• All Saints parish website
  • BBC Choral Evensong
  • musictheory.net
  • All of Bach
  • MARS HILL AUDIO
Cantica sacra

exploring the rich legacy of sacred singing

  • About
  • Music in our liturgy
    • Psalms
      • Psalms by number
      • Psalms by tone
      • Chant tutorials
    • Canticles
    • Hymns
    • Music through the Church Year
  • Texts
  • Composers
  • Poets
  • Read, learn, etc.
    • Psalm chants
    • Essays
    • Education
    • Notable repertoire
    • Recording reviews
    • Interviews
  • Glossary
  • About
  • Music in our liturgy
    • Psalms
      • Psalms by number
      • Psalms by tone
      • Chant tutorials
    • Canticles
    • Hymns
    • Music through the Church Year
  • Texts
  • Composers
  • Poets
  • Read, learn, etc.
    • Psalm chants
    • Essays
    • Education
    • Notable repertoire
    • Recording reviews
    • Interviews
  • Glossary

STAY INFORMED

Subscribe to our newsletter

New or recently updated

Chanted examples of the Psalms for the week of Trinity Sunday are here. Plainsong workshop slides are here.

Interview with Thomas Forrest Kelly on the history of musical notation

“The Christian Singer from the Gospels to the Gothic Cathedrals” — a series of six lectures by Christopher Page

“Music, Imagination, and Experience in the Medieval World” — a series of six lectures by Christopher Page

Interview with Christopher Page on The Christian West and Its Singers: The First Thousand Years

William Byrd’s setting of the Te Deum adorns this familiar text with a kaleidoscopic sequence of sound.

Poets & Translators whose words we sing

St. Ambrose (339-397)

John Keble (1792-1866)

Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894)

F. Bland Tucker (1895-1984)

Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

Recent Posts

  • Jun 22, 2020 Hymn for Trinity III
  • May 24, 2020 Sunday after Ascension (May 24, 2020)
  • May 23, 2020 Christopher Wordsworth, “See the Conqueror mounts in triumph”
  • May 17, 2020 Rogation Sunday music
  • May 09, 2020 More music from quarantine
  • May 03, 2020 The Introit, two hymns, and three cantatas for Jubilate Sunday

About our hymns

The origins of “O come, O come, Emmanuel”

The story behind the text and the charming melody to “Dost thou in a manger lie”

Why “While shepherds watched” has been sung to more tunes than any hymn in history

You won’t recognize the original text to “How bright appears the Morning Star”

This mid-19th-century hymn was written to defend the Creed’s claims about the Church

This hymn was written as musical partner for the reading of I Corinthians 13.

There are too few hymns that celebrate Epiphany, but this unfamiliar text and tune deserve more familiarity

 

Conditor alme siderum

This Advent hymn has produced some compelling compositions from some of the West‘s greatest composers.

MORE . . .

An Advent cantata by a Bach contemporary

Christoph Graupner (1683-1760) is unfortunately given only a cameo role in the telling of the history of the Church’s music.

MORE . . .

Savona Pro Theme by Optima Themes - 2020 ©