Memorial Choral Evensong

Sunday 3 May is the first Sunday of the month, which means the Choir of St. John’s, Shaughnessy will offer the traditional Anglican service of Choral Evensong at four o’clock in the afternoon. Prayers will be included for those interred in the memorial garden and a time of remembrance will be had following the service.

This month’s music list:

• Introit: Edward C Bairstow, Jesu, the very thought of thee
• Responses: William Byrd
• Psalm 84: C Hubert H Parry
• Canticles: Herbert Murrill, Evening Service in E
• Anthem: H Balfour Gardiner, Evening Hymn
• Voluntary: Edward Elgar, ‘Nimrod’ from Enigma Variations, Op.36

Gardiner‘s Evening Hymn and Murrill‘s Evening Service in E are perhaps their best-known works—all the more surprising as both were much more prolific in the secular orchestral sphere. Perhaps that influence is what makes these staples of the choral repertoire, displaying moments of symphonic grandeur mixed with driving intensity. The service opens with Bairstow’s intimate setting of a tender 12th-century text, helping the listener to find rest in God’s presence, and joy in his love.

Celebrate the joy of Eastertide with transcendent choral music amidst prayers for our loved ones; light refreshments to follow.

St John’s, Shaughnessy

1490 Nanton Ave (@ Granville St)

Vancouver, BC