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In the week which began with the observance of Candlemas, or the commemoration of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, what better to reflect on than a nunc dimittis. That said, the particular example I’m thinking of is not really a nunc, simply because it is not in Latin but rather in Church Slavonic,… Read more
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Those who read my blog regularly when published may have noticed that I sit down to write this already more than twelve hours after the time I usually publish my weekly post. Although never pleasant to feel behind on one’s plans, it is probably consciousness that I am late with this that set me to… Read more
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As the season of Epiphany continues, my intention had been to offer a short reflection on the hymn ‘Songs of thankfulness and praise’ the text of which was written by Christopher Wordsworth, nephew of the poet William Wordsworth, as part of a collection of hymns called The Holy Year in 1862 (there is a revised… Read more
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The figure of John the Baptist was, perhaps, a potential embarrassment to the early Christians: why would Jesus have implied subordination to the proclamation of another? Why would He seek baptism for repentance? And yet, all four Gospels mention him, and imply approbation. Nevertheless, and increasingly with the passage of time (if one accepts the… Read more
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This blog’s second year begins early in the season of Epiphany, and with one of the favourites of the season, popularised (for English audiences at least) in the translated version included in Carols for Choirs as Three Kings from Persian Lands Afar. Prior to inclusion in that venerable volume, it was the second version of… Read more
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A short post for the end of the year 2025, and what could the subject be but Bach’s short chorale prelude on Das alte Jahr vergangen ist (the old year is past, BWV 614) from his Orgelbüchlein. The text of the chorale thanks the Lord Jesus Christ for having guided us so faithfully in need… Read more
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Returning to Britain in 1942 from the United States, where he had initially been advised to remain at the outbreak of the Second World War, Benjamin Britten composed both his Hymn to St Cecelia to a text by W. H. Auden and a set of seven Christmas Carols for women’s voices and harp. He had… Read more
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Beginning on 17 December the church by tradition begins to chant the Great Advent Antiphons, known as the O Antiphons, at the beginning and end of the Magnificat in liturgical offices using Gregorian plainchant. There are such antiphons for each liturgical feast, season and Sunday of the year. In the seven days from the 17th… Read more
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During this season of Advent we are watching and waiting. Watching for signs of the Kingdom of God as we await His glorious παρουσία (however we might discern or imagine the details of what this might mean). There seems to be a lot of waiting in many aspects of our lives, and perhaps there is… Read more
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The story of Charles Wesley’s hymn ‘Come, thou long-expected Jesus’, published in Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord in 1744, tends to reference his consciousness of poverty and prayer for the coming of the Kingdom of God, and his reflection on Haggai 2.7, which reads (in the Authorised Version): And I will shake all… Read more
Theology in Music 