English Church Music vol2: Canticles & Responses

CONTENTS 1. Blair

CONTENTS 1. Blair Magnificat in B minor 2 1a. Nunc dimittis in B minor 11 2. Byrd Magnificat (Second Service) 15 2a. Nunc dimittis (Second Service) 23 3. Dyson Magnificat in D minor 28 3a. Nunc dimittis in D 31 4. Gibbons Magnificat (Short Service) 33 4a. Nunc dimittis (Short Service) 40 5. Gibbons Magnificat (Second Service) 44 5a. Nunc dimittis (Second Service) 55 6. Hooper Magnificat (Short Service) 61 6a. Nunc dimittis (Short Service) 69 7. Howells Magnificat in B minor 73 7a. Nunc dimittis in B minor 84 8. Noble Magnificat in B minor 90 8a. Nunc dimittis in B minor 99 9. Purcell Magnificat in G minor 104 9a. Nunc dimittis in G minor 112 10. Stanford Magnificat in A 116 10a. Nunc dimittis in A 129 11. Stanford Magnificat in B flat 136 11a. Nunc dimittis in B flat 144 12. Stanford Magnificat in C 148 12a. Nunc dimittis in C 155 13. Stanford Magnificat in G 159 13a. Nunc dimittis in G 171 14. Tippett Magnificat (Collegium Sancti Johannis Cantabrigiense) 176 14a. Nunc dimittis (Collegium Sancti Johannis Cantabrigiense) 188 15. Walmisley Magnificat in D minor 192 15a. Nunc dimittis in D minor 202 16. Walton Magnificat (the Chichester Service) 206 16a. Nunc dimittis (the Chichester Service) 216 17. Wood Magnificat in E flat (Second setting) 220 17a. Nunc dimittis in E flat (Second setting) 228 for online perusal only 18. Stanford Te Deum in C 232 18a. Jubilate Deo in C 245 19. Vaughan Williams Te Deum in G 250 20. Walton Jubilate Deo 262 21. Ayleward Preces and Responses 271 22. Byrd Preces and Responses 276 23. Ebdon Preces and Responses 280 24. Jackson Preces and Responses 283 25. Radcliffe Preces and Responses 288 26. Smith Preces and Responses 293 27. Tomkins Preces and Responses 297 28. Farmer The Lord’s Prayer 302 29. Stone The Lord’s Prayer 304 30. Howells Three Psalm Chants (1972) 305 31. Howells Four Psalm Chants (1974) 306 32. Sanders The Reproaches 307 33. An Order for Compline 314 Commentary 320 Index of orchestrations 330

PREFACE The aim of the Oxford Choral Classics series is to offer choirs a practical and inexpensive working library of standard repertoire in new, reliable editions. The majority of works are classics of the repertoire, but also included are pieces of music that are less widely known but are of especial value. Inevitably, any such anthology reflects the personal perspective of its editor, and for this second volume of English church music, for which there is such a fine and varied range of repertoire from across more than five centuries, the available selection could once again easily have filled several volumes. Cornerstones of the repertoire, including the four principal evening services by Stanford and masterpieces by Byrd and Gibbons, are set alongside equally fine works from the Renaissance, Restoration, and early and later Romantic periods, as well as more recently composed settings. Among these come a handful of surprises. Many will be familiar with Hugh Blair’s famous setting in B minor of the evening canticles, but choirs may be unaware that the version they usually sing was substantially altered at a later date by Ivor Atkins; here Blair’s original is presented. No volume of English church music could be complete without the music of Herbert Howells; here we turn to his exquisite but less frequently heard B minor setting of 1955. In researching Howells’s works, seven previously unpublished psalm chants came to notice, and are here put into print for the first time. Another intention was to cater for a variety of choral abilities, with works ranging from George Dyson’s wonderfully melodic unison setting (transposed into a higher key) to Services by Tippett and Walton, with their greater, but by no means insuperable, challenges. A parallel aim was to provide, across the two volumes, a comprehensive choral collection for the growing number of guest choirs at cathedrals who may not have their own choral library, enabling them to perform music for a substantial number of services. Although the evening canticles occupy much of the collection, the volume also includes two settings each of the Jubilate and Te Deum, for use at Matins or as anthems at other services. At the other end of the day, the sung service of Compline is resurgent, so one possible order of service has been included, with the plainsong notated in a manner accessible to all choirs. For services in Holy Week, John Sanders’s fine Reproaches have also been included. The selection of Preces and Responses for Evensong not only covers five centuries but also includes settings in both sharp and flat keys to aid tonal transition within the musical flow of a service. For the pre-twentieth-century Responses, which do not include a harmonized Lord’s Prayer, Stone’s and Farmer’s settings are provided. These have been re-texted to make them suitable for today’s liturgy, but Farmer’s original wording of four hundred years ago is also indicated. The specific parameters followed have been these: 1. The period covered ranges from around 1550 to the present day, although copyright considerations have limited the scope of the later twentieth-century music included. A parallel intention has been to present a representative selection of music from each century. 2. Most canticle settings, when accompanied, were written with organ in mind. For reasons of space, and also for practicality within services, settings intended to be performed with orchestral accompaniment have been excluded—hence the omission, for instance, of fine works by Purcell, Handel, and their contemporaries. However, all four of Stanford’s fine evening settings were orchestrated by the composer (indeed, the setting in A was orchestrated before the more familiar organ version was prepared), and those orchestral versions are now available, newly edited from original sources, on hire/rental from the publisher or appropriate agent, as is Stanford’s Te Deum, in his version for brass and timpani. Editorial practice for online perusal only The policy of the Oxford Choral Classics series is to use primary sources, printed or in manuscript, wherever possible, and this has resulted in the elimination of some long-standing errors. In presenting the editions, the aim is first and foremost to serve the practical needs of non-specialist choirs, keeping the music pages as clean and uncluttered as possible, though not neglecting the needs of the scholar. Prefatory staves are given for pre-1700 sources, and references to clefs and pitch follow the standard conventions. Note values in early pieces have generally been reduced to give a q pulse; pitches have been transposed to suit standard voice ranges; editorial barring has been shown in a modern, standard way; and key signatures have been modernized. v