Buckingham Palace Program

directed by Douglas Lawrence AM
BUCKINGHAM PALACE
Sunday 22 October at 3PM
Christ Church, Castlemaine
Saturday 28 October at 3PM
Thomson Memorial Church, Terang
Saturday 4 November at 3PM
Church of the Resurrection, Macedon
Sunday 5 November at 3PM
Basilica of St Mary of the Angels, Geelong
Sunday 12 November at 3PM
The Scots’ Church, Melbourne

Buckingham Palace has been the main seat of the British
monarchy since Queen Victoria took up residence there
in 1837. Its royal residents, from the Houses of Windsor,
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Hanover, like the Tudors and
Stuarts before them, have been diligent patrons of music,
and have drawn from composers much of their finest
work. British royalty is unique in this century, in having
been able to continue this tradition of patronage.
Constitutional monarchy in Britain and the
Commonwealth has not meant – as it now means in
Scandinavia, the Benelux countries and Spain – a lack of
pageantry. Even after two world wars, every London
coronation and royal wedding incorporates rituals dating
back to the Middle Ages: rituals that neither the rise of
Protestantism nor the growing power of parliament has
destroyed.
William Byrd musically enriching Elizabeth I’s Anglican
settlement while himself clinging to Catholicism; Henry
Purcell serving Charles II, James II, William III and Mary II
with an undisturbed conscience; Handel paying artistic
tribute to Queen Anne, George I, and George II by turns;
Sir Hubert Parry and Sir Charles Villiers Stanford inspired
by Edward VII’s coronation; and so on until Judith Weir, in
our own time, mourning Elizabeth II with verses from the
Psalms: these achievements are proof that musical
tradition is the trunk of a living tree that still puts forth
shoots after hundreds of years. Far from cramping
individual endeavours, it strengthens them.
2

THE PROGRAM
FROM THE VICTORIAN AND GEORGIAN ERAS
Sir William McKie (1901–84)
We wait for Thy loving kindness, O God (1947)
Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–76)
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924)
Coronation Gloria (1937)
FROM THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH II
Judith Weir CBE (born 1954) Like as the hart (2022)
Sir John Tavener (1944–2013) Song for Athene (1993)
Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (1913–76)
Jubilate Deo (1961)
INSTRUMENTAL INTERLUDE
Georg Frideric Handel (1685–1757) Air and Hornpipe from
the Water Music (1717)
FROM THE RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE
Attributed to John Redford (c.1500–45)
Rejoice in the Lord alway
Henry Purcell (1659–95)
Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts, Z58b (1672)
William Byrd Gloria from the Mass for Four Voices
3

TWO WORKS BY RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS OM
(1872–1958)
4
BROWSE CDs
O taste and see (1953)
Sanctus from the Communion Service in G Minor (1920/21)
THE OLD HUNDREDTH, Melody attributed to Louis
Bourgeois (c.1510–c.1560), arranged by Rhys Boak
TWO WORKS BY SIR CHARLES HUBERT HASTINGS
PARRY (1848–1918)
My soul, there is a country (1916/18)
I was glad (1902)
The AUSTRALIAN
CHAMBER CHOIR was
established by Douglas Lawrence
and Elizabeth Anderson in 2007.
Between 2007 and 2019, the choir
undertook seven concert tours of
Europe, recorded five CDs and presented over 200
concert performances, many of which were recorded for
broadcast on ABC Classic FM or 3MBS FM.
During and around the lockdowns of 2020 and ‘21, the
ACC built a live-streaming platform, increased the
number of programs presented per year, toured Victoria
and released the CD, A Baroque Christmas. Click to
browse the choir’s CDs.

