Sunday 7th February at 6pm, our 1st Sunday of the month Choral Evensong & Benediction service is something of a Howells-fest.
The Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis are “Collegium Regale” written in March 1945 for King’s College, Cambridge, the first of Herbert Howells many choir/building specific settings of the Prayer Book Canticles.
Note that the Anthem may have to be changed from Howells’ “Like as the hart” to William Byrd’s “Sing Joyfully”.
Snowed in at Cheltenham while London was under a nearly constant air assault in January 1941, Herbert Howells composed feverishly during the first two weeks of the year. Though he titled the resulting choral works simply Four Anthems, it is clear from his writings that he originally conceived of the set as anthems “in time of war.” Though the set (which also includes O Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, We Have Heard With Our Ears, and Let God Arise) has been welcomed as a whole into the prestigious canon of the Anglican anthem, it has been the third in the set, Like as the Hart Desireth the Waterbrooks, which has become the most enduring. Written in the span of a single day (January 8, 1941) Like as the Hart, for SATB chorus and organ, is a simple but at times mysteriously foreboding setting of the first three verses of Psalm 42. (Description by Thomas Oram)
For a short meditation on Music for Psalm 42, follow this link.
Directions
St Michael and All Angels’ Church, Dinham Road, Mount Dinham, Exeter, EX4 4EB