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Music at St Bride's
Robert Jones & Matthew Morley
Robert Jones
Director of Music

Matthew Morley
Assistant Director of Music
The importance of music in the life of St. Bride's church is obvious to anyone attending a service, whether on a Sunday or a special occasion. Music can be used to inspire, console and support, as a means of devotion or praise, and to express all those feelings which lie too deep for words. The repertoire of choir music is rooted in the Anglican cathedral tradition, in which music is the servant of the liturgy, but is often able to reach beyond that tradition; not only in the twice-monthly Sermons in Music, when a sermon at Evensong is replaced by a more extended work (or sequence of pieces) than would normally be feasible, but also at special services, where a wide variety of secular music can be used in a spiritual context.

St CeciliaWe have little direct historical knowledge of music at St. Bride's before the post-war restoration, although two points are worthy of mention. One is that Thomas Weelkes, organist of Chichester Cathedral in the early 17th century and a leading English madrigal composer of the period, is buried in the crypt, having died suddenly while visiting a friend in Salisbury Square. The other is a close connection with Henry Purcell through the St. Ceciliatide Festival. This was an annual celebration of St. Cecilia, patron saint of music, held on and near her feast day, 22nd November, during the 1690s, based at Stationers' Hall, but always including a service in St. Bride's. It was for this service in 1694 that Purcell composed his setting of the Te Deum, which remains one of his best-loved works. The Festival has been revived in recent years, and two services at St. Bride's formed part of the 2001 celebrations (festival website).

Emma Brain-Gabbott and Daniel Jordan
Members of the Choir
However, it seems likely that the determined efforts of those responsible for the creation of the new church in the 1950s to make full provision for excellent music reflected a desire to restore an already-existing tradition. There is a fascinating paper written by Gordon Reynolds (Director of Music from 1952 to 1965) telling of his appointment by Cyril Armitage, his recruitment of a quartet from the Guildhall School of Music to sing at Sunday services in a side chapel long before the rebuilding, and the eventual establishment of a choir of 12 singers in time for the rededication of the new church. He also gives an insight into the problems of making music in a building whose acoustics he describes as "perilously lively", although they undoubtedly enhance the choir's efforts in most areas of the repertoire and contribute to the overwhelming effect that the music often has on the first-time visitor.