International tours – travel with us!
In 2015, returning by invitation to Denmark’s oldest
classical music festival, the Sorø International, the ACC
was made an Honorary Life Member and took its place
alongside such luminaries as Wilhelm Kempff, Anton
Heiller, Gaston Litaize and Julian Bream.
You are invited to travel with us for 16 days from Bruges to
Venice during our eighth concert tour of Europe. We are
excited, as we haven‘t ventured overseas since 2019.
We have return invitations to sing in the Cathedrals of
Bonn and Berlin and to appear as special guests in the
International Organ Festivals of Flanders and Darmstadt.
Our Friends can enjoy three different concert programs,
as well as meals and post-concert receptions with the
choir. Our optional ‘Friends Choir’ sessions are a bonus
for anyone who likes to sing, or even to listen up close. In
Venice, the ACC teams up with the Conservatorium‘s
period instrument orchestra to present a long-lost
cantata, written by Agatha, an orphan from Vivaldi’s
Ospedale della Pietà. This cantata, composed in Venice,
was reconstructed and premiered in Melbourne in 2022.
Be in the audience in the Venetian Baroque splendour of
the Pisani Palace when it is heard here for the first time in
three centuries, and celebrate with the choir and
orchestra at the reception afterwards.
5

MORE ABOUT THE 2024 TOUR
The ACC at St Martin-in-the-Fields, July 2019. Image: Jessica Pigg
The 2024 tour has all the usual ingredients: a good balance
of organised sight-seeing and free time, a luxury coach,
four-star accommodation and qualified tour guides to
give us insights into the music, the art and the history.
As always, the tour is managed and escorted by Eastern
Hill Travel, who will be with us throughout the tour to look
after every detail of the journey. Our tour operator
partners of nine years at Pega DMC have thoroughly
completed all the preparations on the ground in Belgium
and Germany.
A special ingredient in this itinerary is a four-night stay in
the island city of Venice. For the Austrian and Italian part
of our journey, we have teamed up with tour operators,
Limelight Arts Travel, renowned for providing travellers
with a rich and rewarding experience, especially in Venice.
6

Thank you to
our donors!
DONATE NOW
We are immensely grateful
to our donors (listed on
pages 32 to 35) for the
important part that they
continue to play in the
success story that is the
Australian Chamber Choir.
Anish Nair and Isobel Todd. Image: Emma Phillips
The ACC provides a rigorous training ground for young
professional singers. Payment to all singers for their work
as performing and recording artists working in Australia is
an important affirmation of their standing as
professionals.
Income from the Support Fund is used to subsidise
concerts for which income from ticket sales does not
cover costs, such as for some regional concerts and for
those which demand specialised resources for authentic
performance. Income from the Support Fund is also used
to commission new works, produce commercial
recordings and videos, and to provide a financial base to
support our singers for the long term.
We would love to welcome you into our lively group of
supporters, the lifeblood of our organisation.
Make a tax-deductible donation now
7

PROGRAM NOTES
FROM THE VICTORIAN AND GEORGIAN ERAS
Sir William McKie
Born in Collingwood, Melbourne, 22 May 1901;
died in Ottawa, Canada, 1 December 1984
We wait for Thy loving kindness, O God (1947)
Sir William McKie was the last person to hold the position
of Melbourne City Organist. He left that post in 1938 and
soon afterwards took up the role of Organist and Master
of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey. He played a key
role arranging and directing the music for the marriage of
(then) Princess Elizabeth in 1947. Six years later, his
involvement in the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
ensured his knighthood. We wait for Thy loving kindness,
composed for the 1947 nuptials, has (unsurprisingly in the
circumstances) marked echoes of Vaughan Williams in its
style, with its parallel triads, its mediaeval atmosphere,
and its climax’s unexpected vehemence. McKie, like his
slightly older contemporary, the Presbyterian Sir Robert
Menzies, belonged to a class of Australians - more
common in his own day than in ours - for whom wholehearted
antipodean allegiance and whole-hearted British
allegiance coexisted without the smallest illogic or
emotional discord. The title of McKie’s 1992 biography,
by fellow Melburnian and fellow Anglican, Howard Hollis,
is germane: The Best of Both Worlds.

