St Peter’s Choir
About this week’s music
This week’s Mass setting is the Communion Service in A and E, written in the early 20th century by Thomas 1867-1953). The anthem is O Lord, in Thy Wrath, by Orlando Gibbons.
Thomas Tertius Noble was appointed to the position of Organist of York Minster Communion in 1898, and in 1913 moved to New York, where he established the choir school at St Thomas’s Church Fifth Avenue, and remained for the rest of his career. His Communion Service in A and E is a short and charming setting of the Mass texts, very typical of a sadly neglected musical period.
Orlando Gibbons was probably the preeminent English composer of the generations that followed William Byrd, and his early death in Canterbury, probably from a brain haemorrhage, robbed England of one of its finest composers. For the last eighteen months of his life he was Organist of Westminster Abbey, and though he died young his influence was very significant – he taught music to his son Christopher, who went on to teach Pelham Humfrey, John Blow and Henry Purcell. Interestingly, the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould compared Gibbons’ keyboard music to that of Beethoven, and said that he was his favourite composer. O Lord In Thy Wrath sets words from Psalm 6. It is written for six voices, and clearly shows the increasing influence of the secular madrigal on sacred music, with rhetorical touches like removing the lower parts, leaving the upper voices exposed for the phrase ‘for I am weak’ , as well as the repetition five times of the words ‘O save me’, each repetition coming with increasing harmonic intensity.
About the St Peter’s Choir
Founded in 1847, the choir of St Peter's Eastern Hill is one of the oldest continuing Anglican church choirs in Australia.
Music plays an important part in the liturgical life of St Peter’s, with the choir singing at High Mass on Sundays as well as regular Evensongs. Our repertoire ranges from Plainsong to more recent liturgical settings, with a range of familiar and lesser-known composers. We are particularly enjoying re-discovering English Communion settings of the late 19th and early 20th century, alongside the great Mass settings of the Renaissance.
Membership is made up of volunteers, professional musicians, and a quartet of Foundation Scholars who are studying singing at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. The Church recently launched the music foundation to support this endeavour and to provide opportunities for young up-and-coming singers to develop their performance experience while contributing to our liturgy; if you would like more information about this, or to support this vital ministry, please contact the Director of Music, Christopher Watson.
Join the choir
The choir rehearses at 9 am for a 10.30 am service, with no mid-week rehearsal or other commitment. We encourage amateur singers who wish to sing regularly or occasionally to get in touch with our Director of Music, Christopher Watson, to arrange an audition.