Lenten Choral Evensong and Organ Recital

The Parish Choir of St. Mary and St. Martha of Bethany in Buford GA will sing a service of Choral Evensong on Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 6:00 p.m.

Also, during the service, Choirmaster-Organist Josh Duncan will present a short organ recital of Lenten-Themed Music.

All are welcome and encouraged to attend. A reception will follow.

St. Mary & St. Martha is located a 3805 Braselton Highway, Buford GA.

Psalm 51 -- Gregorio Allegri

This setting of Psalm 51 is one of the most popular and beautiful settings ever composed. Today, we normally chant or read Psalm 51 during the Ash Wednesday Service during or after Ashes have been imposed on the congregation.

Allegri composed this setting most likely during the 1630s in Rome. Upon the first public "performance" Pope Urban VIII declared this setting be sung exclusively inside the Sistine Chapel and for only Tenebrae Services on Wednesday and Friday of Holy Week. Transcription or performance by other musicians outside of the Sistine Chapel was punishable by excommunication. Circa 1714, the music "escaped" the Vatican and has gone through countless revisions and arrangements.

Allegri's setting can be heard by clicking here.

John Wesley's Directions for Singing

1. Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.

2. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.

3. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a single degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.

4. Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, then when you sung the songs of Satan.

5. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.

6. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing to slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.

7. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.

From John Wesley’s Select Hymns, 1761