Ascribe Unto the Lord Sacred Choral Works by Samuel Sebastian Wesley

Ascribe unto the Lord sacred choral works by Samuel Sebastian Wesley

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge Andrew Nethsingha Samuel Sebastian Wesley

Engraving in The Graphic, 6 May 1876 / © Illustrated London News Ltd / Mary Evans Picture Library Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810 – 1876)

1 Blessed be the God and Father 7:23 Anthem for four-part choir and organ ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ – ‘But as He Which hath calleth you is holy’ – Peter Hicks treble ‘Love one another with a pure heart fervently’ – Peter Hicks treble ‘Being born again’ – ‘But the word of the Lord endureth for ever’

2 Wash me throughly from my wickedness 4:35 Anthem for four-part choir and organ ‘Wash me throughly from my wickedness’ – Jason Cobb treble ‘For I acknowledge my faults’

Ascribe unto the Lord 14:00 Anthem for four-part choir and organ 3 ‘Ascribe unto the Lord’ – 2:36 4 ‘O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness’ – 3:05 Alec D’Oyly treble 1 Andrew Jones treble 2 Peter Hicks treble 3 James Imam counter-tenor Julian Gregory tenor 5 ‘As for the gods of the heathen’ – 2:16

3 6 ‘They that make them are like unto them’ – James Imam counter-tenor Julian Gregory tenor Samuel Oladeinde tenor Basil McDonald bass ‘As for our God, he is in heaven’ – 2:00 7 ‘The Lord hath been mindful of us’ 3:57 Peter Hicks treble James Imam counter-tenor Julian Gregory tenor Huw Leslie bass

Samuel Wesley (1766 – 1837) 8 Psalms 42 and 43 7:27 Psalm chant for four-part choir and organ Psalm 42 ‘Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks’ – Psalm 43 ‘Give sentence with me, O God’ – ‘Glory be to the Father, and to the Son’

4 Samuel Sebastian Wesley Magnificat and Nunc dimittis 10:13 from Morning and Evening Service in E major • in E-Dur • en mi majeur 9 Magnificat 6:46 for eight-part choir and organ ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord’ – ‘And His mercy is on them that fear Him’ – James Imam counter-tenor Alexander Simpson counter-tenor Julian Gregory tenor Samuel Oladeinde tenor Kieran Brunt tenor Basil McDonald bass Geoffrey Claphambass ‘He hath shewed strength with His arm’ – ‘He rememb’ring His mercy hath holpen his servant Israel’ – ‘Glory be to the Father, and to the Son’ 10 Nunc dimittis 3:24 for eight-part choir and organ ‘Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace’ – ‘Glory be to the Father, and to the Son’

5 The wilderness and the solitary place 12:38 Anthem for five-part choir and organ 11 ‘The wilderness and the solitary place’ – 2:17 Peter Hicks treble James Imam counter-tenor Julian Gregory tenor Basil McDonald bass 12 ‘Say to them of a fearful heart’ – 2:33 Basil McDonald bass 13 ‘Then shall the lame man leap as an hart’ – Peter Hicks treble James Imam counter-tenor Julian Gregory tenor Basil McDonald bass ‘And a highway shall be there’ – ‘But the redeemed shall walk there’ – 3:21 Alec D’Oyly treble Peter Hicks treble James Imam counter-tenor Alexander Simpson counter-tenor Julian Gregory tenor 14 ‘And the ransomed of the Lord shall return’ – 2:23 15 ‘And sorrow and sighing shall flee away’ 2:01 Alec D’Oyly treble James Imam counter-tenor Kieran Brunt tenor Julian Gregory tenor Basil McDonald bass

6 16 Larghetto 5:54 in F sharp minor • in fis-Moll • en fa dièse mineur No. 2 from Three Pieces for a Chamber Organ, Book II

O give thanks unto the Lord 8:12 Anthem for five-part choir and organ 17 ‘O give thanks unto the Lord’ – 2:48 18 ‘Who can express the noble acts of the Lord’ – 3:24 Peter Hicks treble 19 ‘Blessed are they that alway keep judgment’ 1:57 Peter Hicks treble James Imam counter-tenor Samuel Oladeinde tenor Geoffrey Claphambass

20 O Thou who camest from above 2:41 Hymn for four-part choir and organ

21 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace 3:55 Anthem for five-part choir and organ TT 77:10

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge John Challenger organ Andrew Nethsingha

7 Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge Andrew Nethsingha Director of Music John Challenger Assistant Organist Freddie James Organ Scholar treble counter-tenor bass Maximilian Boorman Nicholas Edwards Joseph Ataman Oliver Brown James Imam Geoffrey Clapham Francis Bushell Guy James Jonathan Hyde Jason Cobb Simon Nathan* Huw Leslie William Collison Simon Ponsford† Basil McDonald Alec D’Oyly Alexander Simpson Augustus Perkins Ray Peter Hicks Matthew Holman tenor Andrew Jones Kieran Brunt Robert Murray John John Clapham Peter Nethsingha Guy Edmund-Jones Rufus Pawsey Julian Gregory Michael Tuft Samuel Oladeinde Jed Upjohn Sebastian Wade

*Ascribe unto the Lord, The wilderness and the solitary place, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace

†Blessed be the God and Father, Wash me throughly from my wickedness, Ascribe unto the Lord, Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in E,The wilderness and the solitary place, O Thou who camest from above, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace

8 Samuel Sebastian Wesley: Choral Works

Introduction incomparable for his compositional creativity. ...a grumbler and a radical reformer, a This disc presents a survey of some of his rater of the clergy, and particularly of the better-known choral works, interspersed dignitaries of the church; but like most with an organ work, and a psalm chant by his radical reformers, has no reason that we father, Samuel Wesley (1766 – 1837). From can see for his discontent. terrorist of the established church to one of its So wrote one critic in response to the cherished sons: the course of the life of Wesley incendiary preface which Samuel Sebastian is charted through his music. Wesley (1810 – 1876) published in 1844, highly critical of the clergy and the state of The wilderness and the solitary place church music. Throughout his life, Wesley From the moment of his birth, Samuel would regularly fire off such sallies, both Sebastian was no stranger to controversy. He in print and in person, and this led to was born the son of the composer Samuel disputatious and unsatisfactory relations Wesley and Samuel’s teenage housemaid, wherever he went. He was undoubtedly the Sarah Suter. His great uncle was John most controversial figure in nineteenth- Wesley, founder of Methodism, whose century English music, ricocheting from one anti-establishment radicalism, unshakeable employ to the next, ruffling feathers in each in the face of opposition, seems to have been successive establishment. But his creation an early manifestation of the family trait. of wholly new styles of church music and Wesley gained youthful musical experiences renewal of choral practices could hardly have as a chorister in the Chapel Royal and then happened without persistence to the point as a jobbing pianist and choir conductor in of stubbornness, and vision to the point of London. At this stage it was not immediately bloody-mindedness. Wesley manifested a evident that he would follow a career in unique pioneering spirit, perhaps ill suited church music – his main employment was at to a career in the established church, but the English Opera House, and later Covent

