St Peter’s Choir
About this week’s music
This week’s Mass setting is the Mass in A, by Marmaduke Barton (1865 – 1938). The anthem is by S.S. Wesley (1810 1876), Wash Me Throughly. If you enjoyed the Nunc Dimittis offered during Candlemas High Mass, come along to Evensong – you will hear it again, along with its Magnificat – the setting for this week’s Evensong offering is the Second Service, by Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 1656). The anthem completes the movement to Renaissance music: If Ye Love Me, by Thomas Tallis (1505 – 1585).
Marmaduke Barton was an English pianist, composer and teacher. The son of a United Methodist Free Church minister, he grew up steeped in religion and was one of the first to attend the Royal College of Music supported by a scholarship. Primarily a pianist, he also taught extensively, and had some compositional output. One of his legacies is an award for piano given each year by the Royal College of Music, awarded yearly up until 2000.
Samuel Sebastian Wesley (referred to as S.S. Wesley to distinguish him from his father, also called Samuel Wesley) was an English organist and composer. The grandson of cleric and hymnwriter Charles Wesley (a leading founder of the Methodist movement), he grew up around church music, singing as a boy soprano in the choir of the Chapel Royal. He worked in church music all his life, writing almost exclusively for the Anglican church, and he is also famous for the hymn tunes Hereford and Aurelia, which he wrote for Jerusalem the Golden.
About the St Peter’s Choir
Founded in 1847, the choir of St Peter's Eastern Hill is one of the oldest continuing Anglican church choirs in Australia.
Music plays an important part in the liturgical life of St Peter’s, with the choir singing at High Mass on Sundays as well as regular Evensongs. Our repertoire ranges from Plainsong to more recent liturgical settings, with a range of familiar and lesser-known composers. We are particularly enjoying re-discovering English Communion settings of the late 19th and early 20th century, alongside the great Mass settings of the Renaissance.
Membership is made up of volunteers, professional musicians, and a quartet of Foundation Scholars who are studying singing at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. The Church recently launched the music foundation to support this endeavour and to provide opportunities for young up-and-coming singers to develop their performance experience while contributing to our liturgy; if you would like more information about this, or to support this vital ministry, please contact the Director of Music, Christopher Watson.
Join the choir
The choir rehearses at 9 am for a 10.30 am service, with no mid-week rehearsal or other commitment. We encourage amateur singers who wish to sing regularly or occasionally to get in touch with our Director of Music, Christopher Watson, to arrange an audition.