2011 Reprint of 1963 edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Selected and with an introduction and notes by A.W. Tozer. The purpose of this book is to bring together in one convenient volume some of the best devotional verse the English language affords, and thus to make available to present day Christians a rich spiritual heritage which the greater number of them for various reasons do not now enjoy. Includes works by Isaac Watts, Oliver Wendell Holmes, F.W. Faber, Milman, Shirley, Wesley, Rossetti, Gerhardt, Pollock, Tate, Brady, Tersteegen, Ware, Nicolai, Bonar and others. Tozer served 44 years of ministry, associated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, a Protestant evangelical denomination; 33 of those years were served as a pastor in a number of churches. He is the author of dozens of books, two of which, The Pursuit of God and The Knowledge of the Holy, are considered classics. His books impress on the reader the possibility and necessity for a deeper relationship with God.

for SATB, accompanied and unaccompanied To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Carols for Choirs 1, OUP presents a new volume in this ground-breaking series. Carols for Choirs 5 continues the tradition of its predecessors by providing a complete resource for choirs from Advent through to Epiphany. Featuring brand new carols and arrangements of classic tunes, the collection showcases the very best established and new names in choral composition today, both in the UK and world-wide.

for SA and piano or orchestra With a simple, appealing melody and a flowing accompaniment, The Colours of Christmas evokes a touching sense of longing for the joys of the festive season. Also available in a version for upper voices. An accompaniment for orchestra is available on hire/rental.

for SATB and organ or orchestra Novo profusi gaudio is a vibrant Christmas motet, setting a medieval text that combines English, Latin, and French words. This joyful account of the nativity is combined with colourful, exuberant music featuring memorable motifs, rhythmic phrases, and triumphant climaxes. Topped off with an extra layer of character from the organ part, this piece is sure to add sparkle to any service or concert at Christmas time.

for SATB and organ The Missa Sanctae Margaretae is a stunning new setting of the Missa Brevis, showcasing Jackson's mesmerizing choral writing. Scored for SATB and organ, the accessible choral lines move through a variety of textures and harmonies, with linear passages in the Kyrie and Agnus Dei and rich, chordal writing in the Gloria. The idiomatic organ accompaniment brings additional flavour to the music, sometimes answering the choral lines, sometimes offsetting them with fast, rhythmic passages. Ideal for use in services and concerts.

This in an outstanding collection of twelve African-American spirituals arranged for upper voices. Rosephanye and William C. Powell have collaborated with some of the most talented and respected spiritual arrangers in the United States to deliver specially commissioned, authentic settings. You'll find familiar melodies, such as 'Deep River' and 'Somebody's knockin' at yo' do'', alongside lesser-known spirituals, and a range of styles and moods extending from the aspirational to the celebratory. Many of the arrangements include a 'lead voice' part, allowing the opportunity for solo singing, and idiomatic piano parts support the voices for the accompanied spirituals; piano reductions are included for the unaccompanied arrangements. This inspirational journey through the African-American spiritual tradition is sure to captivate and delight all upper-voice choirs.

for SATB and keyboard or orchestra This is a reflective and beautiful arrangement of the classic Christmas carol by Holst. Wilberg underpins the well-loved melody with luscious, romantic harmonies, including moments of exquisite chromaticism. This wonderful carol would make an ideal choice for any Christmas service or concert and will strike chords with choirs and audiences alike.

for SA and piano or orchestra With a simple, appealing melody and a flowing accompaniment, The Colours of Christmas evokes a touching sense of longing for the joys of the festive season. Also available in a version for mixed voices. An accompaniment for orchestra is available on hire/rental.

'Erudite, original and surprisingly moving ... This Christmas, as at every Christmas, millions of listeners will have relished the ethereal King's choir ... Day's meticulous history of a special choral sound investigates the creation of a style, and the evolution of a tradition, that now feels as anciently English as the stonework of King's chapel itself' Boyd Tonkin The sound of the choir of King's College, Cambridge - its voices perfectly blended, its emotions restrained, its impact sublime - has become famous all over the world, and for many, the distillation of a particular kind of Englishness. This is especially so at Christmas time, with the broadcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, whose centenary is celebrated this year. How did this small band of men and boys in a famous fenland town in England come to sing in the extraordinary way they did in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries? It has been widely assumed that the King's style essentially continues an English choral tradition inherited directly from the Middle Ages. In this original and illuminating book, Timothy Day shows that this could hardly be further from the truth. Until the 1930s, the singing at King's was full of high Victorian emotionalism, like that at many other English choral foundations well into the twentieth century. The choir's modern sound was brought about by two intertwined revolutions, one social and one musical. From 1928, singing with the trebles in place of the old lay clerks, the choir was fully made up of choral scholars - college men, reading for a degree. Under two exceptional directors of music - Boris Ord from 1929 and David Willcocks from 1958 - the style was transformed and the choir broadcast and recorded until it became the epitome of English choral singing, setting the benchmark for all other choral foundations either to imitate or to react against. Its style has now been taken over and adapted by classical performers who sing both sacred and secular music in secular settings all over the world with a precision inspired by the King's tradition. I Saw Eternity the Other Night investigates the timbres of voices, the enunciation of words, the use of vibrato. But the singing of all human beings, in whatever style, always reflects in profound and subtle ways their preoccupations and attitudes to life. These are the underlying themes explored by this book.