9 Garden. His first appointment to cathedral (either 1833 or 1834), Wesley made maximum music, in Hereford at the age of twenty-two, use of his unpropitious forces, and gave the brought him his first taste of the sometimes world early examples of both his ‘aria’ style unsatisfactory life of the provincial cathedral (‘Love one another’) and choral recitative (‘to organist. He found himself having to an inheritance incorruptible’ etc.). Nowadays supplement the meagre cathedral salary we take such techniques for granted in church with the ‘tiresome and somewhat degrading music, but the ‘fiat lux’ of the opening section, activity’ of teaching. The organ was out of leading to the words ‘resurrection of Jesus action, too, in the process of being renewed by Christ’, and the dramatic interjections of J.C. Bishop, and it was for the re-inauguration the organ in the final section (‘But the word of the enlarged instrument in 1832 that of the Lord’), have a novelty all too easily Wesley composed the anthem The wilderness obscured by familiarity. and the solitary place. More like a compressed oratorio, or an operatic scena, it displays O Thou who camest from above an overt emotionalism and huge range of Wesley’s Hereford days also saw an early textures which were unlike anything that foray into the then young art of hymn had ever been heard in English church music writing – ‘Hereford’ was written down before, and bore testimony to Wesley’s around 1834 and is today’s standard tune previous, theatrical, occupations. The written- for O Thou who camest from above, thanks to out organ part, orchestral in its ambition, Sidney Nicholson’s later pairing of tune and tested both organ and organist to hitherto words. These words were written by Samuel unknown limits, too. It is no wonder that the Sebastian’s grandfather, Charles Wesley conservative critic R.J.S. Stevens called it ‘a (1707 – 1788). clever thing. But it is not cathedral music’. O give thanks unto the Lord Blessed be the God and Father Wesley received his next appointment, a Circumstances dictated the form and content somewhat provocatively short time after of another Hereford anthem, Blessed be the his appointment to Hereford, to Exeter God and Father. With only a single bass and Cathedral, in 1835. Compositions continued treble voices at his disposal one Easter day to flow periodically from his pen, though

10 from 1840 onwards he was forbidden to a romantic anthem. The deeply penitential copy music without express permission of words, from Psalm 51, give rise to a harmonic the Exeter Chapter, something that perhaps plangency which Wesley delivers through deft signalled the end of its support of this facet of part-writing; in such cases as this, in which Wesley’s activities, and certainly signalled the the textual and musical elements line up, end of happy relations. Wesley would move to Wesley is second to none. Leeds Parish Church in 1842. Three Exeter-period compositions are Larghetto in F sharp minor heard on this disc. In O give thanks unto the Wesley’s Larghetto in F sharp minor for organ Lord (c. 1835) and Wash me throughly from comes from the second set of Three Pieces for my wickedness (c. 1840), the sacred ‘aria’ style, a Chamber Organ, written during the Exeter with its sweet, harmonically driven arcs of years but published shortly after the move melody, is further developed to become one to Leeds Parish Church in 1842. It makes a of the defining features of Wesley’s anthems. concise and potent statement in the pathetic In the former, the aria ‘Who can express the style, austerely Viennese in flavour, derived noble acts of the Lord?’, given to a treble voice, from the style of a slow movement by Haydn becomes the centrepiece, framed by choruses or Beethoven. Wesley had issued a first set of combining stolid chordal declamation in the Three Pieces in 1842 and dedicated them to manner of Thomas Attwood and William Lady Acland of Killerton House near Exeter. Boyce, Handelian fugato, and the faint Apparently they were too difficult for her waftings of late Viennese sentimentality. ladyship, and the second set consequently The winning charm of the aria redeems what withdrew from any patron-displeasing might otherwise descend into a hapless, virtuosity, though with its staccato variation exploratory eclecticism. and written-out pedal part the Larghetto is no mere child’s play. Wash me throughly from my wickedness Wash me throughly from my wickedness Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in E achieves a greater sense of cohesion and enters If the departure from Exeter was fractious, more fully into a nineteenth-century sense the early years at Leeds Parish Church of harmony – we might properly call this (1842 – 49) proved felicitous. Patronage came

11 quickly from a wealthy industrialist, Martin Magnificat – the first such attempt to move Cawood, who, on hearing Wesley’s setting away from the verse anthem pattern, and of the Creed in E major, proposed to sponsor more successful than many later attempts. a completion of the Service with settings of the morning and evening canticles. Wesley Ascribe unto the Lord was conscious of the more epic yet fast-paced We move to the Winchester years (1849 – 65), nature of these texts, stating how ‘essentially Wesley’s penultimate appointment, for the unlike every other species of musical genesis of the two remaining choral items on composition such a work must be’ and that this disc. Ascribe unto the Lord was probably the subjects to be treated are so various, written for the Church Missionary Society of such grand and universal application, service in Winchester Cathedral in May 1851. as necessarily to divest composition of its Assured choral recitative, that hallmark of ordinary features. Wesley, begins this lengthy anthem, which Both the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis acts as a mature counterpart to the youthful respond to these challenges by providing an Wilderness. In the intervening years there had encyclopaedic survey of keys and a continually been a rapprochement with Mendelssohn, varying combination of voices. The complete and a restriction in both the use of soloists Morning and Evening Service in E was and the scope of the organ part, no longer published in 1844, together with its scorching boldly independent. Ascribe unto the Lord preface. In his critique in the Morning Post, sets out in miniature the sentiments of quoted above, Charles Lewis Gruneisen did Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah, and shares not stop at the preface. He also berated the with it both a dramatic sense of the ungodly music: and, purveyed through charming melody, Whatever in this composition is new the compensating benediction deriving from is not good, and whatever is good has the true God. The chorale-like sections, too, been heard before in a better form and in mirror Mendelssohn’s own reinterpretation of better company. this Bachian device. Such huffing and puffing ignores the groundbreaking attempt by Wesley to impart Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace the symphonic and epic to the text of the Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace

