Evensong
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Evensong is a
Structure
From
When the
Music
Evensong was initially sung entirely to
The first musical setting of the
In choral evensong, all of the service is sung or chanted by the officiating minister and a choir. In cathedrals, or on particularly important days in the church calendar, the canticles are performed in elaborate settings. In churches where a choir is not present, simpler versions of the psalms and canticles are usually sung by the congregation, sometimes with responses and collects spoken rather than sung. Said evening prayer services with the musical setting omitted are also sometimes referred to as evensong.[9]
A number of composers have contributed settings of the canticles. These range from late Renaissance composers such as Thomas Tallis, William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons, through Victorian composers such as Charles Villiers Stanford, Thomas Attwood Walmisley to later masters of the form such as Herbert Murrill, Basil Harwood, Herbert Howells, Michael Tippett, Giles Swayne, and Arvo Pärt (who composed a Magnificat and Nunc dimittis at different times).
In
The service may also include hymns. The first of these may be called the Office Hymn, and will usually be particularly closely tied to the liturgical theme of the day, and may be an ancient plainchant setting. This will usually be sung just before the psalm(s) or immediately before the first canticle and may be sung by the choir alone. Otherwise any hymns normally come toward the end of the service, maybe one either side of the sermon (if there is one), or following the anthem. These hymns will generally be congregational.
Churches offering evensong
Great Britain
Most
Aside from the cathedrals and collegiate chapels, evensong is also sung in many
Ireland
Most of the larger churches and
United States and Canada
Most of the larger cathedrals and large parishes of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada offer choral evensong.[12] During the school year, Washington National Cathedral offers Evensong not only on Sunday afternoon, but also from Monday to Thursday, with the Girl Choristers and the Boy Choristers alternating.[13] Saint Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in New York City offers Evensong from Tuesday to Thursday during the school year, in addition to Sundays.[14]
Evensong is also often offered at Episcopal seminaries as part of a chapel program. For example, General Theological Seminary currently offers Evensong.
Africa
Throughout the countries of Africa with a large Anglican presence, evensong is also offered, for instance in the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos, Nigeria, St George's Cathedral, Cape Town, South Africa, and every Sunday at the St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, South Africa.
Australia and New Zealand
Most of the cathedrals of the Anglican Church of Australia offer choral evensong at least weekly, with St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne offering daily evensong. Likewise in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, evensong is offered at the cathedrals in Auckland, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Wellington.
Asia
- St John's Cathedral, Hong Kong
- All Saints' Cathedral, Hong Kong
- St Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore
- St Mary's Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Rikkyo All Saints' Chapel, Tokyo, Japan
- Rikkyo St. Paul's Chapel, Saitama, Japan
Non-Anglican churches
The popularity of evensong has spread to other churches, particularly churches of the
There are some Roman Catholic churches and abbeys in England offering choral evensong: These include Ampleforth Abbey, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, the Birmingham Oratory, Ealing Abbey, Leeds Cathedral, Downside Abbey, the London Oratory, and Westminster Cathedral.[16]
Loyola University Maryland, a Jesuit Catholic university in Baltimore, Maryland, celebrates a half-hour evensong on Thursday evenings, although this has been temporarily suspended.
In Scotland, some larger churches (and former cathedrals belonging to the Church of Scotland) hold evensong, including
The
Broadcasts
The BBC has, since 1926, broadcast a weekly service of Choral Evensong. It is broadcast (usually live) on BBC Radio 3 on Wednesdays at 15:30 and often repeated on the following Sunday. Between February 2007 and September 2008, the service was broadcast on Sunday only. The service comes live from an English cathedral or collegiate institution. However, it is occasionally a recording or is replaced by a different form of service or a service from a church elsewhere in the world or of another denomination. The most recent broadcast is available on the BBC iPlayer for up to a week after the original broadcast. There is also an archive available.[17]
See also
- Morning Prayer (Anglican)
- Matins
- Vespers
- Anglican chant
- Anglican church music
- Service (music)
- Magnificat
- Nunc dimittis
- Anglican devotions
Notes
- ^ "evensong". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. April 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2021. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Dipippo, Gregory (21 April 2022). "Ordinariate Pontifical Vespers and Benediction in NYC Tomorrow Evening". New Liturgical Movement. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
- ^ Baring-Gould, Sabine (1891). In troubadour-land. A ramble in Provence and Languedoc. London: W. H. Allen. p. 211.
- ^ French, Reginald Michael (1951). The Eastern Orthodox Church. New York: Hutchinson's University Library. p. 122.
- ISBN 9780191619922.
- ISBN 9780226469621.
- ^ Merbecke, John (1550). The booke of common praier noted. London: Imprinted by Richard Grafton printer to the Kinges Maiestie.
- ISBN 9781317119593.
- ^ Hughes, Gareth (26 November 2013). "A spotter's guide to evensong". Liturgical Space. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ^ "King's College London - College Chapel". www.kcl.ac.uk.
- ^ "Choral evensong". www.choralevensong.org. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
- ^ Armentrout, Don S.; Slocum, Robert Boak, eds. (2000). "Evensong". An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, A User Friendly Reference for Episcopalians. New York City: Church Publishing Incorporated, The Episcopal Church.
- ^ "Choral Evensong". Washington National Cathedral. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
- ^ "Home". www.saintthomaschurch.org. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
- ^ "Atlanta's Home Church". Peachtree Road United Methodist Church.
- ^ "Choral Evensong". www.choralevensong.org.
- ^ "Choral Evensong". BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
Further reading
- Clarke, W.K. Lowther (1922). Evensong Explained. With Notes on Matins and the Litany. London: SPCK.
External links
- Choral Evensong
- Choral Evensong: BBC Radio 3 weekly broadcast
- SingTheOffice: evensong from the Book of Common Prayer set to plainsong
- Church of England daily prayer