In a departure from modern day, our service on the 21st March marks the martyrdom in 1556 of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury and English Reformer. He was the author of the original Prayer Book and the liturgy of Evensong. His prayers and forms of service have provided sustenance and beauty for centuries.
At this service, the lessons will be taken from the Great Bible of 1539, the very first complete bible in English (used by Cranmer himself), and the liturgy will be taken from the first Prayer Book of 1549 – in its original spelling!
The choir will sing music from the Tudor period, much of which would have been familiar to Cranmer. In that early, formative stage of the English reformation, the strongest influence came from Zurich. Bullinger initiated direct communication with Cranmer, which ushered in years of close connection between Zurich and England. Zurich received English protestant visitors, and books by Zurich theologians began to circulate across the channel.
Canticles: Gibbons, Magnificat (Short service)
Tallis, Nunc dimittis (Dorian)
Responses: Ayleward
Psalm 9. Farrant
Anthem: “Lord, for thy tender mercy’s sake” by Richard Farrant
If you wish to know more about this exciting period in history, please come to Choral Evensong at St Andrew’s on Tuesday 21 March at 7pm.