The introduction of hymns and hymn-singing into public worship in the seventeenth century by dissenters from the Church of England has been described as one of the greatest contributions ever made to Christian worship. Hymns, that is metrical compositions which depart too far from the text of Scripture to be called paraphrases, have proved to be one of the most effective mediums of religious thought and feeling, second only to the Bible in terms of their influence.
This comprehensive collection of essays by specialist authors provides the first full account of dissenting hymns and their impact in England and Wales, from the mid seventeenth century, when the hymn emerged out of metrical psalms as a distinct literary form, to the early twentieth century, after which the traditional hymn began to decline in importance. It covers the development of hymns in the mid seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the change in attitudes to hymns and their growing popularity in the course of the eighteenth century, and the relation of hymnody to the broader Congregational, Baptist, Methodist, and Unitarian cultures of the nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries.
The chapters cover a wide range of topics, including the style, language, and theology of hymns; their use both in private by families and in public by congregations; their editing, publication and reception, including the changing of words for doctrinal and stylistic reasons; their role in promoting evangelical Christianity; their shaping of denominational identities; and the practice of hymn-singing and the development of hymn-tunes.

for SATTBB unaccompanied Gombert's In illo tempore: loquente Jesu is a six-part unaccompanied study in intricate part-writing, with sinuous stepwise motion and persistent imitative entries. The optimism of the text, taken from the Gospel of Luke, is reflected in the music of this buoyant motet, and the dashes of harmonic colour, unexpected cadences, and elaborate textures make this highly rewarding counterpoint to sing.

for SATB and keyboard or orchestra Setting a text by David Warner, this charming composition has a warm, memorable tune and rich, expansive harmonies. Wilberg masterfully moves through different keys and scorings, culminating in a stirring unison 'amen'. Benediction has been recorded on the CD Heavensong: Music of Contemplation and Light, and is ideal for use both in concerts and services throughout the year. An orchestral accompaniment is available on hire.

This is a major collection of organ music for students, players, and church musicians of all levels and abilities. Compiler and editor Anne Marsden Thomas has drawn on her long experience of teaching and playing to select the most attractive, tuneful repertoire in two sets of graded anthologies, one set (3 volumes) for manuals only, the second set (3 volumes) for manuals and pedals. Within each book the pieces are grouped according to service needs into Preludes, Interludes, Processionals, and Postludes. The repertoire spans the 16th to the 21st century, with some new pieces written especially for the collection. A number of pieces throughout the collection have been selected for the ABRSM organ syllabus. The result is a wonderful collection of repertoire for all players, containing a wealth of attractive and varied pieces that will offer much practical support for church musicians and enrich and develop their playing. Oxford Service Music for Organ: Manuals and Pedals, Book 1 was winner of the Music Industries Association's Best Classical Publication 2011.

This is a major collection of organ music for students, players, and church musicians of all levels and abilities. Compiler and editor Anne Marsden Thomas has drawn on her long experience of teaching and playing to select the most attractive, tuneful repertoire in two sets of graded anthologies, one set (3 volumes) for manuals only, the second set (3 volumes) for manuals and pedals. Within each book the pieces are grouped according to service needs into Preludes, Interludes, Processionals, and Postludes. The repertoire spans the 16th to the 21st century, with some new pieces written especially for the collection. A number of pieces throughout the collection have been selected for the ABRSM organ syllabus. The result is a wonderful collection of repertoire for all players, containing a wealth of attractive and varied pieces that will offer much practical support for church musicians and enrich and develop their playing.

for SATB and organ or brass ensemble This Easter anthem is a triumphant setting of words by Edmund Spenser and St John Damascene for mixed choir and organ. Featuring joyful choral parts and an optional soprano solo, Most glorious Lord of life ends with a new harmonization of the Easter hymn tune 'Ellacombe', with an optional congregational part. Material for an accompaniment for brass, timpani, and organ is available on hire/rental. Featured on the CD A Song in Season, on the Collegium label.

for SATB choir and piano four-hands or orchestra First published in My Song in the Night (2009), Wilberg's Down to the River to Pray is a spirited arrangement of the traditional melody. The piano duet accompaniment provides a folk-like rhythmic underpinning, and the piece ascends to a magnificent finish. Orchestral material is available on hire/rental.

for SATB and organ or orchestra Featured in My Song in the Night (2009), Amazing grace! is a majestic arrangement of the well-known melody. Beginning with male voices in unison, Wilberg gradually introduces more vocal parts, building ultimately to a grand climax in eight parts. A subtle Scottish influence is evident through the use of drones and a Scotch snap motif in the organ. Orchestral material is available on hire/rental.

