"The Little Church Around the Corner"
One East 29th Street, New York
MUSIC NOTES:
Easter VII - May 27, 2001
For all the foibles and follies of King James I (ruled 1603-1625), his reign has left its mark on history. Shakespeare was writing King Lear and the Sonnets, the Puritans were gaining political power and influence, and the Authorized Version of the Bible was published. In music, Thomas Tomkins, Thomas Weelkes and Orlando Gibbons were working at Worcester, Chichester and London respectively, refining and reshaping the music of the Anglican Church. Their great Elizabethan forebears had laid much groundwork, and Tomkins, Weelkes, Gibbons and many others continued to till this fertile soil, unaware that even as they worked, the seeds of the Civil War were also being planted, which would lay bare these rich musical fields for many years.
Today's service music and anthem is drawn from the music of Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), whose adult lift, cut short by sudden death from an aneurysm, spans the Jacobean monarchy. Gibbons' early musical training was taken at King's College in Cambridge, where he was a boy chorister. At age 21 he was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and was later appointed organist of Westminster Abbey. A visitor hearing him play there once remarked that "The organ was touch'd by the best Finger of the Age." Gibbons was not prolific as a composer, yet his works represent some of the best examples of the many genres in which he composed, both vocal and instrumental. He was a master of the verse anthem, a genre in which there are intricate exchanges between solo voices and the full choir, with the organ (or viol) accompaniment sometimes acting as a third component, with highly artful imitative passagework. O God, the King of Glory is a verse anthem for Ascensiontide, using as its text the Collect for the First Sunday after Ascension Day. In characteristic fashion, Gibbons carefully crafts the music to follow the shape and meaning of the text.
Gibbons composed only two service settings, the Short Service in F-fa-ut and the Second Service, which exists only in fragmentary form. The Service in F, as the first setting is often called, was immensely popular in its day, and it is still a much-loved and often-used setting. It is unusually tuneful, and is through-composed, avoiding the phrase repetitions and elaborate musical development often found in Byrd and Tallis. In this Gibbons expresses one of the ideals of the architects of the English Reformation, not easily realized by gifted composers, to simplify and reduce the length of service music.
Today's service music and anthem is drawn from the music of Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), whose adult lift, cut short by sudden death from an aneurysm, spans the Jacobean monarchy. Gibbons' early musical training was taken at King's College in Cambridge, where he was a boy chorister. At age 21 he was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and was later appointed organist of Westminster Abbey. A visitor hearing him play there once remarked that "The organ was touch'd by the best Finger of the Age." Gibbons was not prolific as a composer, yet his works represent some of the best examples of the many genres in which he composed, both vocal and instrumental. He was a master of the verse anthem, a genre in which there are intricate exchanges between solo voices and the full choir, with the organ (or viol) accompaniment sometimes acting as a third component, with highly artful imitative passagework. O God, the King of Glory is a verse anthem for Ascensiontide, using as its text the Collect for the First Sunday after Ascension Day. In characteristic fashion, Gibbons carefully crafts the music to follow the shape and meaning of the text.
Gibbons composed only two service settings, the Short Service in F-fa-ut and the Second Service, which exists only in fragmentary form. The Service in F, as the first setting is often called, was immensely popular in its day, and it is still a much-loved and often-used setting. It is unusually tuneful, and is through-composed, avoiding the phrase repetitions and elaborate musical development often found in Byrd and Tallis. In this Gibbons expresses one of the ideals of the architects of the English Reformation, not easily realized by gifted composers, to simplify and reduce the length of service music.
