Upbeat No.14 June 2016
Doctor’s Notes….. by Francis Roads
Some West Gallery quires specialise in recreating
services as they might have been in town and country
churches in the West Gallery era, which is roughly
1700-1850. To this end they may wear what they
regard as appropriate costume, and research carefully
how things might have been done in those days.
Good luck to them; but my interest is in West Gallery
music for the 21st century, that is to say adapting the
music to the needs of modern worship. In doing so, I
nurse the hope that some churches might wish to
adopt some of our wonderful repertoire for their own
regular use.
London Gallery Quire performs in the manner made
familiar by the writings of Thomas Hardy. That is to
say, we have a four part choir accompanied by instru-
mentalists who double the voice parts, and play the
instrumental interludes or “symphonies”, where these
are provided by composers. But this is by no means
the only possible performance style. There is much to
be said for it, as any singers whose sight reading may
not be perfect can learn their parts by focussing their
hearing on the particular instrument that is playing
their part. That is a whole lot easier than trying to
pick out ones part from a piano or organ, especially
for the altos and tenors. As the psalmist says,
“Behold, thou requirest truth in the inward
parts…” (Psalm 51 verse 6).
But our style is by no means the only one. Much
West Gallery music, especially in the earlier period,
was sung unaccompanied. That style may suit only
the more able modern church choirs. And it was also
performed with keyboard accompaniment, as is evi-
denced by the frequent appearance of figured bass in
printed editions. Furthermore, when appearing in full
score, the music usually has the air or main melody
printed on the third stave down, above the bass line,
to assist keyboard players in improvising an accom-
paniment. So there is no reason whatsoever why
modern church choirs and congregations should not
sing West Gallery music with organ accompaniment.
Our way of doing it is not the only way.
And if you want West Gallery music with organ ac-
companiment provided, there are about 400 such
pieces on my own website at http://
www.rodingmusic.co.uk/downloads/dlpage.htm . (Or
just Google Roding Music.) They may all be freely
downloaded and copied for amateur use without re-
striction. And if you need any help in finding or us-
ing them, just ask!
Continued page 2
The Newsletter of
the London Gallery Quire
LGQ recreates the iconic image of a West Gallery quire in full voice—an inspired idea by our secretary Stella.....photo by Brian Stewart
Reviews: Rotherhithe
Sunday 10th April by Alan Franks
Best not to overdo the comparisons between a perilous sea
voyage and a demanding piece of choral music, but I just
can’t resist the temptation. There we were at St. Mary the
Virgin in Rotherhithe, which is sometimes referred to as the
Mayflower Church as the ship of that name set off for
Southampton from the nearby wharf in 1620. Above us was
the roof like an upturned boat; around us the pillars of mast-
trees encased in plaster; outside, the grave of the ship’s
captain Christopher Jones; before us on our Evensong list,
Thomas Williams’ Magnificat.
Like the voyage to the New World, the piece was – indeed,
is – long, full of challenges and hazards, and as changeable
Now...
Then...
as the ocean. Our rehearsals for it spanned two
months, which is about the time it took the Pilgrim
Fathers to make their crossing. During this period
there was an all-hands-on-deck moment for the nego-
tiating of a particularly fiendish bass passage.
For a still-junior crew member (five years) of HMS
LGQ, these waters were on the uncharted side, with
perhaps as many shifts of key and tempo, elusive
lines and tricky entries as any I have encountered in
the Quire’s repertoire (total at the time of writing,
529). Captain Roads had flagged up an early warning
of these ice-bergs.
Our other Williams piece, the Nunc Dimittis, was a
breeze by comparison, bearing a sort of rebate for all
the hard work in the form of a Gloria identical to that
of the Magnificat. We were more numerous than on
my previous visits to St. Mary’s, when we had occu-
pied, in almost nautically cramped circumstances, the
gallery. This time we were looking back up at it from
the body of the church, which meant we had a daz-
zling view of an instrument widely regarded as West
Gallery music’s nemesis.
Respect is due however, for here stands the organ
installed by John Byfield in 1764. It is among the
finest examples of eighteenth century organ building,
with tonal qualities thought to be undimmed since its
installation. Though it did not arrive until five years
after Handel’s death, it sound is much as it would
have been heard by the great composer’s surviving
contemporaries.
Our programme included Samuel Arnold’s rousing
setting of Charles Wesley's Our Lord is Risen From
The Dead. This came immediately after the Thomas
pieces and the Quire attacked it with the enthusiasm
of travellers freshly landed on familiar shores. We
also did the lilting, more suave setting by Phocion
Henley of Psalm 113 (Ye Saints and Servants of the
Lord); and the full-blooded Good Christian Men Re-
joice and Sing, text by Cyril Allington, music by
Melchior Vulpius.
Review: Rotherhithe Continued with two sister churches, St. Paul’s and Holy Trinity.
