During the
years 1943-68 St Matthew’s church commissioned some
eighteen new works from up and coming composers
including, Benjamin Britten (twice), Michael Tippett,
Edmund Rubbra, Lennox Berkeley, Gerald Finzi, Malcolm
Arnold, George Dyson, Elizabeth Poston, Kenneth
Leighton, John McCabe and Richard Rodney Bennett, and
over the next twenty-five years would go on to
commission many more. Without commissions, both musical
and artistic, St Matthew’s would have remained an
anonymous parish church in the provincial town of
Northampton. Many of the commissioned musical works have
gone on to become world famous and it is these that saw
St Matthew’s rise from obscurity to become
internationally renowned for music and the arts.
Walter Hussey, following some persuasion, succeeded his
Father as Vicar of St Matthew’s in 1937. Hussey had long
considered the divide between the arts and the Church
that had once stood as a bedrock for music and other
artistic commissions. St Matthew’s had a flourishing
choir which had a repertoire firmly rooted with
Victorian composers such as Stanford, Harwood and Smart.
As 1943 approached, the fiftieth anniversary of St
Matthew’s, Hussey considered the possibility of
commissioning a piece of music to mark the occasion.
Anxious to get a young composer, his first approach was
to William Walton who at that time had produced very
little in the way of church music. It became clear that
Walton was not interested, and so Hussey turned his
attentions to Benjamin Britten. Britten wrote to Hussey
to assess the size and capabilities of the choir, with
Hussey replying that A Spotless Rose by Herbert
Howells was ‘about as difficult as we could safely
manage’. Britten visited Northampton to hear the choir
and expressed himself satisfied. He chose the words for
the new work from an obscure poem by Christopher Smart.
Originally entitled Jubilate Agno it was written
whilst the 18th century poet was in an insane asylum.
Britten himself conducted the first performance, the
church’s Director of Music, Phillip Pfaff , having been
called up to the RAF in 1940. The performance was a
success, and Britten and Hussey developed a lifelong
relationship on the back of a commission that cost
Hussey just £25. Rejoice in the Lamb is now
considered one of the most influential and important
choral works of the 20th century. The work was performed
many times during 1943-44, perhaps most notably at the
unveiling of Henry Moore’s controversial sculpture Madonna and
Child in February 1944.
Hussey decided to make commissioning new music an annual
event and in for the 1944 Patronal Festival asked Edmund
Rubbra to compose a piece. His motet, The Revival
was another success with Lennox Berkeley’s Festival
Anthem being written for the church in 1945.
With the end of the war came a different tone in the
commissions. The next commission of art work,
Sutherland’s Crucifixion
was accompanied by Gerald Finzi’s beautiful anthem
Lo! The Full final Sacrifice, yet another of the St
Matthew’s to achieve international acclaim. Also in 1946
Benjamin Britten penned a solo organ piece for St
Matthew’s, Prelude and Fugue on a Theme of Vittoria.
The theme is from a motet by Victoria Ecce Sacerdos
Magnus or ‘Behold a Great Priest’. Hussey continued
to badger Britten over the years about further pieces,
in particular a mass setting. Nothing ever materialised,
however, and so Hussey went back to the drawing board.
In 1948 Hussey commissioned an unknown composer,
Christopher Headington followed by the then little-known
Malcolm Arnold in 1950. It was becoming Hussey’s policy
to employ young and relatively unknown composers with
both Headington and Arnold fitting this criteria. James
Butt was just eighteen when offered the chance to
compose for St Matthew’s and was so flattered by
opportunity, and the £18 fee, that he commented that he
would have paid money to Hussey!
This was the last piece of music commissioned at St
Matthew’s by Hussey who, in 1955, took up the position
of Dean at Chichester Cathedral. He had brought St
Matthew’s to prominence as a centre for church music and
the arts and it is no doubt that his legacy changed the
direction of church music. So well-known had St
Matthew’s become that Hussey quite regularly received
manuscripts in the post from hopeful composers.
After Hussey’s departure to become Dean of Chichester in
1955 the driving force behind the St Matthew’s
commissions had gone. The importance of his legacy to
the church must not be underestimated, however, and this
can be seen in the number of commissions which followed.
Hussey had taken risks to employ largely unknown
musicians to write for the church but the tide changed
and works by more established composers joined the list
of St Matthew’s commissions. Pieces were added from
Kenneth Leighton, John McCabe, Gordon Crosse Herbert
Howells, William Mathias and Herbert Sumsion over the
next 30 years. Some of these commissions were quite
experimental in the forces employed; Gordon Crosse’s
Covenant of the Rainbow was scored for choir, organ
and two pianos.
The two most successful periods of commissioning
post-Hussey were under Michael Nicholas (Organist and
Choirmaster 1965-71) and Andrew Shenton (Director of
Music 1985-91). In 1967 Michael Nicholas approached
Richard Rodney Bennett to write a work (he suggested a
setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis) for the
festival. He heard nothing, and was surprised to receive
Five Christmas Carols from Bennett which,
although not fitting into the ‘usual’ pattern of
commissions were considered an unexpected gift. The
carols were performed at the Patronal Festival recital
and all five were sung during the Carol Service at
King’s College, Cambridge the same year.
