Worship & Music - Music History
A Brief History of St. David’s Choir Music has been a part of worship at Saint David’s since before 1855. For several years prior to that year, Jesse Brooke, a local farmer, played the bass viol to accompany hymn singing in the old church. In 1855 a small melodeon was introduced and used until around 1870 when a cabinet organ was acquired and placed in the gallery. In 1877 it was moved downstairs, only to be returned to the gallery in 1883. In 1885 the first known organist was appointed, Mr. William S. Cudlipp of
The archives indicate that in 1923 Mr. William Godfrey was the organist. In those days the total Church Budget was $3,114; the Rector’s salary was $1,500, while the total music budget was $397. At some time prior to September of that year a choir had been formed, as Mr. Godfrey expected all choir members to be present for Anniversary Sunday. In the 1930’s, Edward Biddle Halsey, an uncle of John Montgomery, our present parishioner, was the organist. In the late 1940’s Mrs. Alice Wilson Russell, a former Wayne resident was the organist-choirmaster. Her choir occupied three or four pews in the gallery of the church. In 1949 or 1950, Mrs. Russell was succeeded by Mr. Frederick B. Sponsler, a professional musician. He was responsible for the acquisition of a new pipe organ built by C. O. Harrison and installed by the Skinner Company, whose president was also named Harrison. This organ was subsequently rebuilt in the early 1970’s and in 2005. It is still in use today.
In 1953 William Boyd arrived as organist in the Spring. He served until 1971, having built up the choir, and overseen the installation of the organ in the Chapel.
My experience with the St. David’s Choir started in 1971, when Flo Williams called me to say, “There is a new musician at the Church. You should go over there and find out what is happening!” The next Thursday night I went to Choir practice in the Harrison Room and met Gerry McGee. Gerry was prototypical Choirmaster. He told the Choir that we were present in the services to do more than just sing the anthem. He expected us to lead the Congregation in worship by knowing when to sit, stand or kneel; to dress appropriately under our Choir Robes and generally set a good example.
Gerry immediately set to work building corporate musicianship. He instituted the use of paid Section Leaders to provide a core of musicianship for the ensemble. Over the years this practice has worked quite well due to the care with which the Section Leaders have been chosen – not only for their musicianship, but also for their personalities. As a result, our music has been improved as we have all worked together. Several Section Leaders have become Episcopalians and joined St. David’s because of the warm spiritual atmosphere here.
In addition to bringing a wealth of Anglican experience to the music at St. David’s, Gerry also brought a sense of exploration and improvisation. It was quite common for the organ to drop out of one of the middle verses of a hymn while the Congregation and Choir carried on in parts. It was not unusual to suddenly find that the hymn melody had migrated to the pedal division of the organ, while the harmony was found in the upper divisions. These practices kept us alert!
Gerry McGee was replaced by Nancy Evans, who came to us basically as a full time musician. She built on the musical foundation that Gerry had laid and began to develop a more complete Music Program for St. David’s: two childrens’ choirs, St. Francis and St. Nicholas, and a Concert series. Under her leadership the Choirs grew and began the practice of performing a large work in the Fall and Spring as part of the Concert Series. One of the highlights was the performance of “St. Nicholas” by Benjamin Britten. With the junior choirs involved, the event drew a large crowd and was a huge success.
Another memorable event was a “home and home” collaboration with the Church of the Redeemer Choir. We performed every kind of antiphonal music that we could imagine: front to back; side to side; balcony to knave; women versus men and large ensemble versus small group. The music ranged from Vivaldi to William Walton. There even was a portative organ set up in the aisle of the Chapel to contrast against the main Chapel organ.
The next major Music Director was Jeff Walker. Jeff and his wife Ellen continued the programs that had been established. He instituted the occasional use of a “working mass” in the Communion service. We used two Mozart pieces, the Missa Brevis in F and the Piccolo Mini Mass.
Cynthia Pound followed Jeff. She took the St. David’s Choir on several local trips to sing “away games”. In addition she got an invitation for us to sing at the National Cathedral, which was an awe-inspiring experience. Cynthia also arranged a trip to England where, in ten days, we sang in seven different churches including St. David’s Cathedral in Wales and Salisbury Cathedral. She built the children’s choirs and emphasized musical education, using the Church of England “Royal School of Church Music” program.
Clair Rozier succeeded Cynthia. Clair emphasizes producing a beautiful musical choral sound. With her acute hearing, Clair is able to place voices next to each other in such a way as to bring out a unified sound. It is always amazing to listen to a section of the Choir sing without having been placed and then hear the improvement when everyone has been sorted properly. Clair emphasizes musicality, accuracy of pitch and rhythm and expressive singing to bring out all of the beauty that any given piece contains. She has raised the quality of our musical offerings. Clair has also brought in frequent instrumentalists (oboe, flute, trumpet) to accompany the choir when the music calls for it. They have made a inspiring contribution to our music.
One of Clair’s most important contributions to the music at St. David’s has been the growth of the music program especially the enhancement of the children’s choirs. Now we have four of them. Total involvement in music at St. David’s has risen to NNN.
Because of the rapid growth of the music program, we brought Bob Gallagher on board to help with the burgeoning children’s choirs. St. David’s is fortunate to have two very fine musicians, especially since they have developed a strong teamwork approach to meeting the musical needs of the Parish.
Recently Clair engineered a choir trip to England where we took the place of the regular Choir of the Cathedral in Wells for a week. We hoped to develop a better sense of the spiritual purpose of singing in church, enhance our group ensemble and perhaps do a little outreach by bringing American enthusiasm to the people of Wells. As it turned out we succeeded on all three objectives. Many Choir members commented on their increased spirituality as a result of singing Evensong in the Cathedral five days of the week. The Precenter of the Cathedral commented on the high quality of our music. We ‘bonded’ with the Vergers who obviously enjoyed working with us. We also got a taste of singing in a large reverberant space - sort of a preview of the new Chapel.
Clair also arranged for the St. David’s Choir to sing on Pennsylvania Day at the National Cathedral. We sang a capella for about twenty minutes on the steps leading up to the Sanctuary. Once again we got a taste of singing in a large reverberant space.
In 2002 St. David’s began detailed planning for the new Chapel facility. Clair and Bob assisted the Organ Committee in defining and specifying the nature of the proposed new organ, which is now being installed. The acoustics of the new worship space entail a change in the way the Choir sings. In order to be understood we all must emphasize our diction and put a little ‘space’ between our words. Tempos are different, generally a little slower to accommodate the long reverberation time. Our new Chapel gives us the space needed to combine the children’s choirs and the adult choir for Sunday services. This practice is a great stimulation for all us: adults, children and congregants!
Now we are hard at work, planning for another tour to England and Scotland, where we hope to build on our experiences in 2004 at Wells, England. Our parish music has certainly come a long way from a local farmer playing a bass viol to accompany hymns!