MCKIE
BROWSE 2024 INTERNATIONAL SEASON
Solo We wait for Thy loving kindness, O God,
In the midst of Thy temple.
Choir Alleluia.
O God, according to Thy name
So is Thy praise unto the world's end.
Thy right hand is full of righteousness.
Alleluia.
Solo We wait for Thy loving kindness, O God,
In the midst of Thy temple.
Choir O Lord, send us now prosperity.
Solo Amen.
Choir Amen.
Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Born in London, 14 August 1810;
died in Gloucester, 19 April 1876
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace
Combative, vitriolic, and supercilious, Samuel Sebastian
Wesley inspired among most of his contemporaries the
same sentiments which former British cabinet minister
Ernest Bevin unforgettably voiced in the following
century about his own Labour Party colleague, the
habitually boorish Richard Crossman. On being told that
Crossman was ‘his own worst enemy,’ Bevin retorted in
his Somerset drawl: ‘Not while Ah’m alive, he ain’t.’
Embittering Wesley above all were the circumstances of
his birth: he was an illegitimate son of the eccentric
composer Samuel Wesley, with everything that
9

SS WESLEY BROWSE 2024 INTERNATIONAL SEASON
illegitimacy meant at the time, in terms of social
disrepute. By strength of will, combined with impressive
creative as well as performing talent, Samuel Sebastian
transcended the disadvantages of his circumstances to
become one of his country’s most respected organists
and a greatly skilled composer of sacred works, such as
this one. Wesley had a knack for conceiving melodies that
might look commonplace on paper but that haunt the
mind for decades. The best-known instance of this knack
is the hymn tune Aurelia, usually sung to words beginning
The church’s one foundation.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, dating from around
1850, is one of Wesley’s two or three most celebrated
anthems. It has retained a firm place in the esteem of
England’s cathedral choirs ever since Wesley’s own day
and was performed at the Coronation of Elizabeth II. Its
invocation of blessed repose – drawing on Isaiah, St
Matthew’s Gospel, and St John’s Gospel as well as on the
Psalms – bespeaks a sensitivity and unselfconscious
piety in Wesley’s nature, beneath the quarrelsome
exterior which he showed to the world.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on Thee.
The darkness is no darkness with thee,
But the night is as clear as day:
The darkness and the light are to Thee both alike.
God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
O let my soul live, and it shall praise Thee.
10

SS WESLEY BROWSE 2024 INTERNATIONAL SEASON
For thine is the kingdom,
The power and the glory, for evermore.
Charles Villiers Stanford
Born in Dublin, 30 September 1852;
died in London, 29 March 1924.
Coronation Gloria (1911)
This work was commissioned for the coronation of
George V and subsequently performed at the
coronations of George VI and Elizabeth II.
A passionate Anglophile monarchist who, nevertheless,
would have been enraged if anyone queried his Irish
patriotism, Stanford seems forever doomed to serve as a
kind of historiographical double-act with Sir Hubert
Parry. In similar fashion, lazy journalists used to blur the
obvious distinctions between GK Chesterton and Hilaire
Belloc by appropriating Bernard Shaw’s flippant coinage
‘the Chesterbelloc’. Actually, Stanford and Parry – born
four years apart – had an often discordant relationship:
Parry quailing at Stanford’s ferocious temper, Stanford
resenting Parry’s inherited wealth and left-wing
sympathies, privately referring to Parry as ‘the plutocratic
radical’. Earlier in their careers, though, they managed
outward courtesies. Both were asked to write music for
the coronations of Edward VII in 1902 and George V in 1911.
Parry’s I was glad, the final piece on today’s program, is
well remembered from these occasions; Stanford’s
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STANFORD BROWSE 2024 INTERNATIONAL SEASON
contribution has scarcely been remembered at all. It
shares with Parry’s work not mere grandeur of utterance
but more specific traits, such as the B flat major key –
particularly useful for trumpeters, since that key falls
naturally in the instrument’s most eloquent register – and
numerous detailed felicities of word-setting (such as the
little flourish at We worship Thee) which give the lie to the
once-widespread myth that no composer on English soil
between Purcell and Britten could master English texts.
Glory be to God on high and on earth peace,
good will towards men.
We praise Thee,
we bless Thee,
we worship Thee,
we glorify Thee,
We give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory,
O Lord God, heavenly King,
God the Father Almighty.
O Lord, the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ;
O Lord God, Lamb of God,
Son of the Father,
That takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us.
Thou that takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us.
Thou that takest away the sins of the world,
receive our prayer.
12

