Gibbons 400 - Orlando Gibbons & his contemporaries: full & verse anthems though the church's year

To mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Orlando Gibbons one of England’s finest organists and composers Portsmouth Baroque Choir and Binsted Viols, directed by Malcolm Keeler, recreate the sound world of the Elizabethan Church’s Year with a programme of his full and verse anthems complemented by those of his contemporaries William Byrd John Bull John Amner and Thomas Weelkes. The programme also includes three pieces for a consort of viols and is framed by two well-known secular pieces by Gibbons.

The singing was lovely but I understood the words perhaps a little too clearly. It is unlikely that you will ever hear that said after a choral concert yet clarifying a text through music is exactly what Orlando Gibbons and his contemporaries were trying to achieve. Gibbons approached word setting in a way that was new for his time aiming to convey the overall meaning of a phrase expressively rather than colourfully paint words one by one. This involved setting no more than one syllable to each note and avoiding repetition. In doing so Gibbons and his English contemporaries were responding to principles laid down by the Anglican Church such as setting texts in English rather than Latin and to the broader Reformation ideal of making sacred music more accessible. Sometimes these rules were ignored as Gibbons often repeated words and the final Amen is always a cue to producing a lengthy florid section leading to an ingenious final cadence. Gibbons mastered this style of composition the 19th-century composer and musicologist Frederick Ouseley dubbing him “the English Palestrina” while from our own times Jeremy Summerly wrote that “Gibbons’s unique genius lay in telling a story to musical accompaniment… once these stories have been told through Gibbons’s mouth the texts seem naked unless dressed in the music of this Jacobean genius.”

Gibbons’s anthems could only be circulated in manuscript form but judging from the large number of extant copies of them they were widely known and enjoyed. They are of two kinds. Full anthems are intended to be sung by the full choir throughout; they are polyphonic compositions of great richness. Verse anthems have sections for soloists or small groups of singers and require instrumental participation.

The concert begins with O all true faithful hearts written to encourage public rejoicing in April 1619 for the recovery from severe illness of King James I. The blissful Amen of this anthem was sung after the blessing at the end of the coronation ceremony of Edward VII setting a custom which was followed in Anglican churches for many decades afterwards.

The Church’s Year begins with Advent represented by This is the record of John. The importance of this dramatisation of an event from the Gospel of John concerning the identity of John the Baptist was recognised from the moment it was first heard.

Christmas is represented by the delightful O ye little flock by John Amner (1579-1641) who lived and worked in Ely. It is paired with Gibbons Behold I bring you glad tidings one of several works that relies on ascending phrases to convey the mood of rejoicing and culminating in a complex and spacious Amen.

We switch to itinerant John Bull for Epiphany with his Almighty God who by the leading of a star known colloquially as the Star Anthem. This was the most popular Jacobean verse anthem occurring in more contemporary sources than any other.

Palm Sunday has to be Hosanna to the Son of David by Thomas Weelkes (Chichester’s finest) a glorious full anthem for six voices based on a paraphrase of verses from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. and Luke detailing Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

The second half of the programme begins at Easter Day with the sensational verse anthem

Christ rising again from the dead written by William Byrd in 1589. It is paired with Gibbons We praise thee O Father unassuming to the eye but incorporating a haunting close-entwined duet that tells the Paschal mystery.

A Gibbons three-some marks Ascension: O God the king of glory a setting of the Collect for Ascension Day includes some striking ideas notably the remarkable rising scales at the words “which hast exalted thine only son”; the 8-part full anthem O clap your hands one of his most energetic and brilliant compositions written for the occasion of composer William Heyther’s Oxford doctorate in May 1622; See see the word is incarnate to a magnificent text by Dr Godfrey Goodman the Dean of Rochester covering concisely the whole story of Christ’s birth ministry entry into Jerusalem passion resurrection ascension and redemption of mankind.

A swan song to finish. The Silver Swan is elegantly understated compared to other madrigals of the time event the subtle use of dissonance for the word “death”.

Orlando Gibbons was the most highly-regarded English musician of his generation. As the Dean of Westminster commented in 1624: "The organ was touched by the best finger of that age Mr. Orlando Gibbons". Gibbons became organist of the Chapel Royal and later Westminster Abbey. His successful life was cut short at the age of 41 while in Canterbury possible by a brain haemorrhage. There is a bust of Gibbons in Westminster Abbey but he was buried in Canterbury Cathedral. 

The concert venue Christ Church is in central Chichester within walking distance of the railway station and local car parks.

Tickets available from Festival of Chichester Box Office, The Novium, Tower Street, Chichester PO19 1QH, tel. 01243 816525 or from https://ticketsource.co.uk/baroquechoir £14, £12 concessions, £2 student/U18

Also check out other Concerts in Chichester, Music events in Chichester.