United States Various, ‘Saint Thomas at 200: A Musical Legacy’: The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, The Saint Thomas Brass, Nicolas Haigh (organ) / Jeremy Filsell (conductor). Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York, 13.10.2023. (RP)
Gerre Hancock – ‘A Song to the Lamb’; ‘Lauda Sion’
T. Frederick H. Candlyn– ‘Magnificat in F’
Paul Callaway – ‘An Hymne of Heavenly Love’
Francis Pott – ‘In the bleak mid-winter’
John Bertalot – ‘The Lord of the Dance’
Jeremy Filsell – Gloria (Missa Sancti Thomae in tempore enim pestilencia); Toccata ‘God rest ye merry gentlemen’
John Scott – ‘Behold, O God our defender’
Arthur Li – ‘I rejoiced when I heard them say’
Nico Muhly – Gloria (Bright Mass with Canons)
Daniel Castellanos – ‘Eternal Light’
Daniel Hyde – ‘Ave verum’
T. Tertius Noble – ‘Te Deum in A’
St. Thomas Church sits on the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 53rd Street in Midtown Manhattan. It is not only a place of worship and an anchor for the surrounding community but, in the words of its archivist, Francis Blouis, a place where ‘all the arts are brought together . . . in the service of faith’. The church’s globally renowned music program is central to furthering that mission.
As part of its bicentennial celebrations, the church presented ‘Saint Thomas at 200: A Musical Legacy’. The concert featured music composed by the choir’s music directors, as well as new commissions. Jeremy Filsell, the current organist and choirmaster, conducted the concert, in which the choir was joined by the St. Thomas Brass and the church’s assistant organist, Nicolas Haigh.
This American bastion of Anglicism had its beginnings at a service on 12 October 1823 in a hall in what is now known as Soho in Lower Manhattan. The current Neo-Gothic church is the fourth building to house the congregation, with two prior ones having been destroyed by fire. Its choir school was founded in 1919 by Dr. T. Tertius Noble, who had previously been at York Minster in England.
Today, the St. Thomas Choir School is one of only three such institutions in the world. In additional to their studies, the boys are responsible for singing five services each week at the church, performing in concerts and participating in tours. The quality and professionalism of the choir never varies, and its annual presentation of Handel’s Messiah is as critically acclaimed as it is popular.
The memory of Gerre Hancock, who served as organist and choir master from 1971 to 2004, still looms large at St. Thomas. Credited with the rejuvenation of the school and choir, Hancock’s music is regularly heard in services at the church. His anthem, ‘A Song to the Lamb’, a setting of verses from the Book of Revelation, is typical of his bold approach to liturgical music. The glorious sound of brass, tympani and organ may fill the church, but for Hancock clarity of text was paramount.
T. Frederick Candlyn, who also emigrated from England to America, served at St. Thomas from 1943 to 1954. The ‘Magnificat in F’ is an example of his singular ability to craft prayer from the integration of sound and text. The St. Thomas Choir was particularly effective at bringing to life the musical images that Candlyn painted with such finesse.
It was a joy to watch and listen to the boys sing Paul S. Calloway’s ‘An Hymne of Heavenly Love’, which he composed for Noble and the choir when he served as St. Thomas’s assistant organist in the early 1930s. Calloway penned some lovely melodies in the short anthem, and the boys sang them with smiles on their faces in the sweetest tones imaginable.
At a regular service at St. Thomas, one is as likely to hear a work by a contemporary composer as one by a dead one. This concert was no different. Francis Pott’s haunting setting of a Christina Rossetti poem, ‘In the bleak mid-winter’, was commissioned by St. Thomas to be performed for Christmas services in 2020 by the men of the choir. It is a somber work, devoid of sentimentality, which called to mind the darkest days of the pandemic when people could not gather, even to celebrate Christmas.
Filsell too is a composer. The Gloria from his Missa Sancti Thomae in tempore enim pestilencia was fast and jubilant. He also pays particular attention to the text and effectively employs complex dissonances to underscore the meaning of a word. Works by the late John Scott and Daniel Hyde provided the link between Hancock and Filsell.
Arthur Li’s ‘I Rejoiced when I heard them Say’ was even more remarkable for the fact that its composer is in the seventh grade at the Choir School. It was an astoundingly sophisticated and effective work from so young a composer. Li composed it expressly at Filsell’s request with the intent that it be performed at the bicentennial celebrations.
In addition to its choir, St. Thomas is also renowned for its two magnificent organs. The church’s main instrument is the 7,059 pipe Miller-Scott organ built by the Dobson Organ Company, which Haigh showcased in Hancock’s joyous ‘Lauda Sion’. Later in the concert, he performed Filsell’s Toccata ‘God rest ye merry gentlemen’ on the Loening-Hancock organ situated high above in the gallery. Its unique timbres enabled Haigh to carefully illuminate the subtleties of Filsell’s particularly somber exploration of this familiar carol.
The final work to be performed by chorus, brass and organ was T. Tertius Noble’s ‘Te Deum in A’. Although sung to the Glory of God, it was also a celebration of St. Thomas Fifth Avenue’s extraordinary musical tradition, which never seemed more vital and wonderful than it did on this evening.
Rick Perdian