Fr David, Canon Tom and the clergy, servers, choir and congregation extend a warm welcome each and all to come and join us at St Michael’s, Mount Dinham, for any or all of our Services over the Advent, Christmas and Epiphany seasons, as we celebrate the light of Jesus coming into the darkness of his world and ours.

And indeed, for those who might find Services at St Mike’s a little strange or too intense, there are also 3 pre-Xmas events where overt religion is kept to a minimum. Click on “Events” for more detail on individual events.

Wednesday 10th December sees the Choir in Concert at 7.30pm – Christmas by Candlelight will include the splendid Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and we’ll Ding dong merrily, In dulci jubilo, with Shepherds and Kings and wish you a Merry Christmas! Admission £5 (£3).

Then on Saturday 13th December from 3-5pm there’s an Open Invitation to an Afternoon of Festive Food, Drink and Song at St Mike’s for friends, neighbours, families and passers-by. Do Drop In.

And on Saturday 20th Dec at 7.30pm, Exeter Chorale visit with a Concert of Christmas Music from 17th Century Venice & Saxony. The exciting sound of 8-part singing, brass and strings will echo around St Michael’s. And the Christmas Story will be re-told to the music of Heinrich Schutz, with guest soloist, Tony Yates, from Topsham. Tickets £7.50 on the door, with fine refreshments.

Plus on Sunday 21st Dec, St Michael’s Choir is delighted to have the opportunity to go Carolling at Killerton House. We will be entertaining visitors to this National Trust property in the Music Room with Carols sacred and secular, old and new, from 2pm to 4pm. Supporters welcome.

Don’t forget the St Michael’s Lecture. On Wednesday 3rd December at 7.30pm, our own David Beadle, who is studying for a PhD on the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) at the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter, and has done so much to reinvigorate the Lecture Series over the past few years, will talk about “Attitudes to Death and Dying in the Bible and Contemporary Europe.”

As for Services, this year the First Sunday in December is Advent 2, so the 6pm Evening Service will be our beautiful Advent Procession (and not Evensong). Thus:-

Thursday 4th December at 6pm, in place of Thursday Vespers, CBS Mass in commemoration of Nicholas Ferrar (1637) of the Little Gidding Community.

Sunday 7th Dec, Advent II, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa de Angelis, Plainsong. Motet: E’en so, Lord Jesus, quickly come, Paul Manz.

Sun 7 Dec at 6pm. St Michael’s candlelit Advent Procession, from Darkness into Light, with Readings, Hymns and Carols, followed by Refreshments.

As well as 5 rousing Advent congregational hymns, music will include Palestrina’s well-known Matin Responsory and the traditional plainsong Advent Antiphons. Also the motet by Ramsey – O Sapientia (O Wisdom), Handel’s chorus – And the Glory of the Lord (from Messiah) and Gibbons’ dancelike Magnificat.

Sunday 14th Dec, Advent III, 10.45am Mass. We get out the Rose vestments for Gaudete Sunday – Rejoice in the Lord always. Setting: Mass in E flat, Bairstow. Motet: This is the record of John, Gibbons.

Thursday 18th Dec, 7:30pm at St Michael’s. Advent 3.571428 as Alex put it! A traditional Service of Nine Lessons & Carols. Hymns, Carols, Bidding Prayer and Readings telling the great story from Adam & Eve to Mary, Joseph and Jesus, the Shepherds and the Magi.

Sunday 21st Dec, Advent IV, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa “Dixit Maria”, Hans Leo Hassler. Motet: Hymne a la Vierge, Villette.

Wednesday 24th December, Eve of Christmas, 11.30pm Mass. Preceded by Carols from the Gallery at 11pm. Setting: See website nearer the date. Motet: A babe is born, I wys, Anon.
If someone said on Christmas Eve, “Come; see the oxen kneel.” I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so. Thomas Hardy, The Oxen, Christmas Eve 1915.