12 (c. 1850) shows the distance that Wesley has mornings. On the concert platform, in high- travelled from his early works. It is a model profile venues and festivals around the UK, of simplicity and restraint: a simple chordal the Choir regularly performs with orchestras refrain unfolds delicately into imitative part- and ensembles such as the Philharmonia writing, and the final return to the refrain, Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, and His Majestys and with it the opening words, brings the Sagbutts and Cornetts. In the course of a busy anthem to a devotional close very much in international touring schedule it has visited the atmosphere of an Orlando Gibbons or a the USA, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, William Byrd. Japan, Australia, and continental Europe. Under the current directorship of Andrew © 2013 William Whitehead Nethsingha, the singers receive a unique musical education in an extremely varied The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge repertoire, from Renaissance polyphony and is one of the finest men and boys choirs in the masses of Haydn to music of the present. the world, known and loved by millions from Committed to engaging with a wide audience its recordings, broadcasts, and concert tours. through digital innovations, the Choir is A cornerstone of the great English choral the first in Britain to broadcast its services tradition since the 1670s, it is recognised for in weekly webcasts throughout the year, and its distinctive, rich, and expressive sound. in 2011 launched SJC Live, a unique online The Choir is made up of sixteen Choristers archive for music lovers and choirmasters. and four Probationers who are educated at A key innovation of Nethsingha’s is the St John’s College School. The alto, tenor, establishment of St John’s Sinfonia, a and bass parts are usually taken by fifteen professional period-instrument ensemble Undergraduates, with two Organ Scholars formed with Margaret Faultless in 2011, assisting in the daily running of the Choir. with which the Choir gives termly liturgical Frequently broadcast on BBC Radio 3, performances of cantatas by Bach. Under services in the College Chapel follow Nethsingha and the former Directors of the Cathedral tradition of the Church of Music George Guest, Christopher Robinson, England, with Evensong six days a week and David Hill, the Choir has produced an during term and Sung Eucharist on Sunday extraordinary and extensive discography.

13 Since signing an exclusive contract with August 2012. The following month, he took Chandos Records in 2009, it has released up the post as Assistant Director of Music six CDs, spanning music from across 500 at Salisbury Cathedral. John Challenger years, which have garnered international has performed as a recitalist across the UK, critical acclaim. Renowned for championing continental Europe, and the USA, and studies contemporary music, the Choir of St John’s the organ with Mark Williams and David College, Cambridge regularly commissions Briggs. new works, and during 2012 performed the world premieres of works by Judith Weir, Performing as a conductor and organist Andrew Gant, Matthew Martin, Gordon in North America, South Africa, the Far Lawson, James MacMillan, and James Long. East, and throughout Europe, Andrew www.sjcchoir.co.uk Nethsingha has since 2007 been Director of Music at St John’s College, Cambridge, John Challenger began his musical education where his innovations have included weekly as a Chorister at Hereford Cathedral, where webcasts and a termly Bach cantata series. he studied the organ with Geraint Bowen. He received his early musical training as From 2006 to 2008 he was Organ Scholar of a chorister at Exeter Cathedral, where his St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, where father was organist for over a quarter of a he obtained his Fellowship of the Royal century. He later studied at the Royal College College of Organists. From 2008 to 2011 of Music, where he won seven prizes, and he held an Organ Scholarship at St John’s at St John’s College, Cambridge. He held College, from which he graduated with a Organ Scholarships under Christopher B.A. in Music in June 2011. During his time Robinson at St George’s, Windsor and as an undergraduate, he served as President George Guest at St John’s, before becoming of the College Music Society and also as Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral. He Musical Director of the St John’s Singers, the was subsequently Director of Music at Truro mixed-voice choir of the College. As Assistant and Gloucester cathedrals. Additionally, he Organist he continued to accompany the has held the positions of Artistic Director College Choir for services, broadcasts, of the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival recordings, and international tours until and Musical Director of the Gloucester

14 Choral Society, among others, and served Poulenc’s Gloria, and Duruflé’s Requiem. He as President of the Cathedral Organists’ has also worked with the Royal Philharmonic Association. Andrew Nethsingha has worked Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony with some of the UK’s leading orchestras. His Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Britten concerts with the Philharmonia Orchestra Sinfonia, and BBC Concert Orchestra, and have included performances of Britten’s War recently conducted at the BBC Proms, the Requiem, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Elgar’s Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, and Suntory The Dream of Gerontius and The Kingdom, Hall, Tokyo. He regularly runs choral courses Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Brahms’s Ein in Europe and North America. His recordings deutsches Requiem, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, for Chandos Records have been well reviewed.

15 Samuel Sebastian Wesley: Chorwerke

Einleitung wären ohne dieses fast störrische Insistieren … ein Griesgram und ein radikaler und eine an Unbelehrbarkeit grenzende Reformer, ein Kritiker des Klerus und visionäre Begabung kaum möglich gewesen. besonders der kirchlichen Würdenträger; Wesley manifestierte einen einzigartigen doch wie die meisten radikalen Reformer Pioniergeist, der vielleicht einer Laufbahn hat er keinen ersichtlichen Grund für in der etablierten Kirche eher abträglich, sein Missfallen. für seine kompositorische Schöpfungskraft So schrieb ein Kritiker in Reaktion auf aber von unvergleichlichem Wert war. Die die aufwieglerische Vorrede, die Samuel vorliegende CD präsentiert einen Querschnitt Sebastian Wesley (1810 – 1876) im Jahre 1844 seiner bekannteren Chorwerke sowie ein veröffentlichte und die dem Klerus und dem Orgelwerk, ergänzt durch einen Psalmengesang Zustand der Kirchenmusik gegenüber äußerst aus der Feder seines Vaters, Samuel Wesley kritisch eingestellt war. Sein gesamtes Leben (1766 – 1837). Vom Schrecken der etablierten hindurch feuerte Wesley immer wieder solche Kirche zu einem ihrer geschätztesten Söhne – Attacken ab, sowohl in Veröffentlichungen der Lebensweg Samuel Sebastian Wesleys wird als auch im persönlichen Gespräch, und dies von seiner Musik nachgezeichnet. führte zu streitbaren und unbefriedigenden Beziehungen, wo immer er auftauchte. Er war The wilderness and the solitary place zweifellos die kontroverseste Persönlichkeit Vom Augenblick seiner Geburt an waren in der englischen Musikwelt des neunzehnten Kontroversen für Samuel Sebastian Jahrhunderts, wechselte sprunghaft seine nichts Fremdes. Seine Eltern waren der Anstellungen und brachte in jeder neuen Komponist Samuel Wesley und dessen Institution die Gemüter gegen sich auf. blutjunge Dienstmagd Sarah Suter. Doch die von ihm ausgehende Entwicklung Sein Großonkel war der Gründer des gänzlich neuer Stile der Kirchenmusik Methodismus John Wesley, dessen gegen das und seine Erneuerung des Chorwesens Establishment gerichteter unerschütterlicher