FROM THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH II
Judith Weir Born in Cambridge, 11 May, 1954
Like as the hart (2022)
When, in 2014, Judith Weir became the royal family’s court
composer – the first woman ever to hold the post – she
remained much less known to the general public than her
three immediate predecessors in the role (Sir Arthur Bliss,
Malcolm Williamson, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies). But
preceding her appointment, as is often the way behind
what seems like an ‘overnight success’, had been many
years of strenuous labour. This included her composition of
half a dozen operas, which have been performed in
continental Europe as well as in Britain, and which in several
instances evoke the legends of Weir’s Scottish ancestors.
Apart from her operas, Weir has probably become most
famous for her choral works, including Like as the hart, first
heard (and originally conceived) for the late queen’s
funeral. Set to words which include some of the most griefstricken
lines in the Old Testament, the anthem has a
harmonic character rather more French than traditionally
English. It was sung both at the funeral of HM Queen
Elizabeth II and the coronation of HM King Charles III.
Like as the hart desireth the water-brook: so
longeth my soul after Thee, O God.
My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living
God: when shall I come to appear before the
presence of God?
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WEIR
BROWSE 2024 INTERNATIONAL SEASON
My tears have been my meat day and night: while
they daily say unto me, Where is now thy God?
Now when I think thereupon, I pour out my heart by
myself: for I went with the multitude, and
brought them forth into the house of God;
In the voice of praise and thanksgiving: among such
as keep holy-day.
Why art thou so full of heaviness, O my soul: and
why art thou so disquieted within me?
Put thy trust in God: for I will yet give Him thanks for
the help of His countenance.
Psalm 42: 1–7
Sir John Tavener
Born in London, 28 January 1944;
died in Child Okeford, Dorset, 12 November 2013
Song for Athene (1993)
Knighted in 2000, and an Orthodox Church communicant
from 1977 (he never apostatised from this allegiance,
despite media comment to that effect), John Tavener
was descended – spelling changes notwithstanding –
from the sixteenth-century Taverner. He is best known
for the religious themes that dominate his works. These
works include an opera, Thérèse (dealing with the Lisieux
saint’s life); The Protecting Veil, for cello and string
orchestra; and the present a cappella motet, Song for
Athene, famously performed at Princess Diana’s funeral
in 1997, though it had been written four years earlier. The
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TAVENER BROWSE 2024 INTERNATIONAL SEASON
‘Athene’ of the title is Athene Hariades – a friend of the
composer and a teacher at London’s Hellenic College –
who had perished in a road accident. Its lyrics were
compiled at Tavener’s request (and at only twenty-four
hours’ notice) by the septuagenarian Mother Thekla, née
Marina Sharf, an Orthodox abbess based in Whitby,
Yorkshire, who for decades served as Tavener’s spiritual
mentor. With two exceptions, the passages chosen by
Mother Thekla come from the Orthodox liturgy; the other
passages (the first and fifth sections) are quotations
from Act V and Act II, respectively, of Hamlet. The piece –
with its characteristic drone in the bass lines throughout
– was given renewed radio exposure in numerous
countries during the days that followed Tavener’s death.
Alleluia. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Alleluia. Remember me, O Lord, when you come
into your kingdom.
Alleluia. Give rest, O Lord, to your handmaid, who
has fallen asleep.
Alleluia. The Choir of Saints have found the wellspring
of life and door of Paradise.
Alleluia. Life: a shadow and a dream.
Alleluia. Weeping at the grave creates the song:
Alleluia. Come, enjoy rewards and crowns I have
prepared for you.
15

Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh
Born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, 22 November 1913;
died in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, 4 December 1976
Jubilate Deo
Britten’s left-wing sentiments no more precluded a
fondness for the House of Windsor than his religious
heterodoxy precluded a fondness for Anglican ritual. So,
when the Duke of Edinburgh asked him to write a piece
for the use of the choristers at St George’s Chapel,
Windsor, Britten obliged. Exactly when the Queen’s
spouse made the request remains unclear; 1958 has been
suggested. At any rate, Britten - who had already met the
royal couple in connection with the 1953 première of his
opera Gloriana - took his time over the result, which he
finished only in 1961. Its words employ Psalm 100, in what
then remained the standard Anglican translation found in
the Book of Common Prayer. Like Britten’s much earlier
Te Deum (1934), it inhabits the key of C major and calls for
SATB choir plus organ; unlike the Te Deum, it takes no
more than four minutes to perform. Perhaps its sheer
brevity gave it a special appeal to His Royal Highness,
whose own public modes of verbal expression inclined
less to protracted orating than to such epigrams as ‘Pull
your fingers out’ and ‘I would like to go to Russia very
much although the bastards murdered half my family.’
Certain it is that the royal patron insisted on having
Britten’s piece revived for his eightieth birthday, and
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BRITTEN BROWSE 2024 INTERNATIONAL SEASON
again for his ninetieth; he also directed in his will that it be
included as part of his funeral ceremony.
O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands;
Serve the Lord with gladness
and come before his presence with a song.
Be ye sure that the Lord he is God:
It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves;
We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving,
And into his courts with praise.
Be thankful unto him and speak good of his name.
For the Lord is gracious, His mercy is everlasting;
And his truth endureth from generation to
generation. Amen.
INSTRUMENTAL INTERLUDE
George Frideric Handel
Born in Halle, Germany, 23 February 1685;
died in London, 14 April 1759
Air and Hornpipe from the Water Music (1717)
Mythology has arisen concerning the origin of Handel’s
Water Music. It has often been alleged that Handel fell
out of favour with King George I when he moved to
England, leaving the future monarch (who was then
Elector of Hanover) in Germany. The story goes that
Handel won back George’s approval solely through the
merits of his latest piece, first heard on a barge during a
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HANDEL BROWSE 2024 INTERNATIONAL SEASON
1717 celebration on the River Thames. Actually, there
exists no solid evidence of any sustained rancour
between the king and the musician. Besides, some
scholars ascribe the creation of the music itself to
another royal celebration on the Thames, from two years
later. During Handel’s own lifetime, the score never
ranked among his most renowned works. It enjoyed much
less fame than several of his oratorios and operas. Only in
the late nineteenth century did it first become a great
popular favourite, arranged for numerous different
instrumental combinations. Today’s concert includes
two particularly well-loved excerpts: the F major Air, with
its main melody’s persistent dotted-quaver motif; and
the D major Hornpipe, among the composer’s most
exuberant, bracing inventions, marked by strenuous
syncopated rhythms.
FROM THE RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE
Attributed to John Redford
Born c.1500, birthplace unknown;
died in London, October or November 1547
Rejoice in the Lord alway
In sharp contrast to most sixteenth-century English
music, which waited till the twentieth century to be
rediscovered, this short anthem was known to historians
since the 1770s. It came down to us through its inclusion
in the Mulliner Book, a heterogeneous collection of
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Attr. REDFORD BROWSE 2024 INTERNATIONAL SEASON
approximately one hundred compositions assembled for
private use early in the reign of Elizabeth I by Thomas
Mulliner, an Oxford organist. Sir John Hawkins, friend of
Dr Johnson and author of A General History of the
Science and Practice of Music, seems to have been the
first person to ascribe Rejoice to John Redford, who
certainly produced more pieces found in the Mulliner
Book than any other figure. Redford, it is worth noting,
had literary as well as musical gifts, being the author of a
morality play, The Play of Wit and Science. The attribution
of Rejoice to Redford has been disputed, mainly because
Redford died two years before Edward VI’s Protestant
government made compulsory the use of English for
sacred choral works, and forbade composers to use
more than one note of music per syllable. Still, it is
entirely possible that clandestine syllabic vernacular
settings had been conceived and circulated well before
the 1549 Book of Common Prayer mandated them. The
text comes from Philippians 4: 4–7, and much later Purcell
would set a slightly different version of it (in which, for
example, ‘softness’ becomes ‘moderation’ and ‘with
giving of thanks’ becomes ‘with thanksgiving’).
Rejoice in the Lord alway,
and again I say, rejoice.
Let your softness be known unto all men:
the Lord is at hand.
Be careful for nothing:
but in all prayer and supplication,
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Attr. REDFORD BROWSE 2024 INTERNATIONAL SEASON
let your petitions be manifest unto God with giving
of thanks.
And the peace of God,
which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesu. Amen.
Henry Purcell Born in London, 1659; died there in 1695
Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts, Z58b (1672)
Henry Purcell was the organist at Westminster Abbey
from 1679 until his death in 1695. The text of Thou
knowest, Lord is from the Order of the Burial of the Dead,
in the Book of Common Prayer, first published in 1549.
These sentences are prescribed in the Order to be sung
or said as the coffin is made ready for interment. In the
State Funeral of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, they
were sung as the coffin was borne into Westminster
Cathedral. Purcell composed this setting (Z58b) in 1672,
possibly to be sung at the funeral of fellow composer,
Henry Cooke. The work was subsequently performed at
the funerals of Queen Mary II, Queen Elizabeth I and
Prince Philip. The manuscript, held in the British Library, is
one of the earliest documents known to be in Purcell’s
hand.
© Elizabeth Anderson, 2022
Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts;
Shut not thy merciful ears unto our pray'rs;
But spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty.
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O holy and most merciful Saviour, Thou most worthy
Judge eternal, Suffer us not at our last hour.
For any pains of death to fall away from Thee.
Giovanni Antonio (Canaletto) Canal (1697–1768), The Interior of Henry VII’s
Westminster Abbey (c.1730), oil on canvas, Museum of London
21

