Stainer’s mini-masterpiece has survived all that’s been thrown at it over the years. It just taxes church choirs enough to persuade them up to their game. The organ part is a thrill to play, not too difficult. The hymns are all superb and ‘God so loved’ is still a popular stand alone anthem, and very moving in its simplicity.
Sunday 25th - a feast of choral music
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Originally posted by jonfan View Post... ‘God so loved’ is still a popular stand alone anthem...
I don't think I've ever heard any of the rest of the work - strangely perhaps, since I am old enough to remember the days of the big choral societies regularly doing all the big oratorios.
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Stainer’s mini-masterpiece has survived all that’s been thrown at it over the years.
This from Wiki:
The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer is an oratorio composed by John Stainer in 1887. It is scored for a SATB choir and organ, and features solos for bass and tenor.[1] Stainer intended that [the] piece would be within the scope of most parish church choirs; it includes five hymns for congregational participation.[2] The text was written by W J Sparrow Simpson, the librettist of Stainer's earlier cantata, Mary Magdalene.[3] The work is dedicated "to my pupil and friend W. Hodge and the choir of Marylebone Church", who first performed it on February 24, 1887, the day after Ash Wednesday.
Although the composer Ernest Walker dismissed the work, writing in 1924 that "Musicians today have no use for The Crucifixion", and even Stainer characterized his work as "rubbish,"[4] the work continues to be performed today.
One has to ask, which composer is remembered, Walker or Stainer?
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Originally posted by ardcarp View PostNot sure about the 'masterpiece'. He wrote it for a parish church when a certain religiosity was the accepted style.
This from Wiki:
The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer is an oratorio composed by John Stainer in 1887. It is scored for a SATB choir and organ, and features solos for bass and tenor.[1] Stainer intended that [the] piece would be within the scope of most parish church choirs; it includes five hymns for congregational participation.[2] The text was written by W J Sparrow Simpson, the librettist of Stainer's earlier cantata, Mary Magdalene.[3] The work is dedicated "to my pupil and friend W. Hodge and the choir of Marylebone Church", who first performed it on February 24, 1887, the day after Ash Wednesday.
Although the composer Ernest Walker dismissed the work, writing in 1924 that "Musicians today have no use for The Crucifixion", and even Stainer characterized his work as "rubbish,"[4] the work continues to be performed today.
One has to ask, which composer is remembered, Walker or Stainer?
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Originally posted by ardcarp View PostApparently the guy singing the tenor solos tonight was the treble who sang 'Walking in the Air' on the film sound-track."...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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