St Peter’s Choir
About this week’s music
This week’s music is a Renaissance feast: a Mass setting by Juan Guitérrez de Padilla (1590-1664), and an anthem by Giovanni Nanino (1543 – 1607), the Diffusa Est Gratia. We celebrate Candlemass with the setting of the Nunc Dimittis by Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 1656).
Juan Guitérrez de Padilla as a Spanish Renaissance composer. He studied music from a young age, taking up the position of maestro at the Collegiate Church in the city of Jerez at the age of only twenty-two. By the time he was thirty-nine he was maestro of the Cathedral in Puebla.
Thomas Tomkins was a Welsh composer of roughly the same period, the son of a cathedral lay clerk who also spent his whole life in church music. His later life was hugely impacted by the civil war of 1642, with both his home and the Cathedral – including the organ in whose building Tomkins had played a significant role – both destroyed in the conflict. Some of his finest music, including the Sad Pavane for These Distracted Tymes, was written around these events.
Giovanni Nanino, too, was a Renaissance composer, hailing from Italy. He started as a boy soprano and then joined the papal choir as a tenor, singing with them for the remainder of his life. He also started a public music school in Rome, where he taught many who went on to become notable composers, including Felice Anerio and Gregorio Allegri.
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.