William Byrd
Born in Lincoln, 1543;
died in Stondon Massey, England, 4 July 1623
Gloria from the Mass for Four Voices (1592/93)
Byrd was old enough — along with his still older friend
Thomas Tallis — to have incurred the most searing blasts
of English religious controversy. Born in Henry VIII’s reign,
he was later a subject of the openly Protestant Edward
VI, the no less openly anti-Protestant Mary I, and the
compromising Anglicans Elizabeth I and James I.
Privately, Byrd held fast to the Roman rite, with all the
financial penalties and physical risks that this usually
involved under Elizabeth and James, though he enriched
Anglicanism’s repertoire also. His Mass for Four Voices
seems to have been written in 1592 or 1593, before either
his three-voice or his five- voice Mass settings. Like all of
Byrd’s pieces meant for adherents of the old faith, this
one would have been originally sung in secret by a small
group of performers, and probably softly sung at that,
since a forte rendition was simply asking for
governmental informers to come and kick the door down.
This work was sung in English at the Coronation of
Elizabeth II and in the original Latin at the recent
coronation of King Charles III.
Gloria in excelsis Deo
et in terra pax hominibus
bonae voluntatis.
Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to
people of good will.
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Laudamus te, benedicimus We praise You, we bless
te, adoramus te,
You, we adore You,
glorificamus te,
we glorify You,
gratias agimus tibi propter we give You thanks
magnam gloriam tuam, for Your great glory,
Domine Deus,
Lord God,
Rex caelestis,
heavenly King,
Deus Pater omnipotens. O God Almighty Father.
Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Lord Jesus Christ, only
Christe, Domine Deus, begotten Son, Lord God,
Agnus Dei,
Lamb of God,
Filius Patris, qui tollis
Son of the Father, You take
peccata mundi,
away the sins of the world,
miserere nobis; qui tollis have mercy on us; You take
peccata mundi,
away the sins of the world,
suscipe deprecationem receive our prayer;
nostram.
Qui sedes ad dexteram You are seated at the right
Patris,
hand of the Father,
miserere nobis.
have mercy on us.
Quoniam tu solus
For You alone are the Holy
Sanctus, tu solus
One, You alone are the
Dominus, tu solus
Lord, You alone are the
Altissimus, Jesu Christe, Most High, Jesus Christ,
cum Sancto Spiritu: in with the Holy Spirit, in the
gloria Dei Patris.
glory of God the Father.
Amen.
Amen.
23

