It’s that exciting time of year again – the new term has started and we are enthusiastically preparing for our first concert, which will be a wonderful selection of pieces by J.S. Bach, Orlando Gibbons, C.V. Stanford, Hubert Parry and Owain Park. Conducted by the marvellous Richard Roddis, it should prove to be a delightfully absorbing evening of music.
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (1848 – 1918), born in Bournemouth, was a historian of music, as well as a composer and teacher.
He was director of the Royal College of Music (he succeeded George Grove), from January 1895 until his death, and among his students were Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst. Stanford (his contemporary) described Parry as the ‘greatest English composer since Purcell’ and Parry dedicated Blest Pair of Sirens to him.
We are performing one of his pieces called There is an Old Belief, from the set of six choral motets Songs of Farewell. This was sung in St Paul’s Cathedral at Parry’s funeral. The texts are by British poets but there is also one psalm included. The motets were composed during the First World War, when some of Parry’s students were being killed in action. Parry was deeply affected by this and full of despair because he was actually a Germanophile and could not believe that Britain and Germany could be at war. He indeed wrote a book about J.S. Bach and admired him greatly.
Born in Dublin to a musical family, Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 – 1924) attended the University of Cambridge and also studied music in Leipzig and Berlin. He was one of the founding professors at the Royal College of Music and he, along with Parry and others, was considered by some writers and critics of the time to be one of the main figures in a hypothetical development – the English Musical Renaissance, where British composers could rival those of mainland Europe. We will be performing his sublime Beati Quorum Via (Blessed are those that are undefiled), which is one of a collection of three sacred motets based on Latin texts.
Orlando Gibbons (1583 – 1625) was part of a musical family and a very well-known organist and composer in England. He wrote a large number of keyboard works, in addition to madrigals, verse anthems and fantasias for viols. We will be singing his beautiful O Lord in Thy Wrath. King James I and Prince Charles both supported him and he gained the prestigious appointment as organist at Westminster Abbey. His son, Christopher, taught by him, actually went on to teach Henry Purcell.
The very talented Owain Park was born in Bristol in 1993. He studied orchestration with John Rutter and is Composer-in-Residence with the London Choral Sinfonia. His compositions have been recorded and performed internationally and he directs and sings in the vocal ensemble, The Gesualdo Six, which debuted at the BBC Proms in 2023. He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and was Senior Organ Scholar at Wells Cathedral and Trinity College, Cambridge. In autumn 2026, he will assume the post of Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers. We will be performing his superbly crafted version of Beati Quorum Via, which was written for the Countess of Wessex and the Choir of Wells Cathedral, performed in 2014.
Our main piece for the evening will be Jesu, Meine Freude (BWV 227) by J.S. Bach, composed possibly in 1723 but experts are debating this. It is a motet for a five-part mixed choir, comprising eleven movements. As one of Bach’s longest and most complex motets, it has a symmetrical structure, centring on a five-part fugue as the 6th movement. The first and last movements have the same music, creating a satisfying frame around the whole work. The expressive word painting also beautifully enhances the juxtaposed emotional and biblical meanings. It is named after the Lutheran hymn Jesu, Meine Freude, with words by Johann Franck, first published in 1653. The hymn is written in the first person, which underlines a more personal connection to Jesus. The odd-numbered movements of Bach’s motet contain the six stanzas of the hymn, and the hymn tune by Johann Crüger appears in these movements in different chorale settings. The text of the motet’s even-numbered movements is taken from the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, which influenced Lutheran teachings.
Linking to our featured composers, the talented Michael Overbury will be treating us to some interesting organ solos, composed by C.V. Stanford Postlude on a Theme of Orlando Gibbons (Song 22) op. 105 and J.S. Bach (two settings of Jesu, Meine Freude BWV 1105, BWV 713).
The concert is taking place at St Paul’s Church, Mansfield Road, Daybrook, NG5 6BH, on Saturday 8th November at 7:30pm.
Tickets are £13 and include refreshments.
Cost is £5 for students under 21 in full time education.
They are available from the Sinfonia Chorale website or Sandra Wakefield on 0115 9606236.
We look forward to seeing you and sharing this wonderful music!
Sinfonia Chorale
