The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

Herbert Howells: February 7th, Evening Canticles for St Paul�s Cathedral

Last June being one of those months with five Sundays in it, you may remember that our musicians seized the opportunity to give us five of Herbert Howells� great Evening Canticle settings for English cathedrals and collegiate choirs. On February 7th they will add another, the mighty Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis for St Paul�s Cathedral, written in 1951.

In 1951 Howells was 59 and had already written eight Evening Services, four of which were for large cathedral or chapel spaces. However it must have been daunting even for a mature composer with such experience to contemplate writing music for Wren�s vast building, with the notoriously prolonged echo of its cavernous dome. But solving such difficulties was Howells� speciality, and he rose to the challenge with one of his finest settings. From its expansive opening phrase it is clear that these canticles will unfold gradually and spaciously � and they do. The echo actually adds to the richness of the texture as the sounds roll around in slow-moving harmonies � this is indeed, as Howells himself so perfectly described it, �tonal opulence�. As always Howells� word-setting is wonderfully expressive, too: listen in the Magnificat for the moment�s reverent pause at ��holy is His name �� (the word �name� picked out in a lingering, awestruck tierce de Picardie � a major third in a minor key), for the graphic illustration of ��the rich are sent empty away�� (with all voices united in a hollow unison), and for the contemplative beauty of the passage at ��He remembering His Mercy ��. And in the Nunc Dimittis hear how Howells builds from the slow and inscrutable opening phrases to a great climax at �� the glory of thy people Israel��. In both canticles the concluding Gloria is triumphant from start to finish: each begins with the choir in a strong, clear unison intoning to Father, Son and Holy Ghost, then every voice gradually detaches itself in flowing counterpoint and the tension rises until the phrase ��world without end�� sweeps to a majestic climax on the final �Amen� � ending with another major third shining through sombre minor clouds.