Music

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Music at St Michael’s (17/03/2024) 

At Choral Eucharist this Sunday the choir sings the “Mass in the Phrygian Mode” by Charles Wood (1866 –1926), an unaccompanied setting in a polyphonic style. The style is an echo of a much earlier era of music, of whom the most renowned exponent was Thomas Tallis (1505–1585), organist of the Royal Chapels to Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary I, and Queen Elizabeth I. His motet, “Verily, verily I say unto you”, written for the Communion Service, is a setting of the words of Jesus from John 6:53-56.

Music at St Michael’s (10/03/2024)

The text “Christus factus est”, is used for the anthems in both this morning’s Eucharist and at Evensong (6.30pm). It is the ‘gradual’ (a song sung after the first reading) set for Maundy Thursday, with words taken from Paul’s letter to the Philippians: Christ became obedient for us unto death, even to the death, death on the cross. Therefore God exalted him and gave him a name which is above all names.

In the morning, the setting is attributed to Felice Anerio (1560 – 1614), though some scholars believe it was written later, in 1705, by Baldassare Sartori, possibly caricaturing Anerio’s style. In the evening, the setting, composed by the romantic composer Anton Bruckner, in 1884, presents a very stark contrast in style. However both settings mark the change in mood between the sombre opening, and triumphant second sentence of the text. In the Anerio this is just a slight increase in the tempo. However, in the Bruckner there is a slow and dramatic crescendo, interspersed with short quiet sections, until reaching its high climax (marked fff) on “quod est super omne”, higher than all other, continuing to repeat this phrase in a long diminuendo to the end of the piece, fading away almost to nothing.

MUSIC WEEK BY WEEK CHOIR VISIT TO SALISBURYTHE JUNIOR CHOIR’S YEAR Psalms & Daffodils (How to sing Anglican Chant)
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Join the Choir

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Join our Junior Choir

 Our Junior Choristers start from Year 3 and Youth Singers from Year 7.

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Half-Term Singing Days

Open singing days run during half terms for those in years 3 and over.

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Listen to the Choir

Listen to audio and video recordings of the St Michael and All Angels’ Choir.

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Recent Music

Details of the music for services at St Michael’s.

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Organ Details

Find out about the organs at St Michael’s and St Nicolas.

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About us

We sing  Choral Eucharists Evensongs, Carol Services,

The Family Service…

We rehearse on Wednesdays from 7.30–9.00pm (6.30–7.45pm for younger singers) and before services. The choir doesn’t sing at St Michael’s immediately after Christmas and Easter, or during the school summer holiday, when cathedral visits are sometimes arranged.

Director of music: Andrew Hanley
virtual anthems

The Choir and COVID-19

During  COVID times, it was hard to keep singing! Yet as a choir, we found it more important than ever. We worked hard to keep a choral sound available, and keep practising. Virtual anthems and hymns were produced for services. We ran a “virtual pub” after Zoom-based choir practices, complete with the occasional “pub” quiz, and birthday and special occasion celebrations. From the first service featuring our recordings (Palm Sunday, 2020) through to the end of the second lockdown in May 2021, well over 100 recordings of our hymns, anthems, and psalms were used in our services.

You can view the recordings of these virtual anthems on the YouTube “NSABparish” channel. virtual anthems on YouTube