The Mercenary Bass notes the transition of seasons

[damont]

From the "singing in church choirs" perspective, today marked the end of the "choir year" and the beginning of summer vacation. Once again I was at Sharon Chapel; for the season finale we had prepared four anthems which were sung at various points in the service.

We began after the first reading, with a setting of "For the Beauty of the Earth" by John Rutter; the first time we practiced this I said "This sounds like a syrupy late-1970s pop song..." and only then checked the copyright date; sure enough, it was copyright 1980. The second was "Ascendit Deus" by Jacobus Gallus at the offertory; a bit late for Ascension, but this was the first chance we'd had since Easter to sing in five parts. The third was after Communion, a 1950s-1960s era piece: "E'en so Lord Jesus Quickly Come" (using pieces of Revelation as the text) by Paul Manz. After the dismissal, instead of an organ postlude we sang "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" from the back of the church.

So ends the regular choir year. Now it's time to turn my full attention to Pennsic Choir pieces.

Comments

[psalite.livejournal.com]

"After the dismissal, instead of an organ postlude we sang "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" from the back of the church."

Just curious, was that the one by Rutter as well?
Rutter is one of my favorite composers for choir anthems .But I do have to agree with you on "For the beauty of the Earth " Nice peice ,just a bit syrupier then I would prefer too.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Just curious, was ["The Lord Bless You and Keep You"] the one by Rutter as well?

No -- we started rehearsing that, but time/personnel issues put the kibosh on it. (Too many folks, including myself, couldn't make too many rehearsals in June.) So we did one of the more traditional ones instead.