Anglican church music
Encyclopedia
Anglican church music is music that is written for liturgical
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...

 performance in Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

 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 such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 with or without organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

 accompaniment. The choir typically uses "SATB" voices (soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C 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 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...

, alto
Alto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, 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. Hence,...

 or counter-tenor, tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

, 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
Decani is 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 and Southwell Minster...

 (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 and Southwell Minster...

 (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...

 or collegiate choirs of England.

The chief musical forms are:
  • Preces
    Preces
    Preces are, in liturgical worship, short petitions that are said or sung as versicle and response by the officiant and congregation respectively...

     and responses — sung antiphon
    Antiphon
    An antiphon in Christian music and ritual, is a "responsory" by a choir or congregation, usually in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or other text in a religious service or musical work....

    ally by the priest (or a lay cantor
    Cantor (church)
    A cantor 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 speech-rhythm of the words in each verse to a short piece of metrical music. It may be fairly described as "harmonized recitative"...

     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.-Morning Prayer:*Venite *Te Deum or Benedicite...

     — choral settings of the ordinary of the Eucharist
    Mass (music)
    The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...

    , 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 liturgically.-Roman Catholic Church:From the Old Testament, the Roman Breviary takes seven canticles for use at Lauds, as follows:*...

    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".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word...

    s or motet
    Motet
    In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology: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...

    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 or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...

    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. It seeks to enable church music in the present and invest in its future,...

.

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
  • Morning Prayer
  • 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...

  • 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 that is traditionally followed at Christmas...

  • West gallery music
    West gallery music
    West Gallery Music, also known as "Georgian psalmody" refers to the sacred music sung and played in English parish churches, as well as nonconformist chapels, from 1700 to around 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.-Morning Prayer:*Venite *Te Deum or Benedicite...

  • 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".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word...

  • Chapel Royal
    Chapel Royal
    A Chapel Royal is a body of priests and singers who serve the spiritual needs of their sovereign wherever they are called upon to do so.-Austria:...

  • 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. It seeks to enable church music in the present and invest in its future,...


External links

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