Henry Croswell et al. in St Magnus' Church, London Bridge, City of London - 26 January, 1879, 06:30 PM

from Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell, page 143:

O[rgan]. – Grand, old.

H[ymns]. – Mercer - hymns inappropriate for the season.  An Anthem was sung also.

C[hoir]. – A paid quintette with select solo singing.

[The congregation numbered] 30 and Officials plus Charity children prettily dressed.

[…]

M[iscellaneous]. – I found the service dull, uninteresting, lifeless and respectable.  There were printed papers about the singing but nobody sung except the paid choir.  […]  There is a singing class evry [sic] Wednesday.  Of whom could it be comprised?

cite as

Henry Croswell, Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell. In British Library, number 000826807, C.194.c.113 , p. 143. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1547649420668 accessed: 29 March, 2024 (By permission of the British Library.)

location of experience: St Magnus' Church, London Bridge, City of London

Listeners

Henry Croswell
assurance clerk, Sunday School teacher
1840-1893

Listening to

hide composers
hymns selected from Mercer's hymnal performed by the choir and organist of St Magnus' Church London Bridge
Anglican church music including an anthem performed by the choir and organist of St Magnus' Church London Bridge

Experience Information

Date/Time 26 January, 1879, 06:30 PM
Duration 1 hours 20 minutes
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, indoors, in public

Notes

Henry Croswell (1840–93) kept a record of his visits to churches in London over a period of more than twelve years (1872–85). He made methodical notes about the number of clergy, the churchmanship, the congregation, the sermon and the church architecture, as well as commenting on the music that he heard (the organ, the hymns and the choir). The above listening experience has been extracted from one of these records. William Mercer’s ‘The Church Psalter and Hymn Book’ (1854, enlarged, 1856; new edition, 1864; reprinted with Appendix, 1872) was one of the principal Church of England hymnals before the publication of ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern’. The music editor was John Goss.


Originally submitted by lcc5 on Wed, 16 Jan 2019 14:37:01 +0000
Approved on Thu, 02 Jul 2020 12:24:09 +0100