Other Composers

Richard Farrant

  • Call to remembrance
    SATB & organ
  • Hide not thou thy face
    SATB
  • Lord, for Thy tender mercy's sake
    SATB
  • Almighty God, who by thy Son
    SAATB & organ

Tomas Luis de Victoria
The greatest Spanish composer of the Renaissance, he was born near Ávila, and studied in Rome, probably with the Italian composer Giovanni da Palestrina, whom he succeeded in 1571 as music director of the Collegium Romanum. During 1578-85 he worked with the Italian priest St. Philip Neri. From 1586 he was chaplain to the Spanish dowager empress Maria in Madrid, where he died in 1611. His masses and motets are musically conservative in their skilled use of counterpoint. They are forward-looking, however, in showing deep concern with expressing the emotion of the text, and they reveal an intensity at once mystical and thoroughly Spanish. Victoria wrote no secular music.
  • O vos omnes
  • Videte omnes populi
  • Jesu, the very thought of Thee
  • Of the glorious Body telling
    SATB unaccompanied
  • Cum beatus Ignatius:
    SSATB

Frederick A. Gore Ouseley


A particularly interesting man for a composer. He led a life of diplomacy and his son's godfather's were Royal Dukes. He attended Oxford, snag in variuos choirs. After he was Ordained in 1849 he created a foundation, St.Michael's College, which he funded himself. He was the Vicar of the new parish. He also at the time was professor of music at Oxford, Precentor of Hereford Cathedral. Later in his lfie he received honorary degrees from Durham, Dublin, Edinburgh and Lambeth. Because of his place in English society, he helped to elevate the importance and prestige of English musicians and composers.

Ouseley's music lies between Mozart and Crotch. His origianlity, even at an ealry age must be noted as equal to that of Mozart's. He criticized the use of secular music in the church. Some of his music has survived to moden repitoire, however most of it lacks imaginative power.
  • O Saviour of the world
  • From the rising of the Sun
  • How Goodly are the tents
  • Service in F it has been remarked that this work has an "unsual feeling for the deep underlying significance of the words."
  • The Martyrdom of St.Polycarp
  • Five full services and Nineteen Anthems in Ouseley's Cathedral Music (1853)
  • Eight other services, including C and F with 8 parts
  • Two evening services, Bb and Eb
  • Two Te Deums, D and F
  • Gloria (D)
  • Thirteen Anthems for certina seasons and festivals (1861-1866)
  • Forty-three other anthems
  • Forty-two single and fifteen double chants
  • Forty-two Hymn tunes
  • Four hymn settings
  • Four Christmas Carols
  • Final Amen (1889)

John Goss

Thomas Morley

  • Nolo mortem peccatoris

Sir William Harris


Although Harris was never a prolific composer, he was organist at St.George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, and was piano and vocal teacher to the princess' Elzabeth and Margaret. His published works are only church and organ music, however his works contain a rare passion and recognizably english tonality, which must equate him as one of the last great Edwardian composers.

  • O what their joy and their glory must be
  • Bring us, O Lord God Written in 1959 to John Donne's text, it is has been discribed as a companion piece to Faire is the Heaven, however it is capable of standing on its own as a masterpiece. The piece is written in Db and uses a double choir.
  • Faire is the heaven This work is considered by many to be a cornerstone of Anglican Church Music. Like Bring us, O Lord God it is written for double choir. The piece is full of Edwardian splendor, written in 1925, it rings with nostalgia of a perfect world before the first world war. It is Harris' best known work.

Boris Ord


Born in 1897, Ord was the son a of musicially talented family. He was the youngest son, and went to Cambridge in 1920 as an Organ Scholar at Corpus Christi. In 1923 he was elected into a fellowship at King's due to his activeness in the University's music scene. Boris grew immensly in his conducting skills and one of his most profound accomplishments was the work he did as director of the King's College Choir, a post which he occupied from 1929 to 1957. He demanded the highest excellence in his choral and organ scholars. He published only one carol. He was made Honorary Doctor at Durham and Cambridge, and in 1958 he was made a CBE.

  • Adam Lay-i Bounden This version of the Medieval text is often done in The Ceremony of Nine Lessons and Carols. It is a one of my favourite Christmas Carols.

Charles Wood

  • Expectans expectavi
  • 'Tis the day of Resurection
  • O thou the central orb Did this one when Prince Charles visited!
  • Glory and honour and laud
  • This joyful eastertide
  • Hail, gladdening light

Elizabeth Poston


A woman of many talents, Elizabeth Poston, was born in 1905 in Hertfordshire. She was trained in piano, and studied at RAM and later in Continental Europe. Her first published works were in 1925, and continued to show musical excellence by winning awards. During the war years she was employed by BBC as a music director for the european service. She has a wide range of music composing, from radio and tv to church choir repetoire.

Harold Darke

  • Mass in e minor
    Beautiful and simple melodies: easily approachable by a well trained amateur choir, it contains all the movements of a mass setting, Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Gloria and Credo.
  • Mass in F
    Haunting melodies. My favourite part is the Kyrie.. especially the last eleison where Darke throws in a nice Db, making the whole cadence much richer. Sanctus contains a Soprano Solo which builds to a sweeping chorus by the choir. Bendictus has a Tenor solo in it with a quartet. I've done this solo, but all too often we've ignored the quartet and just had the choir come in softly. Agnus Dei has another solo, this time Baritone, and it also uses the same quartet. The last "Grant us peace" is serene as the last eleison. Gloria is a quick paced movement, and uses the Baritone Soloist and the Soprano Soloist from the Agnus Dei and the Sanctus. It also has a massive ending and a really mean "Amen" for the tenors. Credo I've never done it, but it looks good!
  • Mass in A
    I've only had the chance to do this piece once so I don't know it as well as the others. It contains the typical movements of a mass setting, the Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Gloria, and Credo.
  • EVENING SERVICE IN F
    • Magnificat
    • Nunc dimittis
      soloist bass

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