Revival of Choral Evensong

By Ruth Skaggs
St. Paul’s, Daphne

From the rites of Jewish synagogues in the pre-Christian era to today’s worship practices in the Episcopal Church of the United States may seem a far distance geographically, culturally and spiritually. The sounds of Evening Prayer sung by the choir of St. Paul’s in Daphne are a reminder of the unbroken chain of prayer, praise and thanksgiving from the ancient religion of Jesus’ roots to the religion established in His name and still vibrantly alive 2,000 years later.

The office of Evening Prayer as practiced today is directly descended from the system of Canonical Hours of the Latin Church of the middle ages. These services, in turn, developed from the customs of daily praise, instruction and prayer observed in the early church from apostolic times. They are rooted in the practices of devoted Jews at the time of Jesus’ birth. It would be natural for the apostles, Jews themselves, to include these traditions as the early Christian churches were being formed.

By the sixth century the Church had systematized the Daily Offices into eight distinct services, celebrated by the clergy. The laity were not active participants, although they were encouraged to attend the services. As the laity ceased to participate in sung worship, a highly organized body of chants was applied to every moment of the service in the Latin Church. These chants, called plainsong or plainchant, are monophonic, rhythmically free melodies. Although the primary function of the melodies has always been to support the text, many of them are hauntingly beautiful.

Plainsong became synonymous with Gregorian Chant, named after Gregory the Great (590-604). The role of Pope Gregory in the style of chants named after him is somewhat controversial. Most church music historians believe that he compiled and systematized the almost 3,000 plainsongs in use. Plainsong melodies were derived from many sources: Jewish synagogues, folk songs and some from Greek and Roman music, adapted for liturgical purposes.

As a result of the Reformation in the 16th century men such as Martin Luther and Thomas Cranmer saw the opportunity to make of the Daily Offices a means of corporate worship that would include all the people of God, laity and clergy.

Cranmer, who became Archbishop of Canterbury in the reformed Church of England, wisely initiated gradual changes. He was responsible for the translation of the liturgy into English, reduction of the number of Offices to two—Morning and Evening Prayer—and simplification of their content. Evening Prayer used today is a combination of Vespers and Compline in the Roman church.

A demand arose for a simplified musical style that could be sung and understood by the laity. A new body of Anglican church music was created in response to the need. Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) is recognized as the father of Anglican church music, but many other composers filled the need for service music and anthems. Composers Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Thomas Weelkes and Thomas Tomkins in the early years of the Anglican Church were joined in later years by such well-known composers as Giovanni Palestrina, Henry Purcell and John Blow in providing a wealth of music suitable for the Church. In addition to anthems they wrote settings for chants that became known as Anglican chants. These chants are distinguished from Gregorian chants in that they are harmonized in four parts. As with Gregorian chants, however, the texts determine the melodies and rhythms. They are within a fairly narrow pitch range to make them accessible to non-trained singers.

In the United States, independence from England necessitated a revision of the prayer book. The American Prayer Book of 1789 was produced as an answer to the need for change. Revisions have occurred, and Evening Prayer as now celebrated is based on the 1979 revision.

In the first 25 years of the independence of the American church, the development of Anglican liturgical music was influenced by British organists and composers who had immigrated and brought with them the cathedral practices from the mother church. Influences of the new culture made their incursions, however, and church musicians drew from an eclectic repertory of music from Roman Catholic, Moravian and Lutheran denominations. There followed an increase of compositions of chants, responses, doxologies and liturgical anthems. Gradually, an indigenous repertory of service music was built up. The 1982 hymnal in use today contains these English and American sources of harmonized chants known as Anglican chants. Most of the chants are based on plainsong melodies that have been rediscovered and restored to liturgical use. In the Episcopal Church the style of Anglican chant is used when chanting psalms and canticles.
Episcopalians who remember Morning Prayer as a frequent Sunday morning service remember singing the canticles Venite, Te Deum, Benedictus es, Domine to Anglican chants.

Music has been an integral part of the Christian liturgy. Although the liturgy can be said rather than sung, the rhythm and melody of music adds power to the text. Bishop of Constantinople John Chrysostom said that the act of singing the psalms blends voices together, “causing one single fully harmonious chant to arise, banishing all social inequalities. Together we make up a single choir in perfect equality of rights and of expression whereby earth imitates heaven,” he said.