Thursday 25th December, Christmas Day, N.B. 10.30am Mass. Setting: Missa “O magnum mysterium”, Victoria. Motet: O little one sweet, J S Bach.

Sunday 28th Dec, The Holy Innocents, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa L’Hora Passa, Viadana. Motet: The Coventry Carol, Trad. Whether the killing of infants in Bethlehem by King Herod is fact or myth, the Church and the World have abused and hurt the innocent and childlike for too long, and caused women to grieve. Only the just and gentle rule of Jesus Christ can give us hope to do better.

And for your new Diaries:-
Sunday 4th January 2015, Christmas II, 10.45am Mass.
Sunday 4th Jan, 6pm, Choral Evensong and Benediction.
Tuesday 6th Jan, Epiphany, 7.30pm Sung Mass.

The Recital Series is being re-launched in 2015 with a monthly Friday Evening slot. The January Recital on Friday 9th at 7.30pm will feature Eleanor Little and Ralf Ayling-Miller, the winners of our Young Organists’ Competition, so that promises to be a splendid start to the New Year. Admission £5 (£3).

Also, advanced notice that the St Michael’s Lectures for 2015 will commence on Wed 28th Jan at 7.30pm with Dr Nigel Browne giving an Illustrated History of Church Music in Devon, helped by a diverse array of performers.

Wishing you a blessed Advent, a joyful Christmas and a peaceful New Year from all at St Michael’s.

The post December Diary appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

I particularly liked our Sunday morning motet “O Lord increase our faith” by Henry Loosemore (brother of John Loosemore, builder of the 1665 post-Restoration Exeter Organ), a youthful little piece written in 1627 when he was about 25.

St Michael’s Choir at St Martin’s Exeter

Our singing of the Gibbons Short Service Canticles at Evensong was “cheeky”, as requested by Alex. The congregation joined in the unaccompanied hymns strongly, and passing tourists were attracted in too. Thanks to Revd Sheila Swarbrick for the music-themed Readings and moving Sermon and Prayers. Evensong – over 450 years old and going strong.

Now that the new Website is launched, and this Blog within it, the old WordPress blog at http://stmichaelsmountdinham.wordpress.com/ is a bit superfluous going forward. We will try to keep the 2 in step for a few weeks, but thereafter the old blog will remain as an archive of our HLF Project activities since February 2013.

St Martin’s, Exeter – C17 Monument

We now look forward to September’s Music List, and hopefully to some new voices and faces joining us, in the choir or in the congregation, in enjoyment of the great church music which enlivens our worship. A reminder also that Tuesday and Thursday Plainsong Vespers at 6pm resume on the 2nd and 4th.

Sunday, 7 September Trinity XII, 10.45am Mass
Hymns: 390: 449: 366, Setting: Mass in F, Sumsion, Motet: Cantate Domino, Pitoni

Sunday, 7 September, 6pm Evensong and Benediction
Responses: Reading, Psalm: 105 1-15, Office Hymn: 248ii
Canticles: Noble in B minor, Anthem: O Lorde the maker of al thing, Joubert, Tantum Ergo & O Salutaris: Liszt

Sunday, 14 September Holy Cross Day, 10.45am Mass
Hymns: 338: 439: 79, Setting: Missa “L’hora passa” Viadana, Motet: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, Brahms (How lovely are Thy dwellings, from Ein deutsches Requiem)

Sunday, 21 September St Matthew Apostle & Evangelist, 10.45am Mass
Hymns: 224t178: 189: 374, Setting: Missa “Lauda Sion” Palestrina, Motet: Almighty and everlasting God, Gibbons

Sunday, 28 September Trinity XV, 10.45am Mass
Hymns: 335: 74: 443, Setting: Wood in F, Motet: O thou the central orb, Wood

Monday, 29 September St Michael & All Angels, 7:30pm Mass followed by a Bring&Share Party.
Hymns: 205: 296: 206, Setting: Missa “O quam gloriosum” Victoria, Motet: And I saw another angel, Stanford.