16 Radikalismus eine frühe Ausprägung des wie sie in der englischen Kirchenmusik bis Familiencharakters gewesen zu sein scheint. dahin noch nie vorgekommen waren; damit Erste musikalische Erfahrungen sammelte bezeugte es Wesleys frühere Beschäftigung der junge Wesley als Chorknabe in der am Theater. Auch die auskomponierte Chapel Royal; anschließend verdingte er sich Orgelpartie von orchestralem Anspruch als Pianist und Chorleiter in London. Zu brachte Orgel und Organist an bis dahin dieser Zeit war noch nicht unmittelbar zu unbekannte Grenzen. Es überrascht kaum, erkennen, dass er eine kirchenmusikalische dass der konservative Kritiker R.J.S. Stevens Laufbahn einschlagen würde – er war schrieb, das Werk sei “ein cleveres Ding, aber hauptsächlich am English Opera House keine Musik für eine Kathedrale”. und später an Covent Garden beschäftigt. Seine erste kirchliche Anstellung im Alter Blessed be the God and Father von zweiundzwanzig Jahren in Hereford Die Umstände diktierten Form und Inhalt vermittelte ihm einen ersten Geschmack eines weiteren Hereford-Anthems, Blessed des gelegentlich unbefriedigenden be the God and Father (Gesegnet sei der Organistenlebens an einer Kathedrale in der Gott und Vater). Da ihm am Ostersonntag Provinz. Er sah sich gezwungen, das ihm von (entweder 1833 oder 1834) nur ein einziger der Kirche gewährte magere Gehalt mit dem Bass und Sopranstimmen zur Verfügung “lästigem und auch etwas degradierenden standen, machte Wesley bestmöglichen Erteilen von Unterricht” aufzubessern. Gebrauch von dieser ungünstigen Besetzung Zudem war die Orgel außer Betrieb; sie und bescherte der Welt frühe Beispiele seines wurde gerade von J.C. Bishop erneuert. Für “Arien”-Stils (“Love one another”; “Liebet die Wiedereinweihung des vergrößerten einander”) und Chor-Rezitativs (“to an Instruments im Jahr 1832 komponierte Wesley inheritance incorruptible” usw.; “zu einem das Anthem The wilderness and the solitary unvergänglichen Erbe”). Heutzutage sind place (Aber die Wüste und Einöde). Das eher uns solche Techniken in der geistlichen als ein komprimiertes Oratorium oder eine Musik eine Selbstverständlichkeit, doch opernhaftescena zu bezeichnende Werk ist das “fiat lux” des Anfangsabschnitts, das zu von einer demonstrativen Emotionalität und den Worten “resurrection of Jesus Christ” solch enormer Bandbreite der Satztechniken, (Auferstehung Jesu Christi) führt, und

17 die dramatischen Einwürfe der Orgel im Arbeitsverhältnisses. 1842 wechselte Wesley Schlussabschnitt (“But the word of the Lord”; an die Pfarrkirche von Leeds. “aber das Wort des Herrn”) sind von einer Auf dieser CD finden sich drei Neuartigkeit, die die heutige Vertrautheit Kompositionen aus Wesleys Wirkungszeit allzu leicht vergessen lässt. in Exeter. In O give thanks unto the Lord (“O danket dem Herrn”, um 1835) und O Thou who camest from above Wash me throughly from my wickedness Aus Wesleys Zeit in Hereford stammt auch (“Wasche mich wohl von meiner Missetat”, ein früher Exkurs in die damals noch junge um 1840) wird der geistliche “Arien”-Stil Kunst der Hymnen-Vertonung: “Hereford” mit seinen lieblichen, harmonisch geleiteten wurde um das Jahr 1834 niedergeschrieben Melodiebögen weiterentwickelt und etabliert und gilt – seit Sidney Nicholson Melodie sich so als eines der wesentlichen Merkmale und Text miteinander verband – heute als die von Wesleys Anthems. In dem erstgenannten Standardmelodie für O Thou who camest from Stück nimmt die einer Sopranstimme above (O der Du von oben kamst). Die Worte zugeordnete Arie “Who can express the noble stammen vom Großvater des Komponisten, acts of the Lord?” (Wer kann die hehren Charles Wesley (1707 – 1788). Taten des Herrn ausdrücken?) die zentrale Position ein, flankiert von Chorsätzen, die O give thanks unto the Lord wuchtige akkordische Deklamation in der Seine nächste Anstellung fand Wesley – Art eines Thomas Attwood oder William auffällig kurze Zeit, nachdem er in Hereford Boyce, an Händel gemahnendes Fugato und begonnen hatte – 1835 an der Kathedrale von ferne Anklänge an die Empfindsamkeit Exeter. Er komponierte weiterhin regelmäßig der späten Wiener Klassik miteinander neue Werke, doch ab 1840 war ihm verboten, kombinieren. Der einnehmende Liebreiz der ohne ausdrückliche Genehmigung des Arie rettet eine Komposition, die sonst leicht Domkapitels Musik zu kopieren; dies in unglückselige eklektizistische Bahnen signalisierte möglicherweise das Ende der abgleiten könnte. kirchlichen Unterstützung dieser Facette von Wesleys Tätigkeit, sicherlich aber Wash me throughly from my wickedness bedeutete es das Ende eines harmonischen Wash me throughly from my wickedness

