St Peter’s Choir
About this week’s music
TThis week’s Mass setting is the Missa Quarti Toni, by Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 – 1611). The anthem, Cast Me Not Away, is by English composer S.S. Wesley (1810 – 1876), about whom we read a fortnight ago.
Tomás Luis de Victoria was a Spanish Renaissance composer, whose musical activities in Rome led him to become one of the foremost composers of his era. His setting of the Mass this week is one of the most heavily parodic of all his settings, quoting extensively from other pieces of music. With movement between major and minor harmonisation, the Missa Quarti Toni is predominantly in four parts, except for the Agnus, which builds to include a second soprano part, singing in canon with the first.
The anthem Cast Me Not Away is a setting of verses of psalm 51: Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy Spirit…a broken and contrite heart thou will not despise. Wesley uses long melodic lines and complex, unsettled harmonies in eight parts to build the sense of anguish in the psalm, moving with the trajectory of the text into a calmer sense of hope and contemplation.
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.