Question: Where would you find the above depiction of St Michael? Answer next post.

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Neil Page introduces David Briggs

The words of Star Trek’s Chief Engineer Scotty, “She cannae take any more, Captain!”, came to my mind as David Briggs reached the climax of his transcription of Dukas’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (made famous by Disney’s Fantasia) to end the first half of his tremendous Opening Recital. Thankfully it could, and after the interval David returned to talk about his training in France in the art of improvisation. In response to ideas from the audience, he created an Organ Symphony from “I got rhythm”, “We’ll meet again” and “Westminster Chimes”. Bach’s Air on a G string provided a calming encore to conclude a wonderful evening celebrating what can now properly be called the St Michael’s Organ.

David Briggs at St Michael’s

Richard Barnes, David Briggs & Tim Trenchard

Please now support:-

Sunday 22nd June, Music Sunday, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Little Organ Mass. Motet: Insanae et Vanae Curae. (Unhealthy and vain cares invade our minds; What profit, O Mortal, in worldly things, if you neglect the heavens? But all things are favourable to you, if God is for you.) Both by Franz Joseph Haydn.

Sunday 22nd June, 6pm Evensong & Dedication of the new Organ. With Bishop Richard Hawkins – special order of service, preceded by a 20 minute mini Organ recital. Much of the choir’s music will feature bold organ accompaniments in Balfour-Gardner’s Evening Hymn and a Stanfordfest of Psalm 150 and the Canticles in C. We are grateful to Heritage Lottery Fund, Viridor Credits and our many generous donors.

Wednesday 25th June, 7.30pm Heritage Lecture. Paul Morgan (Exeter Cathedral Organist Emeritus) on the Life and Achievements of Samuel Sebastian Wesley. Hear about the eccentric SSWesley, who was Organist of Exeter Cathedral in the 1830s and, as well as composing well-known hymns and anthems, set about improving the musical life of the CofE. He is buried just below the Catacombs in the cemetery across the valley from St Michael’s.

John Dinham, died June 27th 1864

Tomb of Susannah and John Dinham

Organ Console

The post June Festival Final Week appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

Meanwhile, keep watching our Peregrine chicks, live on the internet at our website thanks to generous sponsorship of the streaming costs by Devon Birds ( www.devonbirds.org ). The 4-week old juveniles are quite mobile around the nest box, starting to feed for themselves on what the adults bring in, and looking rather untidy as they grow their proper feathers; they are due to fledge in the second week of June.

Heritage & Music Festival 2014

Thursday 29th May, Ascension Day N.B. 7.30am Matins. Plainsong sung from the West Gallery; followed by Breakfast.

Thursday 29th May, Ascension Day 7.30pm Mass. Setting: Mass in C & F. Motet: Coelos Ascendit Hodie, both by C V Stanford.

Sunday 1st June, Easter VII 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa Dixit Maria, Hassler. Motet: God is gone up with a merry noise, Hutchings (1906–1989)[Ascendit Deus, Philips]

Sunday 1st June, 6pm Evensong and Benediction. Responses: Sumsion. Psalm 47. Canticles: Stanford in G. Anthem: To My Request and Earnest Cry, by S S Wesley. (A substantial Bach-like piece, written in Exeter in 1836, setting the last 8 verses of Psalm 119 from Tate & Brady’s metrical “New Version”.) O Salutaris Hostia & Tantum Ergo: Plainsong.

Wednesday 4th June, 7.30pm Heritage Lecture. Dr David Oates on the Colourful Arms of Devon’s colourful Gentry.

Sunday 8th June, Pentecost, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa Brevis Laetatus Sum by Browne. Motet: Exultate Deo by Palestrina.

