Henry Croswell et al. in St Martin's Church, Gospel Oak, London - 22 May, 1881, 07:00 PM

from Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell, page 256:

O[rgan]. – All away from the Chancel and badly played.  It was a dreadful, unmusical service.

H[ymns]. – Mercer, a miserable selection.

C[hoir]. – A few young women, incapables, with tunes in which nobody joined.

[The congregation numbered] 130 – A great failure.  In the proper hands it might be a great success.

S[ermon]. – We didn't stop 

cite as

Henry Croswell, Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell. In British Library, number 000826807, C.194.c.113 , p. 256. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1551347513949 accessed: 9 December, 2024 (By permission of the British Library.)

location of experience: St Martin's Church, Gospel Oak, London

Listeners

Henry Croswell
assurance clerk, Sunday School teacher
1840-1893

Listening to

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Anglican church music performed by the choir and organist of St Martin's Church Gospel Oak
hymns selected from Mercer's hymnal performed by the choir and organist of St Martin's Church Gospel Oak

Experience Information

Date/Time 22 May, 1881, 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 Thu, 28 Feb 2019 09:51:54 +0000
Approved on Mon, 13 Jul 2020 13:33:27 +0100