MUSIC AT ST JOHN’S

Sunday Services
8am, Said Eucharist with Hymns
10am, Congregational Sung Eucharist with Choir

Music for Sunday 21 July
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

PRELUDE
Folk-song, No. 5 of Six Sketches – Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889-1960)
Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, known as Armstrong, was a prolific and versatile composer of the first half of the twentieth century. He studied under Sir Adrian Boult and Ralph Vaughan Williams and was a contemporary of Herbert Howells, Sir Arthur Bliss and Sir Arnold Bax. Known principally for his solo songs Gibbs also wrote music for the stage, sacred works, three symphonies and a substantial amount of chamber music.

ANTHEM
Incline thine ear – Friedrich Heinrich Himmel (1765-1814)

COMMUNION
Adagio, 2nd movement from Sonata No. 1 – Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Despite being renowned for his piano works, Mendelssohn was also a skilled organist who, during a trip to Britain, gave a number of well-received organ recitals. This movement comes from Mendelssohn’s first of six sonatas. However, the word sonata, in this context, is not meant to imply a classical sonata form, but instead as Bach would have used it (for a collection or suite of varying pieces).

POSTLUDE
Someone to Watch Over Me – George Gershwin (1898-1937), arr. Joseph Turrin
“Someone to Watch Over Me” is a 1926 song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, assisted by Howard Dietz who penned the title. It was written for the musical Oh, Kay! (1926), with the part originally sung on Broadway by English actress Gertrude Lawrence while holding a rag doll in a sentimental solo scene. The musical ran for more than 200 performances in New York and then saw equivalent acclaim in London in 1927, all with the song as its centerpiece. Lawrence released the song as a medium-tempo single which rose to #2 on the charts in 1927.

Zachary Hamilton-Russell               Director of Music

The Reverend Dr Peter French       Vicar