18 vermittelt den Eindruck größerer Kohärenz sich daher jeglicher Virtuosität, die seiner und prägt in stärkerem Maße eine für das Gönnerin hätte missfallen können, wobei das neunzehnte Jahrhundert typische Harmonik Larghetto mit seiner Staccato-Variation und aus – man kann das Werk zu Recht als seiner auskomponierten Pedalpartie auch kein romantisches Anthem bezeichnen. Die zutiefst Kinderspiel ist. reuevollen Worte aus dem 51. Psalm bedingen eine harmonische Wehmut, die der Komponist Magnificat und Nunc dimittis in E-Dur durch geschickte Behandlung der Stimmen Während die Trennung von Exeter im umsetzt; in Fällen wie diesem, wo textliche Streit erfolgte, waren die ersten Jahre an der und musikalische Elemente aufeinander Pfarrkirche von Leeds (1842 – 1849) eine abgestimmt sind, ist Wesley unübertroffen. glückliche Zeit. Schon bald fand Wesley Unterstützung durch den wohlhabenden Larghetto in fis-Moll Industriellen Martin Cawood, der sich, Wesleys Larghetto in fis-Moll für Orgel nachdem er Wesleys Vertonung des stammt aus der zweiten Sammlung von Three Glaubensbekenntnisses in E-Dur gehört hatte, Pieces for a Chamber Organ (Drei Stücke bereit erklärte, die vollständige Vertonung für eine Kammerorgel), die in seiner Zeit in des Gottesdienstes mit Kompositionen Exeter entstand, jedoch kurz nach seinem des Morgen- und Abend-Lobgesangs Wechsel an die Pfarrkirche von Leeds im zu unterstützen. Wesley war sich des Jahr 1842 veröffentlicht wurde. Es handelt ausgesprochen epischen, zugleich jedoch sich um ein prägnantes und kraftvolles temporeichen Charakters dieser Texte bewusst Statement im pathetischen Stil, von herber und äußerte sich darüber, wie “grundsätzlich wienerischer Prägung und der Manier verschieden von jeder anderen Art eines langsamen Satzes von Haydn oder musikalischer Komposition ein solches Werk Beethoven nachempfunden. Wesley hatte sein” müsse; auch seien 1842 bereits eine erste Sammlung von Three die zu behandelnden Themen so Pieces herausgegeben und sie Lady Acland unterschiedlich, von solch großer von Killerton House nahe Exeter gewidmet. und universaler Anwendbarkeit, dass Diese waren anscheinend für ihre Ladyship die Komposition zwangsweise ihrer zu schwierig; die zweite Sammlung enthielt üblichen Merkmale beraubt wird.

19 Dieser Herausforderung stellt er sich im Wesleys vorletzter Anstellung. Ascribe unto Magnificat und im Nunc dimittis mittels the Lord (Ihr Völker, bringet her dem Herrn) eines enzyklopädischen Durchlaufens des wurde wahrscheinlich für den im May 1851 Tonartenspektrums und ständig wechselnder in der Kathedrale von Winchester gehaltenen Stimmenkombinationen. Der vollständige Gottesdienst der Church Missionary Society Morgen- und Abendgottesdienst in E-Dur komponiert. Das ausgedehnte Anthem, wurde 1844 veröffentlicht, zusammen ein reifes Gegenstück zu der jugendlichen mit seiner beißenden Vorrede. In der oben Komposition Wilderness, beginnt mit einem zitierten Rezension in der Morning Post selbstbewussten Chor-Rezitativ – Wesleys äußerte Charles Lewis Gruneisen sich Markenzeichen. Mittlerweile hatte er allerdings nicht nur über die Vorrede. Er sich der Musik Mendelssohns angenähert kritisierte auch die Musik: und beschränkte inzwischen sowohl den Was immer an seiner Musik neu ist, ist Einsatz von Solisten als auch das Format der nicht gut, und was immer gut ist, hat Orgelpartie, die nun nicht mehr die frühere man früher schon in besserer Form und kühne Unabhängigkeit aufwies. Ascribe unto in besserem Kontext gehört. the Lord vermittelt in Miniaturfassung die Solche aufgebauschten Worte ignorieren Empfindungen von Mendelssohns Oratorium Wesleys bahnbrechendes Experiment, den Text Elijah, mit dem das Werk ein dramatisches des Magnificat mit sinfonischen und epischen Empfinden der Gottlosigkeit und – vermittelt Ausdrucksformen zu kombinieren – dies ist durch anmutige Melodik – die ausgleichende das erste Mal, dass ein Komponist den Versuch Segnung durch den wahren Gott teilt. unternimmt, die Struktur des Vers-Anthems zu Auch die choralartigen Abschnitte spiegeln überwinden, und Wesley ist darin wesentlich Mendelssohns individuelle Neuinterpretation erfolgreicher als mancher Komponist nach dieses Bachschen Stilmittels. ihm. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace Ascribe unto the Lord Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace (“Du erhältst Für die Entstehungsgeschichte der beiden stets Frieden”, um 1850) zeigt die stilistische letzten Chorstücke auf dieser CD kommen wir Entwicklung, die Wesley seit seinen frühen zu den Jahren in Winchester (1849 – 1865), Werken durchlaufen hat. Das Werk ist ein

20 Vorbild an Einfachheit und Zurückhaltung: führen, dessen Stimmung die musikalische Ein simpler akkordischer Refrain geht subtil in Welt eines Orlando Gibbons oder William imitative Stimmführung über, bis schließlich Byrd beschwört. die abschließende Wiederholung des Refrains und damit die zu Beginn erklungenen Worte © 2013 William Whitehead das Anthem zu einem andächtigen Schluss Übersetzung: Stephanie Wollny

21 Samuel Sebastian Wesley: Œuvres chorales

Introduction l’esprit de contradiction. Wesley se montra …un récriminateur et un réformateur incomparablement novateur, état d’esprit sans radical, un admonesteur du clergé, et doute peu adapté à une carrière dans l’Église particulièrement des dignitaires de anglicane, mais inestimable pour sa créativité l’Église; mais dont le mécontentement, de compositeur. Ce disque propose un aperçu comme chez la plupart des réformateurs de ses œuvres chorales les plus connues, radicaux, n’est aucunement fondé pour entrecoupées d’une de ses œuvres pour orgue autant que nous puissions en juger. et d’un psaume par son père, Samuel Wesley Voilà ce qu’écrivait un critique en réponse (1766 – 1837). La musique de Wesley retrace à la préface incendiaire publiée en 1844 par l’existence de ce terroriste de l’Église officielle Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810 – 1876), devenu l’un de ses enfants chéris. une préface éminemment critique à l’égard du clergé et de l’état de la musique sacrée. The wilderness and the solitary place Wesley ne cessa tout au long de sa vie de Dès sa naissance, Samuel Sebastian fut lancer de telles attaques, en personne et au cœur de controverses. Il était le fils dans ses écrits, ce qui lui valut des relations du compositeur Samuel Wesley et d’une polémiques et insatisfaisantes partout où adolescente à son service, Sarah Suter. Son il alla. Il fut assurément la figure la plus grand-oncle était John Wesley, le fondateur controversée de toute la musique anglaise du du méthodisme, dont le radicalisme contre dix-neuvième siècle, ricochant d’un emploi l’ordre établi, inébranlable face à ceux qui à l’autre, froissant les gens dans chacune des s’opposaient à lui, semble avoir été l’une institutions où il passait. Mais il n’aurait des premières manifestations de ce trait de guère pu créer des styles de musique sacrée caractère familial. Wesley fit ses premières entièrement nouveaux et rénover la pratique armes musicales en tant que choriste de la chorale sans une persévérance à la limite de Chapelle royale, puis en travaillant au cachet l’obstination, et une clairvoyance proche de comme pianiste et chef de chœur à Londres.

