Henry Croswell et al. in Holy Trinity Church, Little Queen Street, St Giles (Holborn), London - 10 December, 1882, 07:00 PM

from Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell, page 312:

The dullness outside was equal to the dullness inside.

[…] The Church and service have remained unaltered for many, many years.

O[rgan]. – Very ordinary.  The Voluntary was from the Messiah.

H[ymns]. – Mercer - "Lo, He comes …" to the grand old tune.  There was some unknown singing before "Evensong".

C[hoir]. – Some young men and squalling maidens in the West Gallery.

[The congregation …   more >>

cite as

Henry Croswell, Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell. In British Library, number 000826807, C.194.c.113 , p. 312. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1552409158012 accessed: 28 November, 2024 (By permission of the British Library.)

location of experience: Holy Trinity Church, Little Queen Street, St Giles (Holborn), 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 Holy Trinity Church St Giles
'Lo, He comes with clouds descending' performed by the choir and organist of Holy Trinity Church St Giles
Anglican church music performed by the choir and organist of Holy Trinity Church St Giles
music from 'Messiah' performed by the organist of Holy Trinity Church St Giles

Experience Information

Date/Time 10 December, 1882, 07:00 PM
Duration 45 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 Tue, 12 Mar 2019 16:45:58 +0000
Approved on Wed, 15 Jul 2020 08:34:35 +0100