This has been a site of worship for some seven hundred
years, when the area was as full of bushes as its name,
derived from the Old French boisseie, suggests.
In such contexts West Gallery music comes across as
downright youthful, but then it always does, by virtue of
its vigour and enthusiasm. We’re used to it of course, but
to those who are not it can come as a surprise. I have
never seen this more vividly demonstrated than in our
opening item, “Through all the changing scenes of life”,
from the text of Psalm 34, set to the eighteenth century
composer Joseph Stephenson’s tune Wiltshire. Even by
W.G.’s standards this is a full-throated affirmation of
faith, and I could detect some benign wincing, even in the
distant rows, as its force and its revivalist echoes hit them
full in the face. Goodness how they clapped at the end of
it, so much so that when the conductor Kathryn Rose,
deputising for the pre-committed Francis Roads, asked
them to save their applause for the end of the recital, she
must have shortened our running time by several minutes.
Then came the (comparatively) restrained Isaac Watts
version of Psalm 47, “O for a shout of sacred joy,” fol-
lowed by the (relatively) solemn “Give the king thy
judgements, O Lord”, from Psalm 72. The music for this
reflective, much shifting anthem was by William Knapp
who, along with such as Thomas Clark and Joseph Key,
is among the LGQ members’ most regularly featured
composers. He is also one of the most popular, even if
my survey has for obvious reasons been restricted to the
tenor section.
Knapp of course wrote a hit hymn tune called Wareham,
named after the Dorset town where he was born. Seeing
as Joseph Stephenson, twenty-five years his junior, was
clerk of a Unitarian congregation in Poole, just up what is
now the A351, and where Knapp was parish clerk of St.
James’, it was impossible not to seek, and even find, in-
fluences. Certainly Knapp gave Stephenson his blessing,
writing a complimentary endorsement of the latter in Ste-
phenson’s book, Church Harmony Sacred to Devotion,
published in 1757.
Clark too was with us in Bushey, through his anthem,
“Behold, God is my salvation.” This has proved a pecu-
liarly demanding but proportionately rewarding piece, all
the way from the rhythmic quirks of the opening bars to
the breakneck rigours of the closing ones.
Kathryn Rose was, as ever, present in many guises, as
conductor, keeper of the serpent, and composer, on this
occasion the maker of a gloriously melancholy setting of
William Cooper’s “The Lord will happiness divine.”
Room too for the congregation on Watts' “O for a thou-
sand tongues to sing” to Thomas Jarman’s Lyngham, and
“This is the day the Lord hath made”, to Anthony
Greatrix’s beautifully woven Birmingham. If there is a
better fuguing tune in our repertoire, I have yet to find it.
At the risk of labouring the metaphor, it infects its singers
and its hearers with a desire to follow where it leads.
Reviews: Bushey
Saturday 4th June By Alan Franks
One of the less-sung pleasures of LGQ membership
is the opportunity for travel. All within the girdle of
the M25 of course, but nonetheless full of far-flung
suburbs with credible claims to a village identity.
Until June 11th I had only experienced Bushey as a
blurred station half an hour from Euston as the train
starts to brake for Watford.
St. James the Apostle, gratifyingly full for our visit,
is at the heart of the community, sharing its duties
Follow the London Gallery Quire
on Facebook!
Sign language is naturally very visual and expressive, and I
find it a wonderful way to worship God. Hearing and Deaf
both enjoy the BSL carol service and it is a blessing to be
able to share the Christmas message together.
Example translation:
English: Once in royal David’s city stood a lowly cattle
shed
BSL: Long ago, King David, his city, cattle shed,
humble, there (i.e. in his city)
For more information about the Deaf Christian community
in London, visit https://londondeafchurch.com/ or ask me.
The Silent Choir by Beatrice Osborn
I am learning
British Sign
Language, the
language used by
the Deaf
community in the
UK. I am
currently studying
for Level 6 BSL;
the next stage for
me will be to train
as an interpreter.
Every year the
Chaplain for the
Deaf and Deaf-
blind in the
Church of England Diocese of London organises a
BSL Carol Service, hosted by The Church of the
Annunciation, Marble Arch. The service is sign
language led but has voice over for the text parts and
a regular choir and organ for the carols. For the last
two years, I have led the Sign Choir in signing the
congregational carols.
The Sign Choir is made up of Deaf and hearing
people who know at least some sign language. We
meet for three or four rehearsals in the weeks
beforehand. This involves looking at the English
words, thinking about their meaning, especially the
older hymns, and how to translate them into BSL.
BSL is a language in its own right, with its own
grammar and structure so, as with any translation,
there are many different ways of representing English
text in BSL. There is also the added complexity of
wanting to keep more or less in step with the English
as the carols are sung in English at the same time as
being signed. So we end up with a balance between
pure BSL, making the meaning clear, and following
the English word order. A further consideration is the
different Christian traditions which have their own
variations on Christian signs. For example, we chose
to use the Catholic sign for Mary and the Protestant
sign for Christ.