22 Il ne fut pas alors immédiatement évident Blessed be the God and Father qu’il ferait carrière dans la musique sacrée – il Les circonstances dictèrent la forme et le travailla surtout pour l’English Opera House, contenu d’une autre anthem composée à puis pour Covent Garden. Son premier poste Hereford, Blessed be the God and Father (Béni de musicien pour une cathédrale, à Hereford soit Dieu, le Père [1 Pierre, 1]). Disposant à l’âge de vingt-deux ans, lui fit découvrir seulement d’une basse et de sopranos pour l’existence parfois décevante d’un organiste le jour de Pâques (1833 ou 1834), Wesley de cathédrale en province. Il se retrouva à utilisa au mieux cet effectif défavorable, devoir compléter son maigre salaire grâce à et donna au monde un exemple précoce l’enseignement, “activité ennuyeuse et quelque de son style d’“aria” (“Love one another”) peu dégradante”. Qui plus est, l’orgue était et de récitatif choral (“to an inheritance inutilisable, en cours de restauration par incorruptible”, etc.). Nous considérons J.C. Bishop, et c’est pour l’inauguration de désormais de telles techniques comme allant l’instrument agrandi, en 1832, que Wesley de soi dans la musique sacrée, mais le “fiat composa l’anthem The wilderness and the lux” de la section initiale, conduisant aux solitary place (Le désert et le pays aride [Isaïe, paroles “resurrection of Jesus Christ”, et les 35]). Plus proche d’un oratorio miniature, ou interjections dramatiques de l’orgue dans la d’une scène d’opéra, cette anthem se caractérise section finale (“But the word of the Lord”) par une sentimentalité affichée et une vaste ont une nouveauté trop facilement éclipsée palette de textures, bien différentes de ce que par la familiarité. l’on avait jamais pu entendre dans la musique sacrée anglaise jusque-là, et témoignant O Thou who camest from above de l’expérience antérieure de Wesley dans La période de Hereford vit aussi une le domaine du théâtre. La partie d’orgue, première incursion dans l’art alors émergent entièrement écrite, d’ambition orchestrale, de l’écriture d’hymnes – la version dite mettait en outre l’orgue et l’organiste à l’épreuve “de Hereford” a été couchée par écrit aux dans une mesure jusque-là inédite. On ne alentours de 1834, et c’est désormais l’air s’étonnera guère que le critique conservateur habituellement retenu pour O Thou who R.J.S. Stevens ait décrit l’œuvre comme “habile. camest from above (Ô Toi qui viens d’en- Mais ce n’est pas de la musique de cathédrale”. haut), grâce à Sidney Nicholson qui coupla

23 par la suite l’air et le texte, dû au grand- Lord?”, confié à un soprano, devient l’élément père de Samuel Sebastian, Charles Wesley central, encadré par des chœurs associant (1707 – 1788). une imperturbable déclamation en accords à la manière de Thomas Attwood ou de O give thanks unto the Lord William Boyce, un fugato haendélien, et les La nomination de Wesley à son deuxième légers effluves d’une sentimentalité viennoise poste, à la cathédrale d’Exeter en 1835, tardive. Le charme irrésistible de cette aria intervint suffisamment peu de temps rachète ce qui pourrait sinon verser dans un après son engagement à Hereford pour en malheureux éclectisme exploratoire. être presque irritante. Ses compositions continuèrent à voir le jour régulièrement, Wash me throughly from my wickedness même s’il lui fut interdit à partir de 1840 Wash me throughly from my wickedness de copier de la musique sans la permission donne un plus grand sentiment de cohésion expresse du chapitre d’Exeter, mesure qui et relève plus fondamentalement d’un sens signala peut-être la fin du soutien accordé par de l’harmonie typique du dix-neuvième celui-ci à cette facette des activités de Wesley, siècle – on pourrait à juste titre le décrire et signala assurément la fin des relations comme une anthem romantique. Les paroles cordiales. Wesley allait quitter Exeter pour profondément pénitentielles, empruntées l’Église paroissiale de Leeds en 1842. au Psaume 51, donnent naissance à une Nous entendons ici trois compositions harmonie plaintive passant par une habile datant d’Exeter. Dans O give thanks unto the conduite des voix; dans de tels cas, où texte Lord (“Louez l’Éternel” [Psaumes 106 et 86], et musique concordent, Wesley n’a pas son vers 1835) et dans Wash me throughly from my pareil. wickedness (“Lave-moi complètement de mon iniquité” [Psaume 51], vers 1840), le style de Larghetto en fa dièse mineur l’“aria” sacrée, avec ses suaves arcs mélodiques Le Larghetto en fa dièse mineur pour orgue régis par l’harmonie, est encore développé de Wesley est tiré du second volume de pour devenir l’un des traits caractéristiques Trois Pièces pour orgue de chambre, écrit à des anthems de Wesley. Dans la première, l’époque où il travaillait à Exeter, mais publié l’air “Who can express the noble acts of the peu après son départ pour l’Église paroissiale

