Choirs of Charity Children became a feature of London parish church music in the 18th century. From 1704 to 1877 they combined for an annual benefit concert and the impression of massed voices numbering in the thousands was remarked on by visitors including William Blake, Joseph Haydn and Hector Berlioz.
Organ-led congregational singing and choirs attached to orphanages and charity schools distinguished church music in the capital from the West gallery music of other towns. [2] The various choirs were brought together (by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge [ citation needed ]?) for a festival at St Andrew's Church, Holborn in 1704 and annually at St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, moving to Christ Church, Newgate Street after 1738. [3] They sang on other occasions as well, and at the celebrations of the Peace of Utrecht already numbered "Four thousand children from London charity schools [who] were ‘placed upon a machine in the Strand’ and throughout the event they sang ‘hymns of . . . praise to God, for her Majesty’ and the gift of peace." [4]
John Wesley collected numerous hymns; one entitled "Yearly Hymn for Charity Children" begins:
Again the kind revolving Year
Has brought this happy Day,
And we in God's bless'd House appear
Again our Vows to pay.Our watchful Gard[ia]ns, rob'd in Light,
Adore the Heavenly King;
Ten thousand thousand Seraphs bright
Incessant Praises sing. [5]
From 1782 the annual festival took place beneath the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. [6] Sir Gilbert Elliot described the National Thanksgiving for George III's recovery 23 April 1789 in a letter: [7]
…the drums stopped, and the organ began; and when the King approached the centre all the 6,000 children set up their little voices and sang part of
the Hundredth Psalm. This was the moment that I found most affecting; and without knowing exactly why, I found my eyes running over, and the bone in my throat, which was the case with many other people.
1789 letter of Sir Gilbert Elliot [8]
Haydn attended the service on 9 June 1791: [9]
8 Tage vr. Pfingsten hörte ich in St Pauls-Kürch 4000 spittall Kinder nachstehendes lied singen, ein Performer gab den Tact dazu, keine Music rührte mich zeit lebens so heftig als diese andachts volle und unschuldige [ Anglican chant example] NB: alle Kinder sind neu gekleidet und ziehen processionaliter dahin, der organist spilt ganz artig und einfach die Melodie vor, alsdan fiengen alle zugleich an zu singen.
A week before Whitsun I heard 4000 charity children sing the following hymn in St Paul's church; a "Performer" gave the beat. In my lifetime no music has so powerfully moved me as this reverent and innocent one did: [No. 26 from John Jones' Sixty Chants Single and Double (1785)] The children are all dressed in new clothes and enter in procession; the organist plays the tune nicely and simply and then all begin together in singing.
Haydn's biographer Albert Christoph Dies reports that after reading him this account from his pocket notebook, Haydn added "I stood there and wept like a child." [10]
Divine Liturgy or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, a liturgical rite developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox, the Greek Catholic Churches, and the Ukrainian Lutheran Church. Although the same term is sometimes applied in English to the Eucharistic service of Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, they use in their own language a term meaning "holy offering" or "holy sacrifice". Other churches also treat "Divine Liturgy" simply as one of many names that can be used, but it is not their normal term.
The Foundling Hospital was a children’s home in London, England, founded in 1739 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "hospital" was used in a more general sense than it is in the 21st century, simply indicating the institution's "hospitality" to those less fortunate. Nevertheless, one of the top priorities of the committee at the Foundling Hospital was children's health, as they combated smallpox, fevers, consumption, dysentery and even infections from everyday activities like teething that drove up mortality rates and risked epidemics. With their energies focused on maintaining a disinfected environment, providing simple clothing and fare, the committee paid less attention to and spent less on developing children's education. As a result, financial problems would hound the institution for years to come, despite the growing "fashionableness" of charities like the hospital.
The Te Deum ( or, Latin:[teˈde.um]; from its incipit, Te Deum laudamus is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Church with other parts of the Ambrosian Rite of Milan in the 6th to 8th centuries. It is sometimes known as the Ambrosian Hymn, although authorship by Saint Ambrose is unlikely. The term Te Deum can also refer to a short religious service based upon the hymn.
Holy Sepulchre London, formerly and in some official uses Saint Sepulchre-without-Newgate, is the largest Anglican parish church in the City of London. It stands on the north side of Holborn Viaduct across a crossroads from the Old Bailey, and its parish takes in Smithfield Market. During medieval times, the site lay outside ("without") the city wall, west of the Newgate.
