Henry Croswell et al. in St Saviour's Church, Dalston, East London - 22 February, 1880, 07:00 PM
from Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell, page 190:
NOT CHURCH OF ENGLAND
[…]
O[rgan]. – Small, moderately well played.
H[ymns]. – Church Hymns; dissenting hymns and tunes chosen.
C[hoir]. – Five squalling females, three men and one boy (the organ-blower). It was a dreadful noise but there was some attraction.
[The congregation numbered] 60 There were hardly any men and some dowdy women.
[…]
M[iscellaneous]. – A stranger would have thought all along he had been in a Church of England. I certainly prefer Rome to Geneva.
Henry Croswell, Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell. In British Library, number 000826807, C.194.c.113 , p. 190. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1549037968365 accessed: 6 December, 2024 (By permission of the British Library.)
Listeners
Listening to
hide composers| dissenting hymns selected from 'Church Hymns' | performed by the choir and organist of St Saviour's Church Dalston |
| church music | performed by the choir and organist of St Saviour's Church Dalston |
Experience Information
| Date/Time | 22 February, 1880, 07:00 PM |
| Duration | 1 hours 30 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. ‘Church Hymns’ (1871) and ‘Church Hymns with Tunes’ (1874) were publications of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K.), under the musical editorship of Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900). This collection was the most successful of the competitors to ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern’ in the late nineteenth century, containing a larger number of hymns overall, and more hymns specifically intended for children and young people.