Edward Bairstow

This afternoon, the choir will sing Psalms 59, 60, and 61, Charles Stanford's Service in A, and Bruce Neswick's Praises and Responses.

The anthem is a setting of the seventh century text, Blessed City, Heavenly Salem, with music composed by Edward Bairstow.

As the church has done for centuries, we begin by invoking the presence of God, asking Him to open our lips that we may rightly sing His praise.

Please join us now as we begin together in prayer.

Finzi was born into a British Jewish family in 1901 and was quickly thrust into a world of loss.

His father died before he turned eight, and he lost his beloved music teacher, Ernest Farrar, as well as his three brothers during World War I.

His solace during these times was poetry, particularly that of Thomas Hardy, but also of Thomas Traherne, who will come up quite a bit later when we discuss Dies Natalis.

He spent time in London where he got to know some of the leading lights of the British musical world, such as Vaughan Williams and Holst.

Finzi was a huge admirer of Bach and in true British fashion, was an honorary member of the Bach Cantata Club.

One of the things that Finzi, and of course so many others, admired about Bach was his counterpoint, which happened to be one of Finzi's weaknesses as a young composer.

McCullough relates that Finzi struggled with counterpoint under his strict teacher, Sir Edward Bairstow, who believed strongly that discipline was a better teacher than inspiration.

Later in his studies, Finzi learned counterpoint from R.O. Morris, which he much preferred.