Henry Croswell et al. in St Matthew's Church, Pell Street, Stepney, East End of London - 25 March, 1883, 06:50 PM
from Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell, page 327:
The service begun at 6.30. We got there at the Psalms.
[…]
O[rgan]. – Small and ordinary at the East end.
H[ymns]. – A. & M. now. It used to be Kemble. It was not a popular selection of hymns.
C[hoir]. – Eight men and eight lads surpliced but women did most of their nasty singing. The choir were the best behaved I ever saw.
[The congregation numbered] 130 – There were … more >>
Henry Croswell, Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell. In British Library, number 000826807, C.194.c.113 , p. 327. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1552567820308 accessed: 25 April, 2024 (By permission of the British Library.)
Listeners
Listening to
hide composers| Anglican church music | performed by the choir and organist of St Matthew's Church Pell Street |
| hymns selected from 'Hymns A&M' | performed by the choir and organist of St Matthew's Church Pell Street |
Experience Information
| Date/Time | 25 March, 1883, 06:50 PM |
| Duration | 1 hours 10 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. ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern for use in the Services of the Church’ (1861; Appendix, 1868; Second edition, 1875; Supplement, 1889) was envisaged as an anthology of the best hymns available and became the most widely-used hymnbook in the Church of England during the late nineteenth century. William Henry Monk (1823–89) was musical editor. Rev. Charles Kemble’s ‘A Selection of Psalms and Hymns, arranged for the public services of the Church of England’ was first published in 1853 in a words-only edition. Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–76) was asked to edit a music edition (1864), to which he contributed a number of original melodies.