Sunday 8th June, 7.30pm Heritage Lecture. Nick Dixon (Raptor expert) on 20 years with Exeter’s Peregrine Falcons at St Michael’s, including new video footage from the nest box camera. Indeed, the young Peregrines should be on the threshold of fledging.

Juveniles at 3 weeks

Friday 13th June, 7.30pm St Michael’s Recital. Exeter Chorale, conducted by Dr Nigel Browne and accompanied by Dr Paul Evans & Alex West (piano duet), return with a summer programme of Madrigals, Partsongs & Glees. (Admission £7.50/£4 on the door, children free.)

Sunday 15th June, Trinity Sunday, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Spatzenmesse (Sparrow Mass) by Mozart. Motet: Duo Seraphim by Guerrero. (Two Seraphim, from Isaiah 6, with 3 intertwining 4-part choirs representing the Holy Trinity)

Sunday 15th June, 7.30pm Heritage Lecture. Richard W Parker (our own Architectural Historian) on the long History of Mount Dinham and St Michael’s.

Monday 16th June, 7.30pm Inaugural Organ Recital. David Briggs (International Organ Virtuoso, Artist-in-Residence at Toronto Cathedral, and Organist Emeritus of Gloucester Cathedral) will perform a varied programme on our newly installed, restored pipe organ. David will include 3 pieces played by his grandfather when the organ was re-dedicated after a re-build in 1952 at St Jude’s Church, Birmingham. Don’t miss this exciting Concert; see organrecitals.com for details. (Admission £10/£8 on the door.) David’s Finale will be an improvised Symphony, from themes suggested by the audience!

David Briggs – International Organ Virtuoso

Sunday 22nd June, Music Sunday, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Little Organ Mass. Motet: Insanae et Vanae Curae. (Unhealthy and vain cares invade our minds; What profit, O Mortal, in worldly things, if you neglect the heavens? But all things are favourable to you, if God is for you.) Both by Franz Joseph Haydn.

Sunday 22nd June, 6pm Evensong & Dedication of the new Organ. With Bishop Richard Hawkins – special order of service, preceded by a 20 minute mini Organ recital. Much of the choir’s music will feature bold organ accompaniments in Balfour-Gardner’s Evening Hymn and a Stanfordfest of Psalm 150 and the Canticles in C.

We hope also to include prayers used by Bishop Ernest Barnes from the 1952 Organ Re-dedication Service at St Jude’s, Birmingham. We are grateful to Heritage Lottery Fund, Viridor Credits and our many generous donors.

Wednesday 25th June, 7.30pm Heritage Lecture. Paul Morgan (Exeter Cathedral Organist Emeritus) on the Life and Achievements of Samuel Sebastian Wesley.

Friday 27th June, 7.30pm Requiem Mass. In memory of the 150th Anniversary of the death of John Dinham, Exeter Tea Merchant, Philanthropist and Founder of the Mount Dinham development.

Sunday 29th June, SS Peter & Paul, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Anglican Folk Mass by Martin Shaw. Motet: Tu Es Petrus, Palestrina.

As usual at St Michael’s, virtually every event will have Refreshments afterwards, with voluntary donations.  Unless otherwise stated, entrance is free with a voluntary collection as you leave.  This celebratory month of diverse events is the climax of our 18-month Heritage Lottery Funded project (with other donors) to make Heritage, Music, Education, and indeed Religion, lively on Mount Dinham, now and for the future, in the spirit of our Victorian forbears, John Dinham, Rev Theophilus Toye and William Gibbs.

Northernhay Gardens – John Dinham statue (1866)

Richard Barnes.

The post Heritage & Music Month – June 2014 appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

These are my highlights.

Stations of the Cross – 6pm Spy Wednesday

Tenebrae candelabrum – 4am Fri 18 Apr

Early in the morning; just as day is dawning.