Andrew Shenton’s first commission was from the elderly
Herbert Sumsion who wrote The Spacious Firmament on
High, suitable for any festal occasion. In 1987
Geoffrey Burgon penned The Song of the Creatures
- a setting of words attributed to St Francis of Assisi
which come from the perspective of a blind man who is
unable to see the sun but is assured of its presence
through the splendour of God’s creation. John Tavener’s
The Call, which was the 1988 commission, is
scored in 14 parts and suits the acoustic of the church
fantastically well. The choir, under Shenton’s
direction, received rave reviews for the first
performance of the work. In the same year Simon Lole
wrote Carol for Advent: Morning Star for the
Advent Carol Service and it became a firm favourite with
the choir and congregation alike thanks to its lyrical
nature.
In 1989 Shenton approached Alan Ridout to compose an
organ work ‘to demonstrate the versatility of the organ
at St Matthew’s’. This was the first time since
Britten’s work in 1946 and the result was a Toccata in
the French style; fast moving parts for the hands and a
tune in the pedals. This work was a gift by Shenton to
the church in aid of the organ appeal. Alongside this in
1989 Richard Shepherd wrote a work for the festival, The
St Matthew’s Mass which can be sung accompanied
by organ alone or with optional Brass and Timpani. In
1990 Shenton approached two composers with
Northamptonshire links. Paul Edwards has found success
as a composer of small-scale works for choir and organ
and was organist at various churches in Bedford and the
surrounding area. His commission was for Altos, Tenors
and Basses and resulted in God that madest earth and
heaven. Trevor Hold, who was born in Northampton,
wrote Verses from St Matthew, a short,
unaccompanied work. These two works are amongst the
finest that St Matthew’s received from little-known
composers.
In 1993, and under the direction of Andrew King, who was
appointed following the departure of Shenton in 1991,
the commission celebrated St Matthew’s centenary. King
engaged the services of Diana Burrell who wrote
Heil’ger Geist in’s HimmelsThrone. A
large-scale work, it was scored for organ, percussion
(vibraphone, tubular bells, bell plates, tam-tam,
triangles and maracas) and choir. The work opens with a
lengthy section for organ and the percussion before the
choral section which is based on the works of a Lutheran
Chorale. It represents one of the most ambitious works
ever commissioned for St Matthew’s.
Following the 1993 commission there were to be no more
for a period of 15 years. For various reasons the
musical fortunes of St Matthew’s took a significant
down-turn until the early 2000s. Then, and under the
watchful eye of the present incumbent, the choir was
re-founded and the organ restored. The first new
commission was written for the Patronal Festival of
2008. David Briggs’ Toccata for
St Matthew’s Day
was to celebrate the restoration of the organ.
Since then other pieces have been commissioned as St
Matthew’s once again looks to further restore its famous
tradition. In 2009, and to celebrate the centenary of
the birth of Walter Hussey, David Bednall wrote The
Walter Hussey Centenary Mass. This is a challenging
work for choir and organ, with some congregational
participation. He also provided an introit for the choir
Aspire to God, my soul which calls to mind
St
Matthew’s history of commissioning new works of music
and art.
After Stephen Moore’s arrival at St Matthew’s in 2011, further commissions have been made.
On St Matthew’s Day 2012 the choir gave the first
performance of Paul Mealor’s How beautiful on the
mountains. Mealor had shot to fame through his
Ubi caritas which was sung at the Wedding of the
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011. His work for St
Matthew’s is highly reflective and employs certain
‘effects’ in the three lower parts to accompany a
beautiful melody.
In 2013 St Matthew’s celebrated the church’s 120th
Anniversary with a weekend festival of events. On 21
September the choir gave two performances of David
Halls’ short, vibrant, introit This is the Day.
On 22 September, at Mass to celebrate the 120th
Dedication Festival, the choir and congregation joined
to sing Halls’ Mass of the Altar of Life. At a
concert on the evening of
St Matthew’s Day the church
choir and the St Matthew’s Singers gave performances of
Rejoice in the Lamb and Lo, the full, final
sacrifice to a full church. Malcolm Archer, who has
become involved with the music here at St Matthew’s
through is Patronage of the
Friends of St Matthew’s
Music, attended to direct the choirs and was so
impressed he dedicated a Christmas Carol he had recently
written to the choir.
On St Matthew’s Day 2014 the choir gave the first
performance of O how glorious is the kingdom by
Philip Stopford. The work resonates with Walter Hussey’s
desire to commission a new work of music from a young,
up-and-coming composer. 2015 saw the premiere of Simon
Johnson’s Behold the tabernacle of God, which was
first sung by the combined choirs of St Matthew’s, All
Saints’, and St John the Baptist, Kingsthorpe. The
festival weekend concluded with an organ recital given
by Richard Pinel which included the first performance of
David Maw’s chorale prelude, commissioned as part of the
Orgelbüchlein Project.
James Whitbourn’s Beatus vir was given its first
performance in 2017, and it is quickly gaining
popularity thanks to James’ links in America. Similarly,
Grayston Ives’ All people that on earth do dwell,
the 2018 commission, will undoubtably become a firm
favourite of many choirs. Through works such as this it
is hoped that choirs all over the world will once again
sing music which holds the dedication ‘for the Choir of
St Matthew’s Church, Northampton.’
The Choir of St Matthew’s Church is directed by Stephen
Moore.
The Organist is Thomas Moore.
The recording was made by Sam Grainger.
The Director of Music, Thomas Moore, is
looking to recruit BOYS from school year 4
to 7 and GIRLS from school year 5 upwards
who are keen to sing and eager to learn.