24 de Leeds en 1842. C’est un exemple éloquent les sujets à traiter sont si variés, d’une et concis du style pathétique, aux sonorités application si grande et universelle, austèrement viennoises, dérivé de celui qu’ils dépouillent nécessairement la des mouvements lents de Haydn ou de composition de ses caractères ordinaires. Beethoven. Wesley avait fait paraître un Le Magnificat et le Nunc dimittis relèvent ces premier recueil de Trois Pièces en 1842 et défis en explorant de manière encyclopédique les avait dédiées à Lady Acland, de Killerton les tonalités et des associations de voix sans House, près d’Exeter. Ces œuvres étaient cesse changeantes. Le Service divin du matin apparemment trop difficiles pour elle, et le et du soir en mi fut publié sous sa forme second volume évita par conséquent toute complète en 1844, avec sa préface cinglante. virtuosité pouvant déplaire à son mécène, Dans son compte rendu paru dans le Morning même si le Larghetto, avec sa variation Post, cité ci-dessus, Charles Lewis Gruneisen staccato et sa partie de pédalier entièrement ne se limita pas à la préface et critiqua aussi la écrite, n’a vraiment rien d’un jeu d’enfant. musique: Ce qu’il y a de neuf dans cette Magnificat et Nunc dimittis en mi composition n’est pas bon, et ce qui Si le départ d’Exeter fut teinté de rébellion, y est bon a déjà été entendu sous les premières années à l’Église paroissiale une meilleure forme et en meilleure de Leeds (1842 – 1849) furent en définitive compagnie. heureuses. Wesley bénéficia très vite du Ces récriminations ignorent la tentative mécénat d’un industriel fortuné, Martin sans précédent de Wesley pour conférer un Cawood, qui, après avoir entendu sa version caractère symphonique et épique au texte du du Credo en mi majeur, offrit de financer Magnificat – la première tentative de ce genre, l’achèvement du service divin avec la mise en plus réussie que bien d’autres plus tardives, musique des cantiques du matin et de soir. pour s’éloigner du modèle de la verse anthem. Wesley avait conscience de la nature plus épique et néanmoins enlevée de ces textes, Ascribe unto the Lord faisant remarquer combien “une telle œuvre La genèse des deux dernières œuvres chorales doit être essentiellement différente de toute enregistrées ici nous amène à la période de autre espèce de composition musicale”, et que Winchester (1849 – 1865), l’avant-dernier

25 poste de Wesley. Ascribe unto the Lord aux allures de choral reflètent elles aussi la (Rendez à l’Éternel [Psaumes 96 et 115]) réinterprétation par Mendelssohn de ce fut probablement écrit pour le service procédé typique de Bach. divin de la Church Missionary Society à la cathédrale de Winchester en mai 1851. Un Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace récitatif choral assuré, ce trait distinctif de Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace (“Tu assures Wesley, ouvre cette longue anthem, qui fait la paix” [Isaïe, 26, 3 et Psaume 139, 11 pour les office de contrepartie, au sein de ses années premiers versets], vers 1850) révèle le chemin de maturité, au juvénile Wilderness. Dans parcouru par Wesley depuis ses premières l’intervalle, le compositeur s’était rapproché œuvres. C’est un modèle de simplicité et de Mendelssohn et avait restreint à la fois le de retenue: un refrain simple en accords se recours aux solistes et l’envergure de la partie déploie délicatement en une conduite des voix d’orgue, qui renonça à une indépendance imitative; la dernière occurrence du refrain, affirmée. Ascribe unto the Lord donne et avec lui des paroles initiales, conclut cette à entendre en miniature les sentiments anthem dans un climat de dévotion très d’Elijah, l’oratorio de Mendelssohn, et proche de l’atmosphère d’une pièce d’Orlando partage avec lui un sens dramatique du Gibbons ou de William Byrd. profane et, par compensation, la bénédiction, exprimée par une charmante mélodie, © 2013 William Whitehead associée au Dieu véritable. Les sections Traduction: Josée Bégaud

26 John Challenger John

Lebrecht Music & Arts Photo Library

© Benjamin Ealovega 1 Blessed be the God and Father 2 Wash me throughly from my wickedness Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Wash me throughly from my wickedness, Jesus Christ, and forgive me all my sin. Which, according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope For I acknowledge my faults, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and my sin is ever before me.

to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, Psalm 51: 2 – 3 that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation Ascribe unto the Lord ready to be revealed at the last time. 3 Ascribe unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people: ascribe unto the Lord worship and But as He Which hath calleth you is holy, power. so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto his Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. Name. Let the whole earth stand in awe of him. Love one another with a pure heart fervently. Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord See that ye love one another. is King: and that he shall judge the people righteously. Being born again, Let the whole earth stand in awe of him. not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, 4 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. by the word of God. Sing to the Lord, and praise his Name: be telling For all flesh is as grass, of his salvation from day to day, and his and all the glory of man wonders unto all people. as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, 5 As for the gods of the heathen, they are but idols. and the flower thereof falleth away. Their idols are silver and gold, even the work of men’s hands. But the word of the Lord endureth for ever, They have mouths, and speak not, eyes have they, evermore. and see not. Amen. They have ears, and hear not, noses have they, and smell not. 1 Peter 1: 3 – 5, 15, 17, 22 – 25 28 They have hands, and handle not; feet have they, Now when I think thereupon, I pour out my and walk not: neither speak they through heart by myself: for I went with the their throat. multitude, and brought them forth into the house of God; 6 They that make them are like unto them: and so In the voice of praise and thanksgiving: among are all such as put their trust in them. such as keep holy-day. Why art thou so full of heaviness, O my soul: and As for our God, he is in heaven: he hath done why art thou so disquieted within me? whatsoever pleased him. Put thy trust in God: for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his countenance. 7 The Lord hath been mindful of us, and he shall My God, my soul is vexed within me: therefore bless us: he shall bless the house of Israel, he will I remember thee concerning the land of shall bless the house of Aaron. Jordan, and the little hill of Hermon. He shall bless them that fear the Lord both small One deep calleth another, because of the noise and great. of the water-pipes: all thy waves and storms Ye are the blessed of the Lord, you, you and your are gone over me. children. The Lord hath granted his loving-kindness in the Ye are the blessed of the Lord: who made heaven day-time: and in the night-season did I sing of and earth. him, and made my prayer unto the God of my life. Psalm 96: 2, 3, 5, 7 – 10; I will say unto the God of my strength, Why hast Psalm 115: 3 – 8, 12 – 15 thou forgotten me: why go I thus heavily, while the enemy oppresseth me? My bones are smitten asunder as with a sword: 8 Psalms 42 and 43 while mine enemies that trouble me cast me Psalm 42 in the teeth; Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks: so Namely, while they say daily unto me: Where is longeth my soul after thee, O God. now thy God? My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living Why art thou so vexed, O my soul: and why art God: when shall I come to appear before the thou so disquieted within me? presence of God? O put thy trust in God: for I will yet thank him, My tears have been my meat day and night: while which is the help of my countenance, and my they daily say unto me, Where is now thy God. God?