On Good Friday morning I left St Michael’s to Venerate the Cross without me, and instead took my daughter to the Exeter Passion Perambulation. Arriving too late for the okay Kendrick “Meekness & Majesty” and the dubious theology of a “Jesus bore God’s Wrath” worship song, we left the Cathedral with a crowd of 800+ to see the drama unfold in the city. “When I survey” and “Amazing grace” seemed even fuller of meaning in contrast.

Exeter Passion – Jesus before Pilate & High Priest

Exeter Passion – Crucified on Cathedral Green

Good Friday evening Tenebrae sung from the West Gallery is one of St Michael’s “signature” services, and the congregation of over 50 were not disappointed with Plainsong Psalms and Responds, the Hebrew alphabet illuminated by Lassus, the remarkable set of Readings, by Richard Parker in Latin and Fr Andy Atkins in English, from Lamentations, Wisdom and the Letter to the Hebrews, and the final Miserere Mei (Ps 51) by Palestrina.

Tenebrae – 8pm Good Friday

Holy Saturday’s Easter Vigil of Readings, New Fire, Paschal Candles, Exsultet, Renewal of Baptismal Vows and First Mass of Easter was moving as ever, but even more so as the new Pipe Organ (still work in progress, but needing to be run in) was unleashed liturgically for the first time at the Gloria Fanfare while the High Altar candles were lit.

Easter Vigil – New Fire & Paschal Candles

Easter Vigil Mass – Frs Andy, David & Tom

Easter Morning’s Voluntary was the glorious Bach Fantasia in G – the new organ was used again and is sounding very promising and very loud.

Dr Nigel Browne with Estella – Bach’s Fantasia in G on the new HLF Organ

Organ builder, Tim Trenchard, at work before Easter

Happy Easter! RB.

Easter Garden – Empty Tomb
Christ is Risen; He is Risen indeed, Alleluia.

Out attention now turns to the Eggs being incubated by our Peregrine Falcons and due to hatch later this week or next weekend. See them live online at http://www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk/#

The post Highlights of Holy Week and Easter appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

At St Michael’s we try not to anticipate Feasts, so Easter services are listed after the final four Stations.

Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross

Hymn – Jesus, the Crucified, pleads for me

Jesus, the Crucified, pleads for me,
While he is nailed to the shameful tree,
Scorned and forsaken, derided and curst.
See how his enemies do their worst!
Yet, in the midst of the torture and shame,
Jesus, the Crucified, breathes my name!
Wonder of wonders, oh! How can it be?
Jesus, the Crucified, pleads for me!

IV “Verily I say to thee, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.”

And one of the malefactors which were hanged, railed on him, saying, “If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us.”

But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man has done nothing amiss.”

And he said unto Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.” And Jesus said unto him, “Verily I say to thee, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.”

Jesus dies upon the cross

V “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” – VI “I thirst.” – VII “It is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

There was darkness over all the land. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, saith, “I thirst.”

When Jesus had received the vinegar, he saith, “It is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” And he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Jesus is laid in the arms of His Mother

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?
Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

O come unto me – this awful price, redemption’s tremendous sacrifice – is paid for you. Oh! Why will ye die? O come unto me.

Jesus is laid in the Sepulchre

Hymn – All for Jesus

All for Jesus – all for Jesus,
This our song shall ever be;
For we have no hope, no Saviour,
If we have not hope in thee.

All for Jesus – thou wilt give us
Strength to serve thee hour by hour;
None can move us from thy presence,
While we trust thy love and power.

All for Jesus – at thine altar
Thou wilt give us sweet content;
There, dear Lord, we shall receive thee
In the solemn Sacrament.

All for Jesus – all for Jesus –
This the Church’s song must be;
Till, at last, her sons are gathered
One in love and one in thee.
Amen.

Holy Saturday 8pm – The Easter Vigil for the whole Parish. We kindle the New Light, prepare and bless the Paschal Candles for St Michael’s and St David’s, hear the Exsultet, the proclamation of Christ’s Resurrection, and renew our Baptismal Vows.

