Henry Croswell et al. in St Mary's Church, Cable Street East, Shadwell, East End of London - 24 October, 1880, 06:45 PM
from Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell, page 224:
We left after the last hymn at 8.0. We got to church at 6.45 at the First Lesson.
[…]
O[rgan]. – In an organ chamber, nearly unseen.
H[ymns]. – S.P.C.K., old Edition! There was a voluntary before the last verse!
C[hoir]. – Sixteen boys (badly behaved) and three young men; very ordinary singing indeed.
[The congregation numbered] 30 – Adults only! There were a good number of children. Clearly, it is a Low Church failure.
[…]
M[iscellaneous]. – There is little life and no energy.
Henry Croswell, Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell. In British Library, number 000826807, C.194.c.113 , p. 224. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1551116154571 accessed: 29 November, 2024 (By permission of the British Library.)
Listeners
Listening to
hide composersExperience Information
| Date/Time | 24 October, 1880, 06:45 PM |
| Duration | 1 hours 15 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. The S.P.C.K. (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge) hymnbook refers to ‘Church Hymns’ (1871) and/or ‘Church Hymns with Tunes (1874, under the musical editorship of Arthur Sullivan). 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.