Henry Croswell et al. in St George's Church, Hanover Square, Mayfair, London - 14 September, 1884, 07:00 PM

from Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell, page 404:

O[rgan]. – Large, fine, in West Gallery.

H[ymns]. – Church Hymns, most insipid.

C[hoir]. – 5 middle-aged ladies plus 5 middle-aged gents. arranged in West Gallery.  Not my style of church at all.

[The congregation numbered] 700 of whom 500 were downstairs and 200 upstairs: dull hymn-books provided.

S[ermon]. – Didn't stop; doubtless "gentlemanly".  Churchwardens, Lords and "Hons." all round church.  Nearly …   more >>

cite as

Henry Croswell, Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell. In British Library, number 000826807, C.194.c.113 , p. 404. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1553167603657 accessed: 28 March, 2024 (By permission of the British Library.)

location of experience: St George's Church, Hanover Square, Mayfair, London

Listeners

Henry Croswell
assurance clerk, Sunday School teacher
1840-1893

Listening to

hide composers
hymns selected from 'Church Hymns' performed by the choir and organist of St George's Church Hanover Square
Anglican church music performed by the choir and organist of St George's Church Hanover Square

Experience Information

Date/Time 14 September, 1884, 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. ‘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.


Originally submitted by lcc5 on Thu, 21 Mar 2019 11:26:44 +0000
Approved on Tue, 23 Jul 2019 11:54:02 +0100