From the Organist & Choirmaster

I hope that those who have attended the first two of our Holy Week liturgies have found them meaningful and have brought you into the life of our Lord. With two liturgies of the Triduum remaining (Good Friday and the Great Vigil of Easter), I wanted to offer a few words about one of the pieces the choir will sing at the Easter Vigil on Saturday. Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem by Charles Villiers Stanford will be sung by the choir at the Offertory. The text is a 19th century translation of the medieval Chorus novae Irusalem, which is attributed to Fulbert of Chartres and is focused on the Resurrection of Christ, taking the theme of Jesus as triumphant victor of death and deliverer of the prisoners from hell.

It was first published in 1850 by Robert Campbell and is traditionally a hymn often used with the tune “St. Fulbert.” Charles Villiers Stanford set the music in the form of an anthem for Eastertide in 1910 and uses all six stanzas of the text (unlike the hymn which typically shortens it to just four). With two main musical ideas, the first in major mode in triple meter (Ye choirs of New Jerusalem) and the second in minor quadruple meter (Devouring depths of hell their prey). The anthem begins in G major and modulates through various keys, alternating between the two main themes in traditional sonata form before condoling in a fanfare-like fashion on that “A” word I must not mention until Saturday’s first Mass of Easter.

I hope you will continue to celebrate Holy Week at Saint Andrew’s and look forward to leading our choir in the singing of many fantastic anthems throughout the weekend.

Cody