Out of the stillness – A poem by Jonathan Draper, former Dean of Exeter Cathedral.

Out of the stillness of dark before dawn,
In the still and the quiet and the damp of the night,
The morning star glimmers alone in the sky:
Signal of day, herald of light.

Deep in the stillness of anguish and fear
Lie hopes that were shattered by death and by doubt,
The husk of a dream lies empty and crushed,
Mind seeks for meaning, heart flickers out.

Out of the stillness the dawn comes again
Darkness is vanquished and hope is renewed
The sun has arisen, never to set,
A new day is dawning with heaven suffused.

Death with its terrors at last overcome
By one burst of light, by one gift of love.
Wholeness and healing and hope in his arms,
The sun has arisen with life for the world.

Not in 2020 or 2021 – EASTER DAY 10.30am Festal Mass and Blessing of the Easter Garden.

The post Stations of the Cross – 3 appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

Wednesday 2nd April, 7.30pm. 21st Anniversary St Michael’s Lecture. Real Bible Study, by Very Rev Jeffrey John, Dean of St Alban’s, chaired by Bp Martin Shaw. Buffet Supper. Free with voluntary donations.
21st Anniversary Lecture

Friday 4th April, 7.30pm. Concert including Music from Handel’s Messiah. We welcome the choir of the Université catholique de Louvain from Belgium. Please support this concert and hear again Handel’s meditation on the Bible story. (Free admission, retiring collection for Exeter Foodbank.)
Passiontide Concert

Sunday 6th April, Passion Sunday, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Tallis in the Dorian mode. Motet: Were you there? Trad. arr. David Ogden.

6pm Evensong and Benediction: Responses: Tallis. Psalm 30. Canticles: Weelkes short service. Anthem: Bow thine ear O Lord, Byrd. O Salutaris & Tantum Ergo: Plainsong.

Wednesday 9th April, 7.30pm, St Michael’s Recital. Tim Othen (piano). Entrance free.

Sunday 13th April, Palm Sunday, 10.30am (N.B.) Mass with Procession. The Passion narrative from the Gospel is sung. Setting: Wood in the Phrygian mode. Motet: Drop, drop slow tears, music by Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), words by Phineas Fletcher (1582-1650).

Wednesday 16th April, Spy Wednesday, 6pm Stations of the Cross. Including Stabat Mater Dolorosa by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) for Soprano and Alto soli.

Composed at the end of his short life while dying of TB, Pergolesi brings his baroque tunefulness and poignant suspensions to the 13th century Latin hymn meditating on the anguish and prayers of the mother of Jesus at the foot of the Cross.

Thursday 17th April, Maundy Thursday, 7.30pm Mass with Washing of Feet. Setting: Missa Brevis by Lotti. Motets: Ego Sum Panis Vivus (I am the living bread) by Byrd, O Vos Omnes (O all ye that pass by) by Victoria.

At the end of this service the High Altar is stripped. Then the Watch is kept hourly or longer through the night, recalling Christ and his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane and then before Pontius Pilate.

Sanctuary Window – Eucharist and Passion

Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis: nulla silva talem profert, fronde, flore, germine.
Dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dulce pondus sustinet.

Faithful Cross, among all, the one noble tree; no other forest offers such leaf, flower and seed. Sweet the wood, sweet the nails, sweet the weight it bears.

Part of a 6th century hymn by Venantius Fortunatus written for the procession that brought a part of the true Cross to the Frankish Queen Radegunda in 570. Interestingly, she is a patron saint of Jesus College, Cambridge, which was founded on the site of the 12th century Nunnery, and has a chapel in Exeter Cathedral named after her.

