St Andrew’s Church,
Aston-sub-Edge, Gloucestershire

The Changing
Scenes of Life

Saturday 4th May 2013

with

Immanuel’s
GROUND
Warwick’s West Gallery Quire

Readings are taken from The King James Bible;
Works Serious & Comical in Prose & Verse by Thomas Brown, (9th ed.pub. 1760);
Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy (pub. 1872); Old Oak by Rev’d John Linnell (pub. 1932).

Opening Music
Tunes: Hebron, or Sweet Home, and The Sheep-Shearing.

Psalm 34 NV – Through all the changing scenes of life
From the New Version of the Psalms, to the tune ‘Wiltshire’ by Joseph Stephenson (1723-1810), for 42 years Clerk to the Unitarian Chapel in Poole, Dorset.

The Seasons Anthem – Settings of Psalm 147, paraphrased by Isaac Watts,
Music by Elisha West (1802), Daniel Read (1785) and Joseph Stone (c 1788), all from New England.

Round – ‘She who lies here’
Music by John Wall Calcott (1766-1821) from Vol. 3 of the collection of the Composer's Glees, Canons and Catches compiled by William Horsley in 1824. Originally scored for four high voices, this setting has been rearranged for Immanuel’s Ground.

Song – ‘Oxen Ploughing’
Possibly one of the songs in which plough boys sang their own praises in the course of their procession through the streets on ‘Plough Monday’ (the first Monday after Twelfth Night).

Glee – ‘Orpheus with his lute made trees’
Words quoted in Shakespeare's Henry VIII, Act III scene 1, and set to music by Garrett Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington, (1735-1781), from Warren’s 19th Collection of Catches, Canons and Glees.

Carol – ‘Candlemas Eve’ – Down with the Rosemary and Bays
Robert Herrick’s poem set to music by an unknown church composer, and found by Rev’d L T J Darwell in an unknown Dorset manuscript.

Psalm – ‘Kingsbridge’ – Rejoice ye shining worlds on high
An arrangement of an unknown tune by Aaron Williams (1731-1776), set to Watts’ version of Psalm 24.  Williams was a Welsh teacher, composer, and compiler, active in England during the 18th century. Heserved as clerk of the Presbyterian Scots Church, London Wall.

Hymn for Good Friday – Dear Saviour O what ails this heart?
The tune is by James Evison of Kent (1747). The text was first used by Thomas Playford in 1701.

Hymn – ‘Walpole’ – Oh, if my soul was formed for woe
Music published by Abraham Wood in 1793. He was born and died in Northborough, Massachusetts, and a fuller by trade, who led the town's choir for 32 years. He was a drummer during the War of Independence.

Anthem – ‘Easter Anthem’
Music by William Billings (1746-1800), the first New England composer to publish his own book of music for psalm singing. The words are by Edward Young, the English poet (1681-1765), taken from ‘Night Thoughts’, (The Complaint, or Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality) published in 1742.
 

I N T E R V A L

Instrumental
Tunes: The Ploughboy and King Pippin Polka.

Psalm – ‘Rainbow’ – 'Tis by thy strength the mountains stand
Psalm 65, paraphrased by Isaac Watts, the music is by Timothy Swan (1758-1842), of Massachusetts and Connecticut. He was a hatter and milliner by trade, teaching singing schools in his spare time, and started composing in the New England style at the early age of 16.

Hymn – ‘Washington’ – Lord when thou didst ascend on high
The tune is by William Billings, and the words are by Isaac Watts, 1719. It first appeared in Billings's The Singer Master's Assistant, Boston, 1778, and its first publication in England was in 1805, when Dr Addington’s 13 former publications of Psalm and Hymn Tunes were republished with ‘additions and improvements’.

Instrumental Dance Tune – ‘The Triumph’
Allison Thompson (Dancing Through Time, 1998) describes the dance as one in which "the man leads, not his own partner, but his neighbour's partner down the length of the set, while her own partner follows jealously behind them. All three dancers then turn, and the lucky lady processes back to her place, while the two rival gentlemen hold hands in a triumphal arch over her head. The three-some figure of the dance mirrors the love triangle perfectly".

