679 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06119
Choral Evensong – St. Patrick-St. Anthony Gallery Choir
The ancient and beautiful service of Choral Evensong is presented on the fourth Sunday of selected months at St. John’s. Join us on February 25 at 5:00pm for this time of music and worship. This event will be presented in person and by livestream.
Sung by the Choirs of St. Patrick – St. Anthony Church, Hartford; Gabriel Löfvall, choirmaster: Madison H. Thompson, organist
This event is free admission, donations welcome in any amount. Checks payable to Music at the Red Door or click here to donate online.
Click on the image below to watch. Click here for the order of service.
SERVICE MUSIC:
Murrill: Magificat & Nunc Dimittis in E
Kimble: Preces & Responses
Victoria: Kyrie from O Quam Gloriosum
Stainer: God So Loved the World
Organ voluntaries:
xxJongen: Choral
xxAlain: Litanies
About the Choirs:
Numerous volunteers, eight section-leaders, and two choral scholars bring their musical gifts to the choirs of St. Patrick – St. Anthony Church, which is featured at the 10 a.m. Mass on Sundays and major feasts, at St. Patrick – St. Anthony Church, Hartford.
The members provide music leadership through sacred choral repertoire that bring scriptural poetry to life through music. The Gallery Choir explores a diversity of different music styles, including Medieval and Renaissance motets, beautifully crafted Baroque, Classical, and Romantic works, through dazzling twentieth-century pieces that include Gospel, world, and contemporary sounds! Their varied repertoire includes music sung in English, French, German, Latin, Russian, Spanish, Zhosa, Swahili, and Zulu. The Gallery Choir also joins forces with its P&A choral “siblings,” the Treble Clef Choir and Bass Clef Choir, to present unforgettable renditions of choral-orchestral masterpieces, such as Johannes Brahms’s German Requiem, John Rutter’s Gloria, and Handel’s Messiah, to name just a few of our past collaborations!
Read more at spsact.org/ministries/music-ministry.
What is Choral Evensong? “Evensong … is a very tiny fragment of something else: it is a fragment of the worship which is offered to God by Christian people every hour in every part of the world. When you come to Evensong here it is as if you were dropping in on a conversation already in progress — a conversation between God and people which began long before you were born and will go on long after you are dead.”
Why celebrate Evensong? Evensong offers to us the opportunity to gather and spend time in prayer while listening and participating in music that is especially selected to bring us into deeper understanding of the mysteries of our faith.
How long does Choral Evensong last? Approximately 35-45 minutes
What should I expect at Evensong? Hymns, readings, Anglican chant and anthems sung by the choir
Will there be a sermon? No.
Why does the choir sing so much at Choral Evensong? In Choral Evensong the choir sings on “behalf of” the congregation. The settings of the Canticles of Mary (Magnificat) and Simeon (Nunc Dimittis) are always sung by the choir alone. The Suffrages (prayers) and the Responses between the Officiant and People are also sung between the Officiant and Choir on behalf of the people. This allows the congregation time to meditate and enter into deeper prayer through words and music.
What does the congregation do in Evensong? The congregation joins in the singing of the hymns, the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. The congregation joins in silent meditation through the prayers and canticles.
How will I know what I should do during the service? A bulletin outlining the service will be available.
What is a canticle? A canticle (from the Latin canticulum, a diminutive of canticum, song) is a hymn (strictly excluding the Psalms) taken from the Bible.