All Topics  
Anglican church music

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Anglican church music
 
 
  Topics Anglican church music Topic Home

Anglican church music is music that is written for liturgical
Liturgy

A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Mass , or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish Jewish services....
 performance in Anglican
Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition of Christianity faith. Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs, worship and church structures....
 church services.

Almost all of it is written for choir
Choir

A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral Music, in turn, is the music written specifically for a choir to perform....
 with or without organ
Organ (music)

The organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard played either Manual or Pedal clavier. The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the European classical music....
 accompaniment. The choir typically uses "SATB" voices (soprano
Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....
 or treble
Boy soprano

A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged Human voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily be choristers who sing in a boys' ch...
, alto
Alto

Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high", that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano....
 or counter-tenor, tenor
Tenor

The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....
, and bass), though in many works some or all of these voices are divided into two for part or all of the piece; in this case the two halves of the choir (one on each side of the aisle) are traditionally named decani
Decani

The side of a church choir occupied by the Dean. In English churches this is typically the choir stalls on the south side of the chancel, although there are some notable exceptions, such as Durham Cathedral....
 (or 1, for the higher voice) and cantoris
Cantoris

Cantoris is the side of a church choir occupied by the Cantor . In English churches this is typically the choir stalls on the north side of the chancel, although there are some notable exceptions, such as Durham Cathedral....
 (or 2, for the lower voice).






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Anglican church music'
Start a new discussion about 'Anglican church music'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Anglican church music is music that is written for liturgical
Liturgy

A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Mass , or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish Jewish services....
 performance in Anglican
Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition of Christianity faith. Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs, worship and church structures....
 church services.

Almost all of it is written for choir
Choir

A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral Music, in turn, is the music written specifically for a choir to perform....
 with or without organ
Organ (music)

The organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard played either Manual or Pedal clavier. The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the European classical music....
 accompaniment. The choir typically uses "SATB" voices (soprano
Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....
 or treble
Boy soprano

A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged Human voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily be choristers who sing in a boys' ch...
, alto
Alto

Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high", that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano....
 or counter-tenor, tenor
Tenor

The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....
, and bass), though in many works some or all of these voices are divided into two for part or all of the piece; in this case the two halves of the choir (one on each side of the aisle) are traditionally named decani
Decani

The side of a church choir occupied by the Dean. In English churches this is typically the choir stalls on the south side of the chancel, although there are some notable exceptions, such as Durham Cathedral....
 (or 1, for the higher voice) and cantoris
Cantoris

Cantoris is the side of a church choir occupied by the Cantor . In English churches this is typically the choir stalls on the north side of the chancel, although there are some notable exceptions, such as Durham Cathedral....
 (or 2, for the lower voice). There may also be soloists, usually only for part of the piece. There are also works for fewer voices, such as those written for solely men's voices or boys'/women's voices.

Many more recent works were written for, or dedicated to, one of the many famous cathedral
Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a Religion building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Orthodox Christian and some Lutheranism churches, which serves as a bishop's seat, and thus as the central church of a dioc...
 or collegiate choirs of England.

The chief musical forms are:

  • Preces
    Preces

    Preces are, in liturgy worship, short petitions that are said or sung as versicle and response by the officiant and Wiktionary:congregation respectively....
     and responses — sung antiphon
    Antiphon

    An antiphon is a response, usually sung in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or some other part of a religious service, such as at Vespers or at a mass ....
    ally by the priest (or a lay cantor
    Cantor (church)

    A cantor or chanter is the chief singer employed in a church with responsibilities for the ecclesiastical choir; also called the precentor....
    ) and choir
  • Psalms — sung to Anglican chant
    Anglican chant

    Anglican chant is a way to sing un-metrical texts, such as prose translations of the psalms, canticles, and other, similar biblical texts by matching the natural Prosody_ of the words in each verse to a short piece of metrical music....
     by the choir or congregation
  • Service settings
    Service (music)

    In Anglican church music, a Service is a musical setting of certain parts of the liturgy, generally for choir with or without organ accompaniment....
     — choral settings of the ordinary of the Eucharist
    Mass (music)

    The Mass, a Musical form of sacred music, is a choir composition that sets the fixed portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music. Most Masses are settings of Mass in Latin, the traditional language of the Roman Catholic Church, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship h...
    , and canticle
    Canticle

    A canticle is a hymn taken from the Bible. The term is often expanded to include ancient non-biblical hymns such as the Te Deum and certain psalms used liturgy....
    s
  • Anthem
    Anthem

    The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem"....
    s or motet
    Motet

    In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choir musical compositions.The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is "motectum", and the Italian mottetto was also used....
    s
  • Hymn
    Hymn

    A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity/deities, a prominent figure or an epic tale....
    s, usually for congregational use


In all but the smallest churches the congregation was until recently confined to the singing of hymns. Over the past half century or so efforts have been made to increase the role of the congregation and also to introduce more "popular" musical styles. Not all churches can boast a full SATB choir, and a repertoire of one-, two- and three-part music is more suitable for many parish church choirs, a fact which is recognised in the current work of the Royal School of Church Music
Royal School of Church Music

The largest church music organisation in Britain, the Royal School of Church Music was founded in 1927 by Sir Sydney Nicholson and has 11,000 members worldwide; it was originally named the School of English Church Music....
.

Anglican churches also frequently draw upon the musical traditions of other Christian denominations. This is particularly the case in music for the Mass, much of which is taken from the work of Roman Catholic composers.

See also


  • List of Anglican church composers
    List of Anglican church composers

    Composers who have made significant contributions to the repertory of Anglican church music.A*Malcolm Archer*Thomas Armstrong*Thomas Attwood ...
  • Morning Prayer
    Morning Prayer

    Morning Prayer , in the various editions of the Book of Common Prayer and other Anglican liturgical texts, was, until the last half of the twentieth century, the main Sunday morning service on most Sundays in all but the most high church Anglican parishes, with Holy Communion being the main Sunday morning service once or twice per month...
  • Evensong
  • English Hymnal
    English Hymnal

    The English Hymnal was published in 1906 for the Church of England under the editorship of Percy Dearmer and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The preface to the hymnal began with the statement, "A collection of the best hymns in the English language." Much of the contents was used for the first time at St Mary's Primrose Hill in north London, and the...
  • Nine Lessons and Carols
    Nine Lessons and Carols

    The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is a format for a service of Christian worship celebrating the birth of Jesus which is traditionally followed at Christmas....
  • West gallery music
    West gallery music

    West Gallery Music is a term which refers to music conventionally sung and played in the West Gallery of a Church of England church. Its heyday was the 18th century, from around 1700 to 1850....
  • Service (music)
    Service (music)

    In Anglican church music, a Service is a musical setting of certain parts of the liturgy, generally for choir with or without organ accompaniment....
  • Anthem
    Anthem

    The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem"....
  • Chapel Royal
    Chapel Royal

    A Chapel Royal is a department of the Ecclesiastical Household of the Monarchy in right of each of the Commonwealth realms, formally known as the royal Free Chapel of the Household....
  • Royal School of Church Music
    Royal School of Church Music

    The largest church music organisation in Britain, the Royal School of Church Music was founded in 1927 by Sir Sydney Nicholson and has 11,000 members worldwide; it was originally named the School of English Church Music....


External links

  • from Anglicans Online