St Therese’s day mass: priest calls Jesus “Master of Vineyard” (Maitre de la Vigne). Great definition, never heard that before. — Paulo Coelho
Choral evensong at Holy Trinity Church in Guildford sung by Surrey Cantata, directed by Prof Sebastian Forbes.
Music by Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656), William Byrd (1540-1623). The music was chosen to be that of the period 400 years ago.
Listening to the music I wondered what did the people of the time make of it and music by J S Bach, Vivaldi. Most would have been illiterate, their only source of information the sermons, the lessons and the stained glass windows.
Bibles, such as King James and earlier versions, were just becoming available.
A very interesting sermon by the Rector, Canon Robert Cotton.
He studied maths and philosophy at Merton College, Oxford. The college chapel has 13th century stained glass windows and a monument to one of the translators of the King James Bible, but his atributes are those of a scientist, not as translator and contributor to King James Bible.
This is a curious fact of all the monuments to those who contributed to the King James Bible, with one notable exception, a humble parish priest whose monument pays tribute to his ability as a linguist.
Archbishop George Abbot, one of the contributors to the King James Bible is entombed within Holy Trinity.
Choral evensong with Surrey Cantata was part of a day of celebrations of the four hundreth anniversary of the King James Bible.
The afternoon started with a talk by Sarah Foot, Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford University on medieval translations of the Bible before King James.
– Medieval translations of the Bible before King James
– Beautiful sung evensong
Tags: Choral evensong, George Abbot, Guildford, Holy Trinity Church, King James' Bible, Surrey Cantata
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