Evensong

The Choir of St. Giles will lead Evensong (sung Evening Prayer) on Sunday afternoon, October 29 at 4:00. This service of prayers, scripture lessons, hymns, and canticles is a time of serenity and beauty. Lasting 45 minutes or less, it is perfect solace for a late Sunday afternoon. You are encouraged to come and bring friends and neighbors.

The choir will offer the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in B-Flat by the Anglo-Irish composer Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924). Psalm 103 will be sung to two different Anglican chants. The Preces and Responses will be a new setting by Käthe Wright Kaufman, a very talented young musician who is making her place in the world. Now based in Atlanta, she was head chorister at St. Luke’s in Evanston, studied organ with me in high school, graduated with two degrees in organ from Eastman, and served as organ scholar at Peterborough and Truro Cathedrals in England. The anthem is “Evening Hymn” by H. Balfour Gardiner (1877-1950), one of the standard cathedral anthems for Evensong. The dark and mysterious middle section is a prelude to Halloween – Banish the dreams that terrify, and night’s fantastic company: keep us from Satan’s tyranny: defend us from unchastity. The organ prelude – Prelude in e-flat minor (Suite, Op. 5) by Maurice Duruflé – and postlude – Toccata (Suite Gothique) by Léon Boëllmann – also evoke the upcoming night of ghouls and goblins.