This is a major collection of organ music for students, players, and church musicians of all levels and abilities. Compiler and editor Anne Marsden Thomas has drawn on her long experience of teaching and playing to select the most attractive, tuneful repertoire in two sets of graded anthologies, one set (3 volumes) for manuals only, the second set (3 volumes) for manuals and pedals. Within each book the pieces are grouped according to service needs into Preludes, Interludes, Processionals, and Postludes. The repertoire spans the 16th to the 21st century, with some new pieces written especially for the collection. A number of pieces throughout the collection have been selected for the ABRSM organ syllabus. The result is a wonderful collection of repertoire for all players, containing a wealth of attractive and varied pieces that will offer much practical support for church musicians and enrich and develop their playing.

This is a major collection of organ music for students, players, and church musicians of all levels and abilities. Compiler and editor Anne Marsden Thomas has drawn on her long experience of teaching and playing to select the most attractive, tuneful repertoire in two sets of graded anthologies, one set (3 volumes) for manuals only, the second set (3 volumes) for manuals and pedals. Within each book the pieces are grouped according to service needs into Preludes, Interludes, Processionals, and Postludes. The repertoire spans the 16th to the 21st century, with some new pieces written especially for the collection. A number of pieces throughout the collection have been selected for the ABRSM organ syllabus. The result is a wonderful collection of repertoire for all players, containing a wealth of attractive and varied pieces that will offer much practical support for church musicians and enrich and develop their playing.

Male-centered theology, a dearth of men in the pews, and an overrepresentation of queer males in music ministry: these elements coexist within the spaces of historically black Protestant churches, creating an atmosphere where simultaneous heteropatriarchy and "real" masculinity anxieties, archetypes of the "alpha-male preacher", the "effeminate choir director" and homo-antagonism, are all in play. The "flamboyant" male vocalists formed in the black Pentecostal music ministry tradition, through their vocal styles, gestures, and attire in church services, display a spectrum of gender performances - from "hyper-masculine" to feminine masculine - to their fellow worshippers, subtly protesting and critiquing the otherwise heteronormative theology in which the service is entrenched. And while the performativity of these men is characterized by cynics as "flaming," a similar musicalized "fire" - that of the Holy Spirit - moves through the bodies of Pentecostal worshippers, endowing them religio-culturally, physically, and spiritually like "fire shut up in their bones". Using the lenses of ethnomusicology, musicology, anthropology, men's studies, queer studies, and theology, Flaming?: The Peculiar Theo-Politics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance observes how male vocalists traverse their tightly-knit social networks and negotiate their identities through and beyond the worship experience. Author Alisha Jones ultimately addresses the ways in which gospel music and performance can afford African American men not only greater visibility, but also an affirmation of their fitness to minister through speech and song.

Oxford Choral Classics: English Church Music assembles in two volumes around 100 of the finest examples of English sacred choral music of the past five centuries. The first volume, dedicated to anthems and motets, presents both favourite and lesser-known works, from the exceptional Renaissance polyphony of Taverner, Tallis, and Byrd, through the Restoration led by Purcell, to the glorious works of the great nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers, including Wesley, Elgar, Stanford, Vaughan Williams, and Howells. The volume contains a number of more substantial works, including Mendelssohn's Hear my prayer, Stainer's I saw the Lord, and Naylor's Vox dicentis: Clama, as well as a wonderful selection of shorter pieces, from Gibbons's O Lord, in thy wrath to Walton's Set me as a seal upon thine heart. With the second companion volume of canticles and responses, this bipartite collection presents a comprehensive survey of English sacred music at its best.

for SSAATTBB unaccompanied This is a truly beautiful addition to the Christmas repertory, setting a specially commissioned poem by Charles Bennett. The flexible metre creates a sense of movement, while the luscious harmonies and often-homophonic textures provide an anchor to the choral writing. The Rose in the Middle of Winter will appeal to all mixed-voice choirs looking for a poignant centrepiece for a Christmas concert or service.