The Anglican choral tradition: a treasure which must be preserved

In the past, I wrote extensively about the patrimony we have the fortune to share as Anglicans. It has now been a few months since we have finally been able to escape those dreadful lockdown days and our choirs are back in full strength, after all, music is what defines us as Anglicans.

I have written this again and again. My faith came back to me in the autumn of 2010, when I was a high school student who had just lost his mother. I remember being very, very angry with God at her funeral. After a few months, that anger towards this "entity" that I took for granted, but never really focused on, turned into deep interest. Within a few months here I was with a prayer book and a bible in my hand, listening to the soothing words of the Coverdale psalms. 

The psalms went through the whole range of human emotion: when I was angry they empowered me, calmed me down, brought me to tears - when I was happy, I would listen to the canticles and sing hymns, and it was often a very powerful experience. I was moved, the Easter message of resurrection became real. I could feel God's loving embrace and I was moved by it - it was the most intense feeling of care and love. 

This love pushed me to attend church and this very love pushed me to become an active member of Anglican Rome. It was my mother that took me to visit the shrine of my patron saint in London: Saint Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey. A few years later, I was back for Evensong. The organ and choir thundered the words of one of my favorite psalms: the Lord is King and hath put on glorious apparel; the Lord hath put on his glorious apparel and girded himself with strength... 

I recognized the stunning MacFarren chant for Psalm 93 and it seemed like heaven had burst open and the whole angelic host was leading me in the worship and praise of God. I was not alone, others had tears on their eyes. The following year I watched a documentary and a chorister from the abbey itself said that people do cry all the time. I am not surprised. I felt that was the closest I ever got to heaven; I also visited Jerusalem and was born in Rome, I know what I am talking about, Anglican music tops it all. Music does what it does as Saint Augustine said singing is praying twice.

Since then, I have felt called to the priesthood within the Church of England, even though I have tried to send that thought away, it comes back all the time and biting at that. Since then, I have felt the same embracing love during worship again and again. I have felt it at evensong in London, at the successful Lessons and Carols service here at my church of All Saints' in Rome, I have felt it at Easter services, singing the words of my favorite resurrection hymns or that time at Durham Cathedral when I was on a pilgrimage. 

It was raining outside and I went in for evensong, it turned out to be a a cappella service led by the cathedral choir in the stunning Galilee Chapel. All of a sudden, the sun shone through the stained glass windows, glowing over the ancient yellow stone of that Romanesque chapel, at the words of the Magnificat set to beautiful English polyphony (by Byrd, if I remember correctly): My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Once again, I felt as if God and his angels had come to say hi.

I already wrote on this before, even if I were trying to make a slightly different point then. Now, the reason why I am writing this article is that we have to realize how lucky we are to share, to own, and to claim this wonderful patrimony. We are perhaps that one part of the global Church with the most beloved musical tradition, even our tv is full of references to Anglican music, from Handel's Hallelujah to the odd Christmas carol. 

As the good capitalist that I am, I always believe that when you have a good product, you should focus on that and make profit out of it instead of doing something else. Over the years, even our media has been coming up with articles on how successful our cathedrals or Oxbridge chapels have been, because of our excellent musical tradition which brings thousands to God. A few days, ago the Church of England proudly posted on social media of a certain Oxbridge chapel having broken the records of newly baptised members it collected within the year.

Why is that? Our beautiful Anglican choral tradition is not just a splendid treasure that belongs to a museum, but an everliving gift that we can use to evangelize our neighbor in a softer way through the beauty of holiness. Our cathedrals, churches and chapels attract hundreds of youths because even the non-believer or non-Christian can feel welcome there, appreciating the music. Whether it's evensong or a carols' service, one can then perhaps leave with something more under their belt, by being carried through the timeless and ethereal flow of the liturgy and the heavenly music to another place, even if for a short time.

Why is it that the most successful churches in London are the ones with a great choir, not only St. Paul's cathedral or Westminster Abbey, but Saint Bartholomew the Great, the Temple church and others. The same goes for other cities, even outside the United Kingdom, New York or Boston are notable examples. The best Anglicanism has to offer is its transcendental and timeless music, there are plenty of churches offering guitars or big speakers. The Anglican tradition is not even that very Rome-oriented music that is sometimes introduced to this side of the Tiber, whether it's tedious plainchant or some form of repetitive Taizè. Not making use of our beautiful tradition can be an insult. Much like it would be to have a horrid piece of art in the middle of the Uffizi.

Our success is in our timeless music, the beauty of the prose of the Book of Common Prayer and the Authorized Version - perfectly understandable to someone whose first language is another, like me. I never liked dumbing a language down. Let's talk about the celebration of ignorance in another article. 

