Kathryn Rose

New anthology by Multitude of Voyces: sacred music by women composers

Kathryn Rose

Happy Saint Cecilia’s Day!

On Sunday I had the great pleasure of attending a rehearsal, reception, Evensong and concert at Selwyn College to celebrate the launch of Multitude of Voyces’ anthology, sacred music by women composers. This is Volume 1, SATB Anthems, and it was wonderful to hear and sing some of the music. Many thanks are due to Sarah MacDonald and the choir of Selwyn Chapel, as well as everyone else who helped put together the event.

The anthology itself is excellent. There are twenty two pieces by twenty two composers, from the sixteenth century onward and including twelve by living composers. There are pieces for all levels — some that would be accessible for even the most amateur choir, and some that would challenge even a seasoned choral singer like me. There are pieces for all seasons. There is a brief commentary on each piece in the back of the book, and a biography of each composer in the front.

So far, so good. I would expect this much of any anthology these days. But the music — oh, the music! The reason that Sunday afternoon and evening was such a treat for me was that every piece I heard was stunningly beautiful. I keep flipping through it looking for highlights, and if I had to choose just one, well, I couldn’t. You can have a look for yourself, though, at a .pdf of the first page of each piece.

This is a volume that every SATB parish choir should own, and I unreservedly commend it to you. It is an invaluable resource full of simply gorgeous music. I am certain that it will make presenting a more inclusive, diverse and balanced selection of music a delight; and it will also give me something to be getting on with when updating this site. But there is a limited print run, and half of it has sold already. Go order your copy now! Go on. I’ll wait.

There are two more volumes planned for publication in 2020: Volume 2 — Upper Voices Anthems, and Volume 3 — Liturgical Works.

In other news, today marks two years since this site started. I’m currently in the throes of writing up my PhD in choral composition, so updates have been rather few and far between for a while, but I’m looking forward to getting back to it as soon as I can.

Attention, Composers!

Kathryn Rose

It turns out there are a lot of composers who want to be involved in this project! I’ve heard from so many of you, from people who’ve written one hymn or anthem, to people whose music is sung or played regularly and have agents to handle communicating with projects like this.

This is really good news and I am keeping a list of every suggestion and request from composers and non-composers alike. I want this to be as useful and relevant a resource as possible, and comprehensive information is really important for that.

That said: I am a PhD student, and a composer myself, with all the workload that involves. Out of necessity, I’m going to have to start small with this site, and gradually build it up. I’ve already received more suggestions than I can possibly include before the launch date of 22nd November, especially when I need to go to multiple websites and sift through catalogues in a variety of formats. This is exactly the problem I’m trying to solve for people who choose music for church services!

To help streamline the data collection process, I’ve made a music submission page where you can suggest works for inclusion in the directory.

In the meantime, between now and 22nd November I will focus on making sure there are some works referenced in every one of the starting categories (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Eucharist and Evensong), so that the site will be useful for people who are choosing music. After that, I will be adding new music every week, and new categories as necessary.