Henry Croswell et al. in St Luke's Church, Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green, East End of London - 12 September, 1880, 06:30 PM
from Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell, page 218:
O[rgan]. – Small in the West Gallery. A curious selection of tunes.
H[ymns]. – Church Hymns. "Nearer my God to Thee …"
C[hoir]. – In the West Gallery - three boys and the rest women. Not good singing - they nearly broke down.
[The congregation numbered] 65 – Few males, no children except two little boys by us both asleep.
[…]
M[iscellaneous]. – There seemed little life. It is Low Church.
Henry Croswell, Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell. In British Library, number 000826807, C.194.c.113 , p. 218. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1551105058630 accessed: 16 April, 2024 (By permission of the British Library.)
Listeners
Listening to
hide composersExperience Information
| Date/Time | 12 September, 1880, 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. ‘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.