For the service, the choir stands on a platform facing
the congregation and I sit in the front pew facing
them, so I can indicate when the organ starts and
when to start signing. The choir follow my signing,
to stay in step with the music and with each other.
Last time I tried to describe the religious background to the
development of West Gallery music. What about the words they
sang? Most of the Puritans had been great singers of metrical
psalms, usually in the “Old Version” of Sterndale and Hopkins.
But in 1696 Tate and Brady published what became known as the
“New Version”. Brady was a clergyman and Tate a well-known
literary figure, and their version would no doubt have been more
attractive to parish churches. Tunes were a minor consideration.
Most texts were in common metre, and congregations were
generally content to sing new words (if they were interested in new
words at all) to any tune in their repertoire that fitted.
But an even more significant event was the publication, in the first
decade of the new century, of a large number of metrical psalms
and hymns by Isaac Watts. Watts was a Congregationalist
educated at the Dissenting Academy in Stoke Newington. Born in
1674, he came from a staunch Puritan family. He was a natural
rhymer; when chastised by his father for writing “A little mouse,
for want of stairs/Ran up a rope to say its prayers”, he pleaded
“Father, father, pity take /And I will no more verses make”. Apart
from the sheer number of his compositions, and their obvious
quality, his output is notable in two ways. First, he “Christianised”
the psalms – that is, he believed that David, their author, had not
realised how they prefigured Christ, and in his paraphrases he drew
out what he considered to be the true meaning. (Also, like many of
his Puritan ancestors he didn’t hesitate to equate the Holy Land
with Britain, and the Chosen People with the British, often with
results which sound hilarious to us today). Secondly, he dared to
leave scripture behind and write original hymns, many of them
quite unlike the psalms in their deeply personal appeal. Thus he
writes not just about the wondrous cross but about the fact that he
surveys it, Christ died for him, and he must respond.
Watts’s compositions appealed first to his fellow-
Congregationalists, then to Dissenters generally, and eventually
spread into the established church. Many, of course, nobody could
object to on grounds of theology or churchmanship. He was by
inclination ecumenically minded. But in other hymns, his spiritual
heritage is clear. Thus when he writes that “We’re marching
through Immanuel’s ground/To fairer worlds on high”, or “Here
pardoned rebels sit and hold/Communion with their Lord” it is not
hard to hear the echoes of bygone conflicts.
With all these new and exciting texts to sing, it can hardly be a
surprise that new tunes appeared. The development of what we
now call West Gallery singing traditions is beyond the scope of this
article, but at least we have looked at some of the conditions which
encouraged it.
How Did It All Start? 2 By Adrian West
LONDON GALLERY QUIRE AND FRIENDS
Church Crawl
Saturday 17th September 2016 from 10:30a.m.
All Saints Margaret Street, W1W 8JG 10.30
The Welsh Church, 30 Eastcastle Street, W1W 8DJ 11.45
St Giles in the Fields, WC2H 8LG 2.30
St George Bloomsbury, WC1A 2SA 4.00.
On London Open House day we have organised visits to the four churches above to make music from our book ‘Your
Voices Raise’. If you wish to join our day of West Gallery Music making, we would ask that you purchase a copy of our
book at a cost of £8 or £10 to include postage and packing to be delivered before 10th September. Please indicate on the
attached form if you require to purchase a book on the day. The book contains 56 favourite items from the repertoire of the
quire. If you wish to lead any of the items from ‘Your Voices Raise’ please specify which items on the attached form
below.
There is no charge for the day but we will be passing a hat round to make a collection which will enable us to make
donations to each of the churches we visit.
We will be walking from church to church so suitable footwear and clothing should be worn, of course, period costumes
would be fun should folk wish to wear them. The first church is equidistant between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court
Road tube stations it is at the Well Street end of Margaret Street.
If you would like to take part, please let Stella know:
[email protected] 32 Whiteadder Way, London E14 9UR
Please specify soprano, alto, tenor or bass voice and/or instrument, and whether you wish to purchase a
copy of our song book Your Voices Raise (£10)
The rehearsal dates for next term will be:-
September 14 & 28 October 12 & 26 November 9, 23 & 30
We will be providing music for :-
An evening concert at the Barn Church, Kew on Saturday 1st October
• An evening concert at West Ham Parish Church on Saturday 12th November
• A Christmas concert on Wednesday evening 7th December
From Francis
Road’s private
collection of
West Gallery
music.
LGQ Upbeat—The Newsletter of the London Gallery Quire Edited by Phil Price
If you have news, a viewpoint, or an interesting musical activity or story, your contribution is very welcome.
[email protected]. Non electronic submissions also welcome on paper at any rehearsal.