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:

sjhardy28@gmail.com 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.

contactphilprice@yahoo.co.uk. Non electronic submissions also welcome on paper at any rehearsal.