| Other names | Choral Vespers |
|---|---|
| Genre | Evensong service |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | BBC Home Service (until 1967) BBC Radio 4 (1967–1970) BBC Radio 3 (1970–present) |
| Original release | 7 October 1926 – present |
| Audio format | Stereophonic sound |
| Website | Official website |
Choral Evensong is the BBC's longest-running outside broadcast programme. The programme is a broadcast of the Anglican service of Choral Evensong (sung evening prayer) live from cathedrals, university college chapels and churches throughout the United Kingdom. [1]
It is transmitted every Wednesday at 16:00 on BBC Radio 3, with a repeat on Sunday afternoons at 15:00. The most recent edition is available on BBC Sounds for one month following the original broadcast. There is also an archive available. [1]
On occasion, Choral Vespers from Catholic cathedrals (such as Westminster Cathedral), Orthodox Vespers, or a recorded service from choral foundations abroad are broadcast, at which time it is referred to as Choral Vespers.
The first edition was relayed by the British Broadcasting Company from Westminster Abbey on 7 October 1926. [1] [2] The programme continued on the BBC Home Service, later BBC Radio 4, until 8 April 1970, when it moved to BBC Radio 3.
In 1970 the programme was reduced to just one broadcast per month, but the BBC received 2,500 letters of complaint, and weekly transmissions were resumed on 1 July of that same year. [3] [4]
In 2007 the live broadcast was switched to Sundays, which again caused protests. [5] The live transmission returned to Wednesdays in September 2008, with a recorded repeat on Sunday afternoons at approximately the same time. Choral Evensong forms part of Radio 3's religious programming remit, although non-religious listeners have also campaigned for its retention. [4]
Its 80th and 90th anniversary programmes were celebrated live from Westminster Abbey, with services on 11 October 2006 and 28 September 2016 respectively. [6] [7]
The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury–commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey–is located in the English county of Gloucestershire. A former Benedictine monastery, it is now a parish church. Considered one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in Britain, it has the largest Romanesque crossing tower in Europe.
John Blow was an English composer and organist of the Baroque period. Appointed organist of Westminster Abbey in late 1668, his pupils included William Croft, Jeremiah Clarke and Henry Purcell. In 1685 he was named a private musician to James II. His only stage composition, Venus and Adonis, is thought to have influenced Henry Purcell's later opera Dido and Aeneas. In 1687, he became choirmaster at St Paul's Cathedral, where many of his pieces were performed. In 1699 he was appointed to the newly created post of Composer to the Chapel Royal.
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also featuring. The station describes itself as "the world's most significant commissioner of new music", and through its New Generation Artists scheme promotes young musicians of all nationalities. The station broadcasts the BBC Proms concerts, live and in full, each summer in addition to performances by the BBC Orchestras and Singers. There are regular productions of both classic plays and newly commissioned drama.
BBC Hereford & Worcester is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire which was one county from 1974 to 1998.
Songs of Praise is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK.
Anglican church music is music that is written for Christian worship in Anglican religious services, forming part of the liturgy. It mostly consists of pieces written to be sung by a church choir, which may sing a cappella or accompanied by an organ.
Sir Stephen John Cleobury was an English organist and music director. He worked with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, where he served as music director from 1982 to 2019, and with the BBC Singers.
Any Questions? is a British topical discussion programme "in which a panel of personalities from the worlds of politics, media, and elsewhere are posed questions by the audience".
Bradford Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter, is an Anglican cathedral in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, one of three co-equal cathedrals in the Diocese of Leeds alongside Ripon and Wakefield. Its site has been used for Christian worship since the 7th century, when missionaries based in Dewsbury evangelised the area. For many centuries it was the parish church of St Peter and achieved cathedral status in 1919. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building.
Chester Cathedral Choir is the resident choir of Chester Cathedral, Cheshire, England. In common with most British cathedral choirs, the choir sings evensong daily during term time.
William Stanley Vann D.Mus Hon FTCL FRCO ARCM was an English composer, organist, choral conductor, and choir trainer, primarily in the Anglican cathedral tradition.
BBC Radio 5 was a national radio station that broadcast sports, children's and educational programmes. It ran from 1990 to 1994 and was transmitted via analogue radio on 693 and 909 kHz AM.
David Ogden, is a conductor and composer, directing choirs, choral and church music workshops, courses and festivals in the UK and abroad.
The Choir of Leeds Minster is the choir of Leeds Minster, Leeds, England, which became a Minster in September 2012. The choir was founded by vicar, Richard Fawcett probably as early as 1815, and was certainly in existence by 1818. The church's choir - boys and men - was, from its origins, a charge on the church rate; and, in what was then a largely non-conformist town, a none-too-popular one. By the 1830s, the choir's resourcing had been taken over by a list of voluntary subscribers. On arrival as Vicar of Leeds in 1837, Walter Farquhar Hook said he found "the surplices in rags and the books in tatters". Additional to its extensive commitment in the provision of choral services, the choir is known to a wide public through many recitals, recordings and broadcasts and by its regular choir tours - the first tour was held in July 1968 and the 40th anniversary tour, from 22 to 27 July 2008, included singing in Ely Cathedral, King's College, Cambridge, the National Musicians' Church St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London, All Saints Pastoral Centre London Colney and the Chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
The Southern Cathedrals Festival is a 5-day music festival held in rotation among the cathedrals of Chichester, Winchester and Salisbury in England, in the penultimate week of July. The festival was restored in 1960 after initial attempts to create the annual occasion were followed by 28 years without it. The respective director of music acts as festival director when it is that cathedral's turn to host the event - currently, they are Charles Harrison, Andrew Lumsden and David Halls.
St Albans Cathedral Choir is an English Cathedral Choir based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It is made up of around 20 boy choristers aged 7–14 and 12 adult lay clerks. In 2003 it appeared in the coronation scene of the film Johnny English.
Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word vesperas as æfensang, which became 'evensong' in modern English. Typically used in reference to the Anglican daily office's evening liturgy, it can also refer to the pre-Reformation form of vespers or services of evening prayer from other denominations, particularly within the Anglican Use of the Catholic Church.
The Week in Westminster is a weekly political radio programme, which is broadcast on Saturdays on BBC Radio 4.
A timeline of notable events relating to BBC Radio 3, a British national radio station which began broadcasting in September 1967.
This is a list of events from British radio in 1926.