Although King John IV of Portugal (1604-1656) was an accomplished musician and composer, the Crux fidelis attributed to him cannot be traced to earlier than mid-19th century France. His extensive library was destroyed with much else in the tragic Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

Good Friday, 8pm Tenebrae – an ancient service sung in Latin and English from the West Gallery to plainsong and polyphony by Lassus (1532-1594) and Palestrina (1525-1594), ending in darkness and silence to symbolise Jesus’ descent to the dead.

Saturday 19th April, Holy Saturday 8pm – The Easter Vigil . We kindle the New Light, prepare and bless the Paschal Candles for St Michael’s and St David’s, hear the Exsultet, the proclamation of Christ’s Resurrection, and renew our Baptismal Vows. Hymn: Light’s Glittering Morn. Mass in F by Charles Wood. Out of the Stillness, by Richard Shephard.

Sunday 20th April, EASTER DAY 10.45am Mass and Blessing of the Easter Garden. Introit: This Joyful Eastertide, by Charles Wood. Setting: Mass in G, by Franz Schubert. Motet: Haec Dies, by William Byrd.

Sunday 27th April, Low Sunday, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Mass for Four Voices, by Byrd. Motet: Easter Anthem, by Billings. William Billings (1746–1800) of Boston, Massachusetts, may be regarded as the first American choral composer. His joyful Easter Anthem has echoes of Handel and was published as part of the Sacred Harp tradition of simple and sincere a cappella music.

The post Music for April and Holy Week Services appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

St Michael’s Choir and friends spent a most enjoyable day visiting the home of our benefactor William Gibbs (1790-1875). Our thanks to Tyntesfield’s staff and volunteers. Tyntesfield (National Trust) Our concert in the glorious French-inspired chapel was well received and we rounded the day off with Fish’n’Chips in Weston-super-Mare.

With Lent approaching fast we have one more Sunday of jollity.

Sunday 2nd March, Quinquagesima, Next before Lent, 10.45am. Mass. Setting: Missa Brevis “Laetatus Sum”, Nigel Browne. Motet: O Lord Thou art my God, by Exeter composer Kellow John Pye (1812-1901).

Sunday 2nd March, 6pm. Evensong and Benediction. Responses: Smith, Psalm: 84, Office Hymn: 241, Canticles: Walmisley in D minor, Anthem: Verleih uns Frieden, Mendelssohn. O salutaris, Liszt. Tantum Ergo, Liszt.

Verleih uns Frieden is Martin Luther’s translation of the Latin Introit for Pentecost XVIII, or as Thomas Cranmer put it in the Responses: Give peace in our time, O Lord. Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.

Tuesday 4th March, Shrove Tuesday, 8.30pm. After 6pm Vespers and 7pm Choir Practice, hopefully the traditional Pancakes will be cooked at the back of the church.

For Lent our music becomes more austere and subdued, an exception being our Mass for the Feast of the Annunciation on Tuesday 25th March at 7.30pm.

If you want something extra, “Stations of the Cross” is prayed on Wednesdays during Lent at 6pm; Plainsong Vespers continue to be sung at 6pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Stations of the Cross XII

Sunday 9th March, Lent I, 10.45am. Mass. The Litany: Setting: Sarum Mass, Plainsong. Motet: Hear my prayer, O Lord, by Purcell.

Wednesday 12th March, 7.30pm, St Michael’s Lecture. Evolution, Suffering and the Creative Love of God. Dr Bethany Sollereder (Dept of Theology and Religion, Univ of Exeter).

Sunday 16th March, Lent II, 10.45am. Mass. Setting: Anglican Folk Mass, Martin Shaw. Motet: God so loved the world, Sir John Stainer.

Sunday 23rd March, Lent III, 10.45am. Mass. Setting: Merbecke (NEH 542). Motet: Jesu dulcis memoria, by Charles Wood (Jesu, the very thought of thee is sweet).

Annunciation Window – St Michael’s Mount Dinham

N.B. Thursday 27th March, 7.30pm, Recital. The Exeter Police Choir. (Entrance free.)

Rose Red Chasuble

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