Survey of an important period in the development of the choral tradition in the Anglican church. When Bernarr Rainbow was director of music at the College of St Mark and St John, Chelsea, he came across the 1849 diary of service music of Thomas Helmore. Astonished at its breadth of repertoire, he was inspired to investigate the circumstances of the document. His findings are recorded in this book, which sets Thomas Helmore's contribution in perspective against the background of the Choral Revival as a whole. In tracing the history of the remarkable revival of care for the music of the liturgy, the author produced a socio-musical history of a period vital in the evolution of the Anglican Church, and made clear, probably for the first time, how music in the Anglican Churchcame to follow lines which are unique in Christendom. His book was originally published at a time of important changes in ecclesiastical thinking; his presentation of the decisions taken in the past which led to the existing relationship between choirs and congregations, interesting in itself, is also valuable in the continuing debate.

This book presents, for the first time, a history of English liturgical chant as performed in the Church of England and its transmission to churches in Scotland and the United States. In the mid-sixteenth century Reformation, the complex ritual of the Latin rite was replaced by a one-volumeBook of Common Prayer in English. The general nature of the new rubrics, expecially for music, left many of the details of performance to be worked out in traditional ways. Thus the music evolved from its Latin roots in oral, and later written practice. The body of music that makes up the chantingpractice of Anglican and related churches around the world is indeed diversified. Some texts of the liturgy are harmonized in four or more voice parts, often with organ accompaniment, and others are sung in plainsong. The largest group of chants, those for the psalms and canticles, has anidiosyncratic written form and a performance practice that continues to evolve in oral tradition. This music is commonly known as Anglican chant. Its origins in the seventeenth century and its codification in the eighteenth are explored in the choral establishments of the Church of England andparish churches in England, Scotland, and the United States.