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

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.

Signal Boost: Multitude of Voyces Anthology

Multitude of Voyces are compiling an anthology of liturgical music composed by women.

St Cecilia as an organist on a stained glass window: Eckendorf(Grafschaft) St.Cosmas und Damian Fenster514

There’s an article in the Church Times about it, complete with an appeal for scores that are “free of copyright”. I’m not sure whether that includes Creative Commons works, or whether the anthology will interface with the Christian Copyright Licensing Initiative, or what; but it sounds to me like the aim is to get music sung and played, without high costs for the churches that use it. It’s definitely worth asking for more detail!

Scores can be emailed to admin@multitudeofvoyces.co.uk, or posted to Multitude of Voyces, 7 New Street, Salisbury, SP1 2PH.

New music this week: Ruth Watson Henderson

This week I was sent a wonderful list of music by women, thanks to the Multitude of Voyces project. I promptly fell down a rabbit hole of listening to lots of music instead of updating my database… hence this post is a day late.

When I finally pried myself away from the Tube of You, I added some work by Canadian composer Ruth Watson Henderson to the site, and I added a new page for works I haven’t sorted into categories yet.

Here’s Ruth Watson Henderson’s Missa Brevis:

[Listen to Missa Brevis by Ruth Watson Henderson on Youtube]

I’m going to take a couple of weeks off from updating the database, so there won’t be “new music this week” posts on Tuesday 26th December or Tuesday 2nd January. I do still intend to make music recommendations, though.

Signal Boost: Multitude of Voyces hymn tune composing competition

Multitude of Voyces have a hymn-tune composing competition. The deadline is 11th December, so if you’re a dab hand at writing hymn tunes, do have a look and enter.

Multitude of Voyces invites submissions for its inaugural hymn-tune composing competition.

Multitude of Voyces exists to support Inclusive Community through music with underrepresented, underutilised, vulnerable or marginalised communities. This competition is part of a project which aims to raise the profile of and provide new opportunities for women composers, writers and performers involved in Anglican worship.

The competition is open to those who identify as women composers (hereafter known as women composers) of any nationality and age. The hymn-tune should be written for SATB voices with organ/piano accompaniment and should be suitable for an SATB congregation to sing without rehearsal. The tune should be suitable to be sung to the words Sing a New Church by Sister Delores Dufner OSB.

There is no entry fee.

Learn more about the competition, and about Multitude of Voyces generally, at the Multitude of Voyces website.