Alice Gertrude Croswell et al. in The Chapel Royal, Whitehall, London - 23 March, 1884, 11:00 AM
from Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell, page 380:
No Evening service.
[…]
O[rgan]. – perched up aloft, West Gallery, by Smith 1662.
H[ymns]. – A & M. "A few more years shall roll" "There are coming …" and one other.
C[hoir]. – Paid, surpliced in middle of room. They behaved like ordinary boys (badly) but beautiful soft singing.
[The congregation numbered] 500 – Free Seats (many) all down centre. Royal Box in centre, … more >>
Henry Croswell, Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell. In British Library, number 000826807, C.194.c.113 , p. 380. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1553015061791 accessed: 19 November, 2024 (By permission of the British Library.)
Listeners
Listening to
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| Date/Time | 23 March, 1884, 11:00 AM |
| Duration | 1 hours 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. Although dated 23/8/84 in the transcript, the position of the record within the whole suggests that the date should be 23 March 1884 (the day on which the Croswell family also visited Westminster Abbey in the evening: see record no. 381, LE no. 1553015967020). ‘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.