The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is a Byzantine Rite liturgical service which is performed on the weekdays of Great Lent wherein communion is received from Gifts that are sanctified (consecrated) in advance, hence its name; this Divine Liturgy has no anaphora.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience is a collection of illustrated poems by William Blake. It appeared in two phases: a few first copies were printed and illuminated by Blake himself in 1789; five years later, he bound these poems with a set of new poems in a volume titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul. Blake was also a painter before the creation of Songs of Innocence and Experience and had painted such subjects as Oberon, Titania, and Puck dancing with fairies.
The Anaphora is the most solemn part of the Eucharistic liturgies, such as the Divine Liturgy or the Mass, which serves as a thanksgiving prayer by virtue of which the offerings of bread and wine are consecrated as the body and blood of Christ. This is the usual name for this part of the Liturgy in Greek-speaking Eastern Christianity. In the Eastern Syriac tradition Qudaša is its equivalent. The corresponding part in western Christian liturgy is nowadays most often called the Eucharistic Prayer. The Roman Rite from the 4th century until after Vatican II had a single such prayer, called the Canon of the Mass.
"The Blossom" is a poem by William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence in 1789.
Holy Thursday is a poem by William Blake, from his 1789 book of poems Songs of Innocence.
"We Gather Together" is a Christian hymn of Dutch origin written in 1597 by Adrianus Valerius as "Wilt heden nu treden" to celebrate the Dutch victory over Spanish forces in the Battle of Turnhout. It was originally set to a Dutch folk tune. In the United States, it is popularly associated with Thanksgiving Day and is often sung at family meals and at religious services on that day.
The Liturgy of Saint Basil or, more formally, the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, is a term for several Eastern Christian celebrations of the Divine Liturgy (Eucharist), or at least several anaphoras, which are named after Basil of Caesarea. Two of these liturgies are in common use today: the one used in the Byzantine Rite ten times a year, and the one ordinarily used by the Coptic Church.
The Mass of the Lord's Supper, also known as A Service of Worship for Maundy Thursday, is a Holy Week service celebrated on the evening of Maundy Thursday. It inaugurates the Easter Triduum, and commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, more explicitly than other celebrations of the Mass.
"Holy Thursday" is a poem by William Blake, first published in Songs of Innocence and Experience in 1794. This poem, unlike its companion poem in "Songs of Innocence" (1789), focuses more on society as a whole than on the ceremony held in London.
The Church of St Andrew, Holborn, is a Church of England church on the northwestern edge of the City of London, on Holborn within the Ward of Farringdon Without.
Christian Ignatius Latrobe was an English clergyman of the Moravian Church, as well as an artist, musician and composer. He created a large number of works for, and most famously edited, a Selection of Sacred Music in six volumes between 1806 and 1826, introducing the sacred music of Haydn, Mozart and Pergolesi and other European continental composers who were largely unknown to English audiences.
Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate is the common name for a sacred choral composition in two parts, written by George Frideric Handel to celebrate the Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, ending the War of the Spanish Succession. He composed a Te Deum, HWV 278, and a Jubilate Deo, HWV 279. The combination of the two texts in English follows earlier models. The official premiere of the work was on 13 July 1713 in a service in St Paul's Cathedral in London.
Joseph Stennett was an English Seventh Day Baptist minister and hymnwriter.
The Foundling Hospital Anthem, also known by its longer title "Blessed are they that considereth the poor" [sic], is a choral anthem composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749. It was written for the Foundling Hospital in London and was first performed in the chapel there. Handel wrote two versions, one for choir only and one for choir and soloists. Composed 10 years before his death, it was Handel's last piece of English church music.
A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table is a cycle of six songs with music by William Walton, first performed in 1962. The words, chosen by the librettist Christopher Hassall, are by six different British poets, two of them anonymous. Originally for soprano and piano, the cycle was later orchestrated. The work was premiered at Goldsmiths' Hall, London on 18 July 1962 by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Gerald Moore, during the City of London Festival. The orchestral version was first performed at the Mansion House, London on 7 July 1970, by Janet Baker with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by George Malcolm.
A national service of thanksgiving in the United Kingdom is an act of Christian worship, generally attended by the British monarch, Great Officers of State and Ministers of the Crown, which celebrates an event of national importance, originally to give thanks for victory in battle but later for occasions such as a royal jubilee, a royal wedding anniversary, or the end of a conflict. These services are usually held at St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London.