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West Gallery Forum
This Forum has been set up for members of the West Gallery Music Association and any others who are interested in the music, the literature (starting with Thomas Hardy!) and the social life and times during which west gallery musicians played and sang in the galleries - usually at the west end - of our country churches. It is hoped that in time this may become the forum for debate on scholarly and not-so-scholarly matters. Please use this space wisely, however, and within the accepted bounds required for such a discussion group.
Click here to receive daily updates and notification of replies. Music by Billings — Peter Meanwell, Wed Jun 3 12:21am Does anyone have the tunes Kittery, Morpheus and Emmaus by William Billings that they could let me have a copy of?
WG instrumentalists — separabit, Sun May 10 11:19am What happened to the West Gallery musicians when they were no longer required after organs had been installed? With singers they presumably just stayed as a choir, but there is a theory that many instrumentalists may have transferred to the local Methodist church where, perhaps, the hymns of the Wesleys were more... more Village Brass Bands — Separabit, Tue Apr 28 7:27pm I have just found your excellent site during my researches into the history of the village brass band. They could have been started from any one of three possible sources. The early Waits Bands; the mid 19th cent. volunteer military bands; or (my theory) from the defunct west gallery quires. Thanks for confirming my... more
TV programmes — David Welch, Thu Feb 12 7:19pm The church music documentaries I wrote about in West Gallery 48 start this Saturday at 8-9 pm, with a Wednesday repeat 7-8 pm. Programme 1 has medieval and Renaissance music, and Programme 2 more recent styles including our segment for part of the 18th Century. The programmes are titled Phil Cunningham`s Grace Notes,... more Oldham choir — Alan Hartley-Smith, Wed Jan 28 7:19pm In the programme The Choir on R3 there was mention of a Quire in Oldham in 1608. I have an interest in starting a WG activity in this area (I live in Saddleworth) and would be interested to get details of this particular group to approach the Local History Centre to research it with a view to reviving its activity.
The Choir — Sally Drage, Sat Jan 24 7:43pm I'm not sure what it will be like but The Choir, tomorrow Sunday, on Radio 3 at 6.30 is Dave Townsend and me talking about wg music. The playlist should include at least one WGMA track, also the Christminster Singers, the Gladly Solemn Sound, the Madding Crowd, Caarjyn Cooidjagh, His Majestie's Clerkes and Psalmody.... more
The gallery at Allington, Barsetshire — Edwin Macadam, Sun Jan 18 10:09am From a communication from John Martin, Boston, worth repeating here: Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) wrote a series of six novels set in an imaginary county of Barsetshire, with overlapping characters. The fifth one, published in 1864, "The Small House at Allington," contains a description of a village church. The... more
J.Durrant — Paul Gailiunas, Mon Dec 29 10:40am I've recently bought a book of hymn tunes printed and published in Newcastle in the 1840s by J.Durrant. There is no record of him around Newcastle (directories, 1841 census, IGI), but there are two tunes by him in the book: Shoreham and Worthington. This suggests a Sussex connection. Has anybody come across him?
Was the tune Hamilton published just once in America — David Welch, Thu Dec 11 9:45am I wonder if any reader in America knows if the tune Hamilton (HTI 7417) appeared again after 1797. According to HTI, its only citation is in Merrill`s "The Musical Practioner" published in New Hampshire that year. I ask because the tune is printed in an Aberdeen (Scotland) tune collection that I reckon dates from the... more A Manual of Instruction In Vocal Music, 1833? — Anonymous, Mon Nov 24 1:09pm Hello there Can anybody tell me anything about this book, I found advertised in The Hull Packet newspaper, for Oct 25th, 1833: It was in a list of books being sold by Godard & Brown, and they seem to have been published by the Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge: "A MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION IN VOCAL MUSIC, chiefly... more
Some WG on Radio 4 ?? — David Welch, Thu Nov 20 4:43pm I notice in Radio Times that on 25 November at 1.30 pm there is a programme about two unusual musical persons, Thomas Britton and William Gardiner. The latter is of interest from his publications in 1812 and 1815 of c. 200 tunes mainly adapted from classical composers [called Sacred Melodies]. So maybe we will hear... more MS Hymn book from Nova Scotia — Fynn Titford-Mock, Tue Nov 4 10:51pm http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1827-Rare manuscript from Mill Village, Nova Scotia This looks very interesting, someone really ought to get it! These things are too rare! Seems to be a mix of just treble parts and three-part scores - Northfield will be familiar; Ballerina sounds intriguing! text: "Scarce example of a hand made ... more Stephen Jarvis of Dartmouth — Fynn Titford-Mock, Thu Sep 25 11:52am Stephen Jarvis’s “Twelve Psalm Tunes and Eight Anthems in Score” was published in London, c.1815, and he is fairly well-known (in the sense of 'I've heard of him') amongst us in the West Galleries. It is generally acknowledged that this is the same Stephen Jarvis, sailmaker, who married Ann Shearman in St. Saviour’s... more
Lydia - an early Arnold attribution — David Welch, Fri Aug 29 5:15pm I have now visited the Aberdeen Spec. Coll. and can report: 1. No composer is named for New Lydia in the 1845 Bon-Accord Harmonist. 2. Lydia is included in Davie`s Music (1842), with composer named Arnold. 3. Davie`s Music contains another tune attributed to Arnold called Job. This is HTI 11779, and from William... more
Hymn for Christmas Day — Peter Meanwell, Thu Aug 7 1:41pm Does anyone have the words for a carol beginning 'Hark (all) around cherubic legions'? The music exists in two versions in Cornish manuscripts. One has no text, but is a recognisable variant of a later version which starts with the above text, and ends with 'Hallelujah. Christ is born in Bethlehem', with nothing in... more
Glockenspiels in WG — Francis Roads, Mon May 26 11:49am In Pickard-Cambridge's 1926 "Dorset Carols", #4 "Awake ye drowsy mortals all" has an independent part for glockenspiel. Has anyone ever heard of a WG band using such an instrument, or is this an addition by the editor (my guess)? William Arnold a possible composer — David Welch, Thu May 22 10:51pm In Old Scottish Psalm Tunes (1905) Lydia is ascribed to William Arnold (1768-1832). But it`s called New Lydia. There are notes about the "authors", and Arnold is said correctly to be Precentor of the Wesleyan Chapel, Portsea. Having looked in HTI at the works of W. Arnold, I think his tunes have similarities to Lydia. ... more Lydia — Francis Roads, Tue May 20 9:35am The well known tune Lydia 55132 35143 32565 has no HTI entry but is ascribed at http://www.familyfriendlychurches.org.uk/midihymns/instruct.htm#Tunes and elsewhere to T. Philips (1735-1807). Information please.
new music? — Thurlow Weed, Sat May 3 2:34pm I'm an active shape-note singer, and hymn-tune composer in the Lancaster, Ohio, USA and also have a great interest in WGM, which shares common roots. Shape-note tunes continue to be composed to this day in a style unchanged in well over 200 years. I'm curious if there are any new pieces of WGM music being composed and ... more
Glass Harmonica in church — Anonymous, Sat Apr 19 7:13am Would Benjamin Franklin invention of the glass harmonica have been used in church services ? If so, what pieces of music would it have been ???
Thank you for contributing to these discussions. We look forward to your next visit!
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