29 Psalm 43 For behold, from henceforth: all generations shall Give sentence with me, O God, and defend my call me blessed. cause against the ungodly people: O deliver For He that is mighty hath magnified me: and me from the deceitful and wicked man. holy is his name. For thou art the God of my strength, why hast thou put me from thee: and why go I so And His mercy is on them that fear Him heavily, while the enemy oppresseth me? thoroughout all generations. O send out thy light and thy truth, that they may lead me: and bring me unto thy holy hill, and He hath shewed strength with His arm, He hath to thy dwelling. scattered the proud in the imagination of And that I may go unto the altar of God, even their hearts. unto the God of my joy and gladness: He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and upon the harp will I give thanks unto and hath exalted the humble and meek. thee, O God, my God. He hath filled the hungry with good things: and Why art thou so heavy, O my soul: and why art the rich He hath sent empty away. thou so disquieted within me? O put thy trust in God: for I will yet give him He rememb’ring His mercy hath holpen his thanks, which is the help of my countenance, servant Israel, as He promised to our and my God. forefathers, Abraham and his seed, for ever. Luke 1: 46 – 55 Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the be: world without end. Holy Ghost; Amen. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen. Magnificat and Nunc dimittis 9 Magnificat 10 Nunc dimittis My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. peace: according to Thy word. For he hath regarded the lowliness of His For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which handmaiden. Thou hast prepared: before the face of all people;

30 To be a light to lighten the Gentiles: and to be the 14 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and glory of Thy people Israel. come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads, they shall obtain joy and Luke 2: 29 – 32 gladness, 15 And sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Isaiah 35: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen. O give thanks unto the Lord 17 O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious: and His mercy endureth for ever. The wilderness and the solitary place 11 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad 18 Who can express the noble acts of the Lord, or for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and shew forth all His praise? blossom as the rose. For thou, O Lord, art good and gracious and of It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy great mercy unto all them that call upon and singing. Thee. All nations whom Thou hadst made shall come 12 Say to them of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: and worship Thee, O Lord, and shall glorify behold, your God, even God, He will come Thy Name. and save you. For Thou art good, and doest wondrous things: for only Thou art holy, Thou only art the 13 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the Lord. For Thou art great, and doest wondrous tongue of the dumb sing; For in the things. wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. 19 Blessed are they that alway keep judgment: and do righteousness. And a highway shall be there: it shall be called Psalm 106: 1 – 3; The way of holiness; the unclean shall not Psalm 86: 5, 9 – 10 pass over it, But the redeemed shall walk there.

31 20 O Thou who camest from above 21 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace O Thou who camest from above, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, The pure celestial fire to impart, whose mind is stayed on thee. Kindle a flame of sacred love The darkness is no darkness with thee, On the mean altar of my heart. but the night is as clear as the day. The darkness and the light to thee are both alike. There let it for thy glory burn God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. With inextinguishable blaze, Oh let my soul live, and it shall praise thee, And trembling to its source return for thine is the kingdom, the power, In humble prayer, and fervent praise. and the glory, for evermore. Isaiah 26: 3; Psalm 139: 11; Jesus, confirm my heart’s desire 1 John 1: 5; Psalm 119: 175 To work, and speak, and think for thee; Still let me guard the holy fire, And still stir up thy gift in me.

Ready for all thy perfect will, My acts of faith and love repeat, Till death thy endless mercies seal, And make my sacrifice complete. Charles Wesley (1707 – 1788)

32 © Paul Marc Mitchell

Andrew Nethsingha Also available

CHAN 0786 Mozart ‘Coronation’ Mass • Ave verum Corpus • Exsultate, jubilate Missa brevis • Church Sonatas sr

34 Also available

CHSA 5085 Hear My Words: Choral Classicssr from St John’s

35 You can now purchase Chandos CDs or download MP3s online at our website: www.chandos.net For requests to license tracks from this CD or any other Chandos discs please find application forms on the Chandos website or contact the Finance Director, Chandos Records Ltd, direct at the address below or via e-mail at [email protected]. Chandos Records Ltd, Chandos House, 1 Commerce Park, Commerce Way, Colchester, Essex CO2 8HX, UK. E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: + 44 (0)1206 225 200 Fax: + 44 (0)1206 225 201

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Chandos 24-bit / 96 kHz recording The Chandos policy of being at the forefront of technology is now further advanced by the use of 24-bit / 96 kHz recording. In order to reproduce the original waveform as closely as possible we use 24-bit, as it has a dynamic range that is up to 48 dB greater and up to 256 times the resolution of standard 16-bit recordings. Recording at the 44.1 kHz sample rate, the highest frequencies generated will be around 22 kHz. That is 2 kHz higher than can be heard by the typical human with excellent hearing. However, we use the 96 kHz sample rate, which will translate into the potentially highest frequency of 48 kHz. The theory is that, even though we do not hear it, audio energy exists, and it has an effect on the lower frequencies which we do hear, the higher sample rate thereby reproducing a better sound.

36 Recording producer Rachel Smith Sound engineer Jonathan Cooper Editor Rachel Smith A & R administrator Mary McCarthy Recording venue St John’s College Chapel, Cambridge; 20 – 22 April 2012 Front cover Photograph of the interior of Exeter Cathedral, taken by Carl Norman c. 1865 – 85; courtesy of Andrew Dickson White Architectural Photographs, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York Back cover Photograph of Andrew Nethsingha by Ronald Knapp Design and typesetting Cassidy Rayne Creative (www.cassidyrayne.co.uk) Booklet editor Finn S. Gundersen P 2013 Chandos Records Ltd C 2013 Chandos Records Ltd Chandos Records Ltd, Colchester, Essex CO2 8HX, England Country of origin UK

37 © Paul Marc Mitchell

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge WESLEY: CHORAL WORKS – Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge / Nethsingha CHAN 10751 Essex England Colchester Chandos Records Ltd Chandos Records 2013 Chandos Records Ltd 2013 Chandos Records c 2013 Chandos Records Ltd p 2013 Chandos Records CHAN 10751 7:27 8:12 7:23 2:41 3:55 4:35 5:54 10:13 1876) 14:00 12:38 – TT 77:10 (1810

DIGITAL ley ley s s CHANDOS – 1837) (1766

ord stian We stian We ley s ord organ arghetto lessed be the God and Father Wash me throughlyWash from wickedness my Ascribe unto the L Psalms and 42 43 Samuel Seba Magnificat Nuncand dimittis The wilderness and the solitary place Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace Samuel We Samuel Seba Choir of St John’s College,Choir St of John’s Cambridge John Challenger Andrew Nethsingha L o give thanks unto the L o Thou who camest from above b

2 8 16 21 20 3 - 7 9 - 10 - 19 17 15 - 11

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WESLEY: CHORAL WORKS – Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge / Nethsingha CHAN 10751