Psalm 128 – The Wedding Psalm
No wedding was complete without singing the wedding psalm, and this version is taken from Jonathan Gibbons’ MS book, from Castor, nr Peterborough, 1786. It is a resetting by William East in 1750 of an earlier tune written by Michael Beesly of Wootton, Oxfordshire, in 1746.

Psalm – ‘Cedar’
Isaac Watts’ versification of Psalm 92, with music by Thomas Clark (1809). Thomas Clark was "conductor of the music at the Wesleyan Chapel, Canterbury, and latterly of the Unitarian Chapel, Canterbury". He was a boot and shoe maker by trade, but became one of the most prolific English psalmodists of the early nineteenth century.

Song – The Farmer’s Toast
A setting of traditional words by Mike Bailey, MD of our sister west gallery quire from Winchester, The Madding Crowd.
       Join in with the chorus -
            I have lawns, I have bowers, I have fields, I have flowers,
            And the lark is my daily alarmer.
            So it’s jolly boys, now, Here’s Godspeed the plough,
            Long life and success to the Farmer.

Anthem – taken from Psalm 65
This is a short early 18th century setting of Psalm 65, taken from a Matthew Wilkins’ Introduction to Psalmody, published c1750. The setting itself has been traced back to about 1723, although by the time of Wilkins’ book, had been shorn of some of the other solos which preceded the final chorus.

Hymn – ‘Harvest Home’
The words are by Joseph Hinchsliffe, written in 1797 for the use of Methodist Chapels in and around Sheffield, Rotherham and Nottingham. Music possibly by a David Ellis of Mirfield near Leeds, found in a newly discovered manuscript book once owned by John Sugden of Saltersforth, which was in 1843 in Lancashire, but now in Yorkshire.

Anthem – Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden
The music by Thomas Clark of Canterbury, and the words are Matthew 11:25-30 (King James Version).

Glee – ‘Avon’
Based on Hymn 295 in the Surrey Chapel Collection, this glee is by C W Bannister. Although the words are secular they carry a very spiritual message

Hymn – ‘Gibraltar’ – On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cryT
he music is set to a tune called Gibraltar, of which several versions are known in west gallery MSS. This comes from one of two manuscript quire books rescued from a Help the Aged charity shop in Malvern, and originated from the village of Marsh Gibbon in Buckinghamshire. They belonged to Richard Herring.

Carol – ‘The Black Decree’
Collected in 1997 from the singing of Charley Bream in the Forest of Dean, by Bob Patten and the late Andrew Taylor.

Carol – ‘Song of the Angels’ – While shepherds watched their flocks by night
The words are by Nahum Tate (1702) and the music by William Knapp, of Poole, Dorset (1753)
 

Immanuel’s Ground, Warwick’s west gallery quire, is a costumed group of singers and instrumentalists who perform music of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, reviving the psalmody and hymnody of the rural parish church from around 200 years ago, so much beloved of Thomas Hardy and exemplified in his novels and poetry. This raw and exciting music is genuinely "music of the people" and also found its way into the independent chapels, before being lost and almost forgotten by the beginning of the twentieth century. Our repertoire also includes secular music from the Georgian period and psalmody from the American tradition in the same era, taking to heart the  nstruction of John Wesley to "sing lustily and with good courage".

Formed in Autumn 2001, the Quire currently has some 30 singers, plus one or two instruments on each part (SATB). Members of the Quire come from all over the Heart of England and meet to rehearse at Northgate Methodist Church, Warwick, on the second, fourth and fifth Wednesdays of each month. The Quire has appeared at events sacred and secular, including church services, carol concerts, the Bromsgrove Proms, Harvest Festival day at Cogges Rural Museum, Witney, and the Nelson bicentenary celebrations at Burton Dassett church. We also run an annual Workshop Day featuring music by local composers, and another on local carols. On the educational side, we have helped create a music and history video for schools, and are working with a local music hub in order to develop curriculum materials for schoolchildren.

As a West Gallery Quire, we are available for services of Evensong from the Prayer Book, concerts of English and American Psalmody, and as Christmas approaches, carol concerts, services, workshops, etc. For more information go to www.immanuelsground.com or telephone 01926 - 512340.