Our best offer is a tradition and a music that is timeless and brings people in another, ethereal place even for a little time; whether it'd be Mattins, Evensong, Holy Communion (the Eucharist, the Mass...) or the annual Lessons and Carols' service. This is the best we can offer, and it's clearly what brings thousands to us. Church politics have nothing to do with it. The best attended services of the year at my church in Rome are the Lessons and Carols' service and the Remembrance Service. People come when they get the product they are craving for.

I do not want to sound unrealistic, not every church has the means. However, every time I see a church doing dumbed down music it pains me, every church has means within its own congregation - you don't need a paid choir. You don't need a paid choir to sing the canticles, psalms and hymns to Anglican chant, which is pretty much what every parish church used to do up until a few decades ago. Not every church can do Stanford, most of the Anglican music repertoire was made for small and untrained congregations, whether it'd be chanting or hymn singing. We do not need to import new, banal material when we have such a strong tradition of our own. It would be a little bit as if all the trattorie in Rome would start cooking Mexican or Swedish food!

Chelsea Old church is a wonderful example of that and their success is in their love for the prayer book and the KJV. Of course, when a parish does have the means it is wonderful to be part of a tradition which includes the greatest church choirs in the world, and the greatest musicians of all time who wrote music for them, whether it's Renaissance, Baroque or Victorian music; the men & boys choirs of England are a national treasure and so is their music.

In this day and age, people do need the comfort that proper Anglican worship has to offer; the beauty of that Elizabethan language of Cranmer, those Mattins or Evensong psalms and canticles, those transcendental hymns and readings, the real Christmas or Easter magic through the greatness of our musical patrimony that shaped the very basis of the English language.

The Anglican choral tradition is the most valued treasure we Anglicans have and should be preserved at all costs, much like the local council protects Roman marbles and Renaissance frescoes here in Rome. It goes hand in hand with the prayer book and the authorized version. It should be our pride. The most successful churches are the ones where this tradition is respected. We see that every year with abbey services being televised beyond Britain and Commonwealth, Oxbridge and cathedral numbers going up, and the annual Lessons and Carols services bringing thousands to our churches, most recently with the funerals of The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

While Italy had its own artistic movements, Britain has always boasted a great musical tradition in which the sacred plays an important role. That is Britain's art and its great gift to the world. Whether it is the Renaissance Byrd, Tallis or Gibbons, the Baroque Purcell or Handel or even the Victorian Stanford... or that old fashioned and yet incredibly varied and unique way of singing psalms and canticles known as Anglican chant. The beautiful music, rendered even more gloriously by an excellent choir and a good organist who knows how to accompany certain texts or make some passages more dramatic - this all brings worship to a whole new level of beauty and drama that sometimes our soul craves for. I am sorry but a tambourine or some boring Gregorian antiphon cannot compare.

To dumb something down or to not execute it properly is a great offense to the great luck we have in our beautiful tradition. I understand the need for variety and the modern needs of worship but how can we not keep this beautiful tradition alive? It's difficult to build back once something is demolished, however slowly. Indeed, not all hope is lost, we see that in the hundreds of successful churches that take pride in keeping this tradition alive, perhaps one day, more will get to see why they are so successful. 

Whether it's the cradle Anglicans or Episcopalians or the newly arrived to our Church who have no time for our choral tradition, it is perhaps the case they only have to find out about it... or at least they should try and respect it, without imposing something else in its place, whatever it is. Sometimes, I come across some people who come to our churches and who want to recreate another Church within our own and have no interest for our patrimony, or those who are tired of their own (Anglican) church and want something more exotic - it's wonderful that our via media can accommodate that, I am the first to promote it, but we shouldn't let go of our treasure and let it go missing. That is how culture is eradicated and that's nasty, we don't like that sort of thing nowadays.

Perhaps the smaller churches should be inspired by the larger cathedrals and chapels and see why they're successful and try and do their part in preserving our heritage within their own means. Why are King's carols or the abbey's services so popular? People want to see something different, they don't want the contemporary to colonize the timeless. That's just some odd obsession some church people have and it bears a hint of selfishness or narcissism sometimes.

I spent the best part of my school years in catholic education in Rome, witnessing a style of worship of a Church that did not seem interested in recreating an earthly heaven but rather that just wanted to get done with it. Sometimes, with the beauty of our Anglican worship it is extremely easy to find God and feel that loving embrace, that is why I love Anglicanism and that is why I find the respect we give to the beauty of holiness so important. I am very thankful of that - I would not want to lose that tradition. Do not take for granted what must be protected.

"As somebody who was brought up on that prayer book - day after day, year after year, Sunday after Sunday, school worship after school worship, evening prayer, communion, everything - those words do sink into your soul in some extraordinary way,"

King Charles III