Today liturgical singing has shifted its emphasis from being an aid to teaching the faith to the poetic and cathartic quality of music. J. Gelineau, SJ, states his belief that Western liturgy has suffered from an excess of rationalization. Singing a celebration of the Offices neutralizes that, he believes. “Music appeals to the emotions rather than to reason, and this too is important when we remember that the Spirit appeals to the whole man,” he said.

Gelineau further believes that liturgy sung or set to music provides a meeting place for diverse people and divisive beliefs. For those who feel isolated music offers reconciliation and communion.

Choral Evensong is a musical setting to the Office of Evening Prayer as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. As the name implies it is celebrated in the late afternoon or early evening. The service may include plainchant, Anglican chant and sung anthems by a number of composers from ancient to contemporary times. It is inclusive of all worshippers in that the service includes clergy, congregational hymn-singing and music by a choir.

It can be said that Choral Evensong is a form of contemplative prayer wherein the slow unfolding of tone upon tone allows an inner dwelling of music combined with sacred text. The rise and fall of chant tones induces a letting go of thoughts, problems and difficulties from the day, whether one is singer or listener. Awareness of self is peeled off, layer by layer. When the last layer has been released it’s as if God’s hand has been laid upon the worshipper, letting each know that His grace is sufficient. As one parishioner said, “It’s good to close the day with Choral Evensong. At the end I feel peace and power.”

Richard Proulx, in an essay on the contemporary use of chant, expresses it this way, “When beautifully sung in an acoustically favorable environment and an appropriate liturgical context, plainchant can provide for the worshipper a sense of the numinous, of the immanent presence of God.”

Singers and other musicians in the service experience a particular joy in the act of worshiping through music-making. Their many hours of practice in preparation for the celebration brings a sense of having received a gift, rather than offering one. One singer expressed it beautifully when she said, “All of us are of one accord in creating beautiful music. It is an incredible joy to be a part of this. It was a mountain top experience for me.”

The sung service also has health benefits, unrecognized but real. Studies in music therapy have revealed the positive effects of a phenomenon known as “entrainment.”
Entrainment is an involuntary act in which pulse matches pulse. For example, chanting in an evensong service has a slow, restful rhythm, akin to the beat of a heart in its relaxed state. Body rhythms of the listener begin to match the pulse of the music. Heartbeats and breathing rates begin to slow down, and a calmer mood is induced. This has been known to have positive results on blood pressure, headaches and other pain, as well as other health benefits.

Choral Evensong is celebrated primarily in cathedrals in large cities, although some parish churches with good choral traditions offer it occasionally. In the Central Gulf Coast diocese St. Paul’s in Daphne celebrates it two or three times a year and plans to offer it more often. Its Evensong services have become ecumenical events as singers from other churches join the St. Paul’s choir, drawn by the deeply enriching experience of praying beyond words. One singer from another denomination expressed it for many others when she said, “It was truly a night shared with our Lord. I felt as if we were standing on holy ground.”

St. John’s in Mobile offers Choral Evensong every third Sunday of the month from September through May. Christ Church, Pensacola; Trinity, Mobile and St. Paul’s, Mobile have celebrated Evensong from time to time.

The beauty and meditative qualities of the service may appeal to “fringe attenders,” and to people who claim to be “spiritual but not religious.” Our Lord works through all of His creation. It could be that a revival of Choral Evensong in the Central Gulf Coast diocese will lend a surge of energy to the future of the Church and bring new manifestations of His Spirit.

References:

Harvard Dictionary of Music, 1969

Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, Edward Yarnold, SJ. The Study of Liturgy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.

Donald Jay Grout, A History of Western Music. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1960

Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary. New York: Oxford University Press, 1963.

Raymond F. Glover, Ed., The Hymnal 1982 Companion, Vol 1. New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1990.

Edward Dickinson, Music in the History of the Western Church. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908.

Ruth M. Wilson, Anglican Chant and Chanting in England, Scotland and America 1660 to 1820. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.