Anglican Choral Tradition [25 CDs]

The roots of the Anglican Choral Tradition predate the formation of the Anglican Church itself. St Sylvester, who was Pope from 314 to 336, founded a school of song in Rome to promote singing technique and learning of the repertoire of plainsong church music. Of course the Anglican Church itself was not founded until the middle of the 16th Century, but being one of the more discreet reformations, aside from the translation of the liturgy into the vernacular, not a whole lot changed from the point of view of the average chorister. However, the following period of alternating puritanical and romanizing backlashes and then the inadvisability of anything smacking of high church in the years leading up to the Restoration, had a rather more severe effect on music in English churches, almost wiping it out entirely for a while. 

This enabled choral music in Anglican worship to develop a flavour all of its own as it recovered from the brink of extinction. The relative scarcity of organs after a particularly overzealous spate of puritanical vandalism made an especially deep impact. This scarcity broke the continuity with Roman Catholic traditions and also forced choirs to compensate for the lack of instrumental accompaniment. Even today a choir's duties include supporting the congregational singing, and the Anglican psalm chants can stand alone harmonically without accompaniment. This disruption, along with the time it took for organs to be rebuilt (many of those destroyed in the 17th Century were not rebuilt or replaced for a century and a half after the restoration of the episcopacy), is probably the most significant factor in the early development of the tradition - most of the settings have been centred around the 1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer, but this is not substantially different from the original 1549 version, so all the upheaval ultimately had a far greater musical impact than it did liturgical. 

Towards the end of the 18th Century, pretty much everywhere that was going to build another organ had already done so, and we saw another step towards choirs of the form we see today. There was a movement to improve decorum and presentation in choirs, and this led to the widespread enforcement of a dress code for each choir. The surplice and cassock is a tradition originating in college choirs, particularly those of Oxford. This appears to have been the last major development to pervade the world of Anglican choral music.



THE ENGLISH ANTHEM
Volume 1

Hyperion CDA66374 [P] 1990

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THE ENGLISH ANTHEM
Volume 3

Hyperion CDA66618 [P] 1993

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THE ENGLISH ANTHEM
Volume 4

Hyperion CDA66678 [P] 1994

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THE ENGLISH ANTHEM
Volume 5

Hyperion CDA66758 [P] 1995

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THE ENGLISH ANTHEM
Volume 7

Hyperion CDA67087 [P] 1999

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THE ENGLISH ANTHEM
Volume 8

Hyperion CDA67483 [P] 2005

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CHORAL MUSIC OF
LEO SOWERBY, Volume 3

Gothic G 49034 [P] 1991

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CHORAL MUSIC BY 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN COMPOSERS, Volume 1

Gothic G 78932 [P] 1989

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MUSIC FOR HOLY WEEK

EMI CDM 5 65103 2 [P] 1994

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WILLIAM BYRD
Three Masses

Argo 430 164-2 [P] 1990

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A Celebration of
HERBERT HOWELLS

Argo 430 205-2 [P] 1992

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PURCELL - Music for the Funeral
of Queen Mary; Anthems

Argo 436 833-2 [P] 1994

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JERUSALEM - Music of Parry,
Stanford and Elgar

Argo 430 836-2 [P] 1991

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MAGNIFICAT AND
NUNC DIMITTIS - Volume 1

Priory PRCD 511 [P] 1994

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MAGNIFICAT AND
NUNC DIMITTIS - Volume 2

Priory PRCD 494 [P] 1994

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A TAPESTRY OF ENGLISH
CATHEDRAL MUSIC

IMP PCD 937 [P] 1990

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ALLELUIA, SURREXIT CHRISTUS

WNC [P] 1994

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ANTHEM: CHORAL MUSIC OF EDWARD BAIRSTOW

Koch 3-7093-2 [P] 1991

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AN ENGLISH CHORISTER'S SONGBOOK

Metronome MET CD 1016 [P] 1996

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A CHORAL FESTIVAL

Chandos CHAN 6603 [P] 1973

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GREAT CATHEDRAL
ANTHEMS II

Priory PRCD 351 [P] 1990

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HEALEY WILLAN

Virgin CDC5 45109 2 [P] 1993

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CHORAL EVENSONG FROM
TRURO CATHEDRAL

Priory PRCD 322 [P] 1990

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O MAGNUM MYSTERIUM

Chesky CD83 [P] 1992

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HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE FULL OF THY GLORY

Priory PRCD 341 [P] 1990

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