Frederick Stocken’s setting of the Prayer of St Richard of Chichester will be broadcast live on BBC Radio3 this Wednesday, as the Introit to the service of Choral Evensong from Chichester Cathedral, at 3.30pm GMT. (NB This post written in November 2015)
This piece was originally commissioned for the installation of the new Dean of Chichester earlier this year, and I was privileged to be there – more about the commission, the composer, and the first performance, here.
Radio 3’s broadcasting of Choral Evensong is the longest continuously running BBC radio programme, begun in 1926 and broadcast from different locations every week. (More about the series from the BBC here.) If you miss the live broadcast on Wednesday you can catch up on BBC iPlayer for the next month.
The Anglican service of Choral Evensong has been in the news here lately – for lots of good reasons. It speaks to both people of faith and people of none, with its combination of music, Christian scriptures and poetry. It can be described as an English art form, part of our cultural heritage as well as a religious experience – the service was born of the English Reformation, is sung in English, and the music is predominantly that of English-speaking composers. And it’s free, of course.
Yesterday I attended Choral Evensong at Hampstead Parish Church in north London – one of many services that day at which a website was blessed – yes! possibly the first time in the history of the English church, and not only in Hampstead, but also at Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St Mary’s Edinburgh, St David’s in Wales, Southwark Cathedral….. However Hampstead was where the idea and the energy for choralevensong.org came from, a website which allows you to find a service of choral evensong near you, and also, for churches, to upload their own service details: some insight too, into the history, music, and structure of choral evensong for those less familiar with the tradition, from project director Guy Hayward.
You can follow the ChoralEvensong.org team on Twitter @ChoralEvensong
Full details of Wednesday’s live broadcast of Choral Evensong on BBC Radio 3:
Weds 25th November
15.30 GMT
Chichester Cathedral
Introit: Prayer of St Richard of Chichester (Frederick Stocken)
Responses: Smith
Office Hymn: The Lord is King (Yanworth)
Psalm 119 vv.73-104 (Walker, Cooke, Pye, Attwood)
First Lesson: Jeremiah 31 vv.1-9
Canticles: Sixth Service (Weelkes)
Second Lesson: Matthew 15 vv.21-31
Anthem: Great Lord of Lords (Gibbons)
Final Hymn: Christ triumphant, ever reigning (Guiting Power)
Organ Voluntary: Fantasia and Fugue in C minor BWV 537 (Bach)
Organist and Master of the Choristers: Charles Harrison
Assistant Organist: Timothy Ravalde