TWO WORKS BY RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS OM
Born in Down Ampney, 12 October 1872;
died in London, 26 August 1958
O taste and see (1953)
Sanctus from the Communion Service in G Minor (1920/21)
These works were both heard during the coronation
service for HM Queen Elizabeth II, and O taste and see
was repeated at her funeral.
This work demonstrates that RVW could manage intimate
choral meditations quite as well as The Old Hundredth’s
big dramatic gestures. The introduction is the only time in
the piece where the organ can be heard. Thereafter the
choir performs a cappella, the concluding employment
of parallel octaves between sopranos and basses being
an unmistakable sign of Vaughan Williams’s authorship,
echoing as it does similar passages in his Mass in G Minor.
O taste and see how gracious the Lord is:
Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. Psalm 34:8
The Mass in G Minor was composed during 1922 at the
urging of Sir Richard Runciman Terry, choirmaster of
Westminster Cathedral. Around 1900, Terry and his
Westminster singers had begun systematically
resuscitating the sixteenth-century sacred repertoire,
then largely unknown in England. Byrd, Tallis, Palestrina,
Lassus, Victoria, John Taverner, Christopher Tye: these
were among the composers whom Terry revived.

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS BROWSE MORE CONCERTS
Vaughan Williams’s music reflects their influence, but is
by no means a mere imitation of them. It employs, for
instance, repeated consecutive fifths which they would
never have countenanced. Terry gave the work’s first
liturgical performance, but it had actually been heard
earlier (December 1922) in a secular context: Birmingham
Town Hall. Thanking the composer for his achievement,
Terry said: ‘I’m quite sincere when I say that it is the work
one has all along been waiting for. In your individual and
modern idiom you have really captured the old liturgical
spirit and atmosphere.’
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
Dominus Deus Sabaoth,
Pleni sunt caeli et terra
gloria tua.
Hosanna in excelsis.
Benedictus qui venit in
nomine Domini.
Hosanna in excelsis.
Holy, Holy, Holy,
Lord God of Hosts,
Heaven and earth are full
of Thy glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
THE OLD HUNDREDTH
Melody attributed to Louis Bourgeois (c.1510–c.1560),
arranged Rhys Boak
Ralph Vaughan Williams was commissioned to arrange
this sixteenth-century Genevan metrical psalm tune for
the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It was sung by the
choir and congregation as a hymn, both at the coronation
and at the service marking its 50th anniversary.
25

BOAK
BROWSE 2024 INTERNATIONAL SEASON
Rhys Boak, the organist for today’s program, is
responsible for this setting, along with the other brass
accompaniments performed today. Born in Melbourne,
he studied with John Mallinson and Douglas Lawrence
and was the organist of Douglas’s Choir of Ormond
College from 1998 to 2006. One of Australia’s busiest
organists, he performs here and internationally and has
released a number of recordings. His orchestrations and
arrangements can be heard on the Sony, Decca and Move
labels in performances by, among others, the English
Chamber Orchestra and Sir Richard Bonynge.
© Elizabeth Anderson, 2023
All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.
Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell;
Come ye before Him and rejoice.
The Lord, ye know, is God indeed;
Without our aid He did us make;
We are His folk, He doth us feed,
And for His sheep He doth us take.
O enter then His gates with praise;
Approach with joy His courts unto;
Praise, laud, and bless His Name always,
For it is seemly so to do.
26

