be known as the Old Version of Metrical Psalms. These were easier for congregations to sing than the prose psalms chanted in cathedrals and similar places of worship by professional choirs.
A small number of standard metres were used, the most familiar of which is the Common Metre, with four line verses, with alternate lines of eight and six syllables. Composers of tunes decided for which metre their tune was intended. This enabled singers to mix and match tunes and psalms, though even in those days some tunes came to be associated with particular psalms. A number of later poets published their own collections of metrical psalms. The most widely used in England were the New Version, issued in 1698 by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, and Isaac Watts Psalms Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, published in 1719. The Scottish Presbyterian Church had their own metrical psalter published in 1650, which is still in use. Many metrical psalms are still included in hymnbooks; for example, O God our Help in Ages Past is no hymn, but Watts paraphrase of Psalm 90. As the 18 th century progressed, non-scriptural hymns became more accepted. Non-conformist denominations tended to be more open-minded about the singing of such texts, and the practice of hymn singing gradually spread into the established church. The division between hymns and metrical psalms is a little blurred, because the texts of many hymns were based by their authors on psalms or other scriptural verses. Anthems, through-composed settings with prose texts, were the province of choirs rather than congregations. They too usually had scriptural texts, most frequently from the psalms, though occasionally Anglican collects and other prayers were set. Towards the end of the 18 th century so called set pieces came into the repertoire of choirs. A set piece is a through-composed setting of a metrical text. The texts were drawn both from metrical psalms and from hymns. The term anthem strictly speaking does not include set pieces, but it is sometimes loosely used to mean both. The Anglican church s Book of Common Prayer has a number of sacred texts known as canticles. These are to be said or sung regularly at certain points in the morning and evening services of Mattins and Evensong. They are traditionally referred to by their Latin names, a remnant of Roman Catholic practice. They are listed in the following table. Main canticle Alternative canticle Latin name Text Latin name Text Mattins 1st Venite Psalm 95 -- -- Mattins 2nd Te Deum Ancient hymn Benedicite Daniel III 23 Mattins 3rd Benedictus Luke I 68 Jubilate Deo Psalm 100 Evensong 1st Magnificat Luke I 46 Cantate Domino Psalm 98 Evensong 2nd Nunc Dimittis Luke II 29 Deus Misereatur Psalm 67 So some canticles are in fact psalms, and one is not scriptural. Once again, blurred distinctions. Through-composed settings of these prose texts are normally referred to as canticles, though those of the psalms could equally well be described as anthems. Some use of them was made in nonconformist churches, though their main function was to be sung in Anglican worship. Metrical versions of all these canticles were made, though judging by what has come down to us in manuscript from local churches, little use was made of them. However, in a modern West Gallery service, there is no reason why the congregation should not join in the singing of metrical canticles to a suitable tune. The remaining West Gallery form is the Christmas carol. People often refer to such familiar carols as Good King Wenceslas and Ding Dong Merrily on High as being traditional. Many of them are no such thing, being of Victorian origin. West Gallery carols are the truly traditional ones, and very lively and joyful they are. But they were not regularly sung in church. Their texts, often anonymous, were not scriptural, and their very liveliness raised the clerical eyebrow. They were mostly sung on Christmas Eve, outside, or for lucky carol singers, inside people s homes. One carol text escaped clerical disapproval. A metrical paraphrase of Luke II 8-14 was included by Tate and Brady in the New Version, as While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night. Choirs
typically adapted one of their psalm tunes to this text, so that it could be sung in church. For this reason, upwards of 200 settings of this text have come down to us. Pretty well all of these settings are more inspiring than the tune commonly sung nowadays, which dates from 1592 as a setting for Psalm 84 Old Version, and was never intended to be a carol. To use it for this text was, once again, a Victorian notion. So that is what the West Gallery repertoire offers; metrical psalms, hymns, anthems, set pieces, canticles and carols. All may have their place in modern worship, and indeed in the concert hall. Good Singing Still. No.24 The Members of the Gallery Bands Reproduced with kind permission from Good Singing Still by Rollo Woods Let s see, there was Jim Comber, the Clurk, he played flewte, Steve, the cobbler, he played clar net, and old Tomsett, Grimy Tom, we called him, he were a blacksmith, he scraped away on the gran mother fiddle, the bass-viol, y know The actual names, addresses, occupations and local status of most of the members of the church bands are unknown, though research in parish and census records would certainly yield information. However, the band MacDermott describes is typical: the members were independent skilled artisans. Similarly, the Hardy family were masons, and the Winterbourne Abbas band included a thatcher and a shepherd. Other musicians are known to have been shoemakers (Thomas Clark, John Fawcett), weavers (Edward Harwood, James Leach, William Matthews), farmers (Richard French), tailors, shipwrights, etc. Such people had several advantages: work which provided a steady income through the year, mostly in cash; enough education to be able to read, write, and calculate; their own private workplace. Thus they could afford to buy an instrument and instruction book, or pay for a few lessons; read and understand a printed tutor, and find somewhere to practise without disturbing the family and neighbours. They also had that independence of character which made them, in the eyes of the Oxford Movement, the worst members of the parish. The radicalism of singers and bell-ringers is notorious. (J M Neale) Rollo G Woods, 1995, 2017 Reproduced with permission from Good Singing Still by Rollo G Woods, published by The West Gallery Music Association in 2017 (2nd Edition) Good Singing Still 242pp is available for 5 + 2 p+p from Mike Bailey at mike.c.bailey@btinternet.com LGQ Upbeat The Newsletter of the London Gallery Quire Edited by Phil Price If you have news, a viewpoint, or an interesting musical activity or story, your contribution is very welcome. contactphilprice@yahoo.co.uk. Non electronic submissions also welcome on paper at any rehearsal. The rehearsal and event dates for London Gallery Quire 2019 so far are :- Spring term (dates subject to confirmation) January 2, 6 (Sunday) LGQ Epiphany Party, 16, 30 February 3 Morning Service Highgate URC, 13, 27 March 13, 17 Afternoon Concert Burnt Ash Methodist Chapel SE12, 27 April 10