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For why? the Lord our God is good;
His mercy is for ever sure;
His truth at all times firmly stood,
And shall from age to age endure.
To Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
The God Whom Heaven and earth adore,
From men and from the angel host
Be praise and glory evermore. Amen.
TWO WORKS BY SIR CHARLES HUBERT HASTINGS
PARRY
Born in Bournemouth, 27 February 1848;
died in Rustington, England, 7 October 1918
My soul, there is a country (1916/18)
I was glad (1902), arranged by Rhys Boak
Few indeed are the pieces in the vast corpus of Charles
Hubert Hastings Parry which have enjoyed such great
public appeal: the beloved, heaven-storming Jerusalem,
of course; Blest Pair of Sirens, where Parry achieved the
almost impossible by doing choral justice to words by
Milton (a poet so rich in ‘verbal music’ – Bernard Shaw’s
phrase about Shakespeare – as to defeat lesser
composers); and the anthem I was glad. At Edward VII’s
coronation it proved to be so popular among musicians
and listeners alike that all four British coronations since
then – 1911, 1937, 1953 and 2023 – have included it. So did
27

PARRY
BROWSE 2024 INTERNATIONAL SEASON
the weddings in 1981 of Prince Charles to Lady Diana
Spencer and in 2011 of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
British musicologist Keith Anderson supplies the
following summary of the work, which uses words from
Psalm 122:
The work starts with an introduction, originally
entrusted to the large orchestra employed for the
occasion, leading to the entry of the six-part choir
with the opening words. In the original coronation
version fanfares led to cries of Vivat from the King’s
Scholars of Westminster School ... with a shift of key
and mood for the semi-chorus O pray for the peace
of Jerusalem, before the march rhythm resumes and
the full choir sings ‘Peace be within Thy walls and
plenteousness within Thy palaces.’
Audiences might well find it hard to believe that the same
musical mind which conceived the swashbuckling pomp
of I was glad could also have created My soul, there is a
country; but so it did. Whereas I was glad epitomises the
public Parry - Parry the Composer Laureate, if you will -
My soul shines a light on the private Parry, much
influenced by metaphysics (above all German), at times
racked by self-doubt, and in his later years, no longer
able to subscribe to the straightforward Anglicanism of
his upbringing, yet still very much longing to believe. My
soul is the first in the published sequence for his six
Songs of Farewell (1914-1915). It employs words by the
seventeenth-century poet Henry Vaughan. Parry’s
28

PARRY
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biographer Jeremy Dibble calls it ‘superbly constructed,
metrically flexible and motivically concentrated.’
Variations of mood follow in quick succession,
intensified by the symbolic representation and contrast
of yearning (in 3/4 time) and peace (in 6/8). But perhaps
most memorable is the tonally oblique opening
statement which is characterised by its two-chord
phrases and rising intervals in the soprano part.’
My soul, there is a country,
Far beyond the stars,
Where stands a wingèd sentry,
All skillful in the wars.
There, above noise and danger,
Sweet Peace sits crowned with smiles,
And One born in a manger
Commands the beauteous files.
He is thy gracious Friend
And (O my soul, awake!)
Did in pure love descend,
To die here for thy sake.
If thou canst get but thither,
There grows the flower of peace,
The rose that cannot wither,
Thy fortress, and thy ease.
Leave, then, thy foolish ranges;
For none can thee secure
But One, who never changes,
Thy God, thy life, thy cure.
29

PARRY
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I was glad when they said unto me:
We will go into the house of the Lord.
Our feet shall stand in thy gates: O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is built as a city: that is at unity in itself.
For thither the tribes go up,
even the tribes of the Lord : to testify unto Israel,
to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord.
For there is the seat of judgement:
even the seat of the house of David.
Vivat Regina! Vivat Regina! Vivat Regina Camilla!
Vivat Rex! Vivat Rex! Vivat Rex Carolus!
O pray for the peace of Jerusalem :
they shall prosper that love thee.
Peace be within thy walls:
and plenteousness within thy palaces.
For my brethren and companions' sakes:
I will wish thee prosperity.
Yea, because of the house of the Lord our God:
I will seek to do thee good.
Program notes © RJ Stove, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2023,
except where otherwise stated
30
Today’s program is made
possible by the generous
assistance of the
Robert Salzer Foundation

You have been listening to
SOPRANO
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Cornelia Elmelid
Alex Hedt or Sarah Amos
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Kate McBride*
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Melissa Lee
Isobel Todd
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* Denotes soloist
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