Cornovian Singers is a new community choir rehearsing in Pontesbury, and performing in the Shrewsbury area. We welcome all experienced singers to come and try singing with us. We’re a friendly and enthusiastic group, performing a mixture of sacred and secular music, with an emphasis on singing Christian music a capella. Our repertoire includes historic and 'early' music, as well as modern music from both Anglican and Catholic traditions, as well as some Gospel music. We perform at community events, at concerts and enjoy leading services in churches which currently have no choir. There’s no membership fee or subscription, no scary auditions, all music is provided, and we usually enjoy ourselves.
Interested? Then please contact our choirmaster Paul on 0795-167-4428.
Interested? Then please contact our choirmaster Paul on 0795-167-4428.
These photographs were taken at St Mary's Church in Shrewsbury, where Cornovian Singers performed before Christmas. There has been a church on this site for over 1000 years - it was a real pleasure to sing here, with a wonderful historic atmosphere, superb acoustics and magnificent stained glass. We were delighted with the feedback from this, and indeed from all our Christmas events. The Carol Service in Pontesbury Chapel on the 17th December proved particularly popular:
'I loved the pieces you sang at the Congregational Chapel, - you brought an Appalachian style which was amazing, and the Latin songs were also great - really different from the usual Christmas fayre'. (Patrick and Sandy)
'Very much enjoyed yesterday evening at the Congregational Chapel - a very good choir. Catch them if you can'. (Will)
'It was brilliant - thank you - the choir lifted the whole event, and I particularly enjoyed the Latin numbers, Gaudete etc'. (Roy)
'The choir sounded fantastic - only 7 voices, but it filled the Chapel completely (Sue)
A lovely evening enjoyed by all. Rev. Debbie Martin led us in a thought-provoking service of carols and readings, supported by this lovely choir. (Viv)
'Amazing sound - only 10 voices, but the sound seemed to carry around the whole of St Mary's. I was taken back to the middle ages'. (Roger)
Background: Cornovian Singers is a newly-established community choir based in Pontesbury, performing mostly Christian music (often a capella) at community/charity events, and at churches where there's no existing choir. All the members of the choir are experienced church choristers, and our aim is to develop both a unique sound, and a unique repertoire of music, old and new, which can be used either in church services/informal worship or in concert situations. This repertoire includes a number of new pieces written especially for us, including a full setting of the Eucharist Service in English, anthems, new settings of many of the major Latin texts of the Christian church (Agnus Dei, Ave Maria, Pater Noster etc) as well as some Gospel music (see below). When we visit churches to perform, we're happy to offer a workshop to be followed by a service of either Eucharist or Evensong. Alternatively, we can offer a more informal Celtic style evening service with a mixture of modern music plus Gregorian and Taizé chant.
Benefits of choral singing: The health benefits of choral singing are well known. In addition, choral singing offers a free musical education, and the opportunity to become part of a fantastic musical heritage. Choristers acquire singing skills, learn to be part of a team, and develop a love of choral music which lasts a life-time. However, all choirs need a supply of new voices, the next generation of singers who will keep this tradition alive. So how about giving it a try?
In fact, choral singing is particularly strong in Britain. English cathedral choirs, the chapel choirs of some Oxford and Cambridge colleges and some important town church choirs set a very high standard in choral singing. ‘Oxbridge’ chapel choirs in particular provide a continuous supply of singers, skilled sight readers, who feed our cathedral choirs and also the fine professional British choirs which specialize in a capella singing with a strong emphasis on early music such as The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars, Stile Antico, Voces 8, Gesualdo 6 and Apollo 5. The performances and recordings of these 'premier league' choirs define the ‘gold standard’ of interpretation of choral music, particularly early church music by composers such as Byrd, Tallis, Taverner, Dunstable, Palestrina, Josquin, Victoria etc.
Repertoire: We're essentially a chamber choir with an emphasis on singing a capella, and our growing repertoire reflects this. The list is growing, and includes a mixture of traditional 'church music', new devotional pieces written or arranged for us (mostly settings of key devotional texts - Agnus Dei/Ave Maria/Sanctus/Benedictus/Kyrie eleison) as well as some gospel.
Thou knowest Lord (Purcell)
De profundis (Purcell)
The Lamb (Tavener)
Lamb of God (Dvorak arr. PB)
Hide not thou thy face (Farrant)
Confession (Sibelius)
If ye love me (Tallis)
Cantate Domino (Anon 17th-century)
Psalm 23 (Bain arr. PB)
Never weather-beaten sail (Campian)
Lord, for thy tender mercy's sake (Anon 16th-century)
Lead me Lord (Wesley)
Bind us together (Gilman arr. PB)
Father we love you (Adkins arr. PB)
O happy day (Doddridge arr. PB)
O sacred head (Bach/Hassler)
Jesu, meine Freude (Bach)
Shall we gather at the river? (Lowry arr. PB)
The Spirit lives (Damian Lundy arr. PB)
Laudate Dominum (Roman Missal - arr PB)
Salvator Mundi (PB)
Saviour of the world (PB)
Ave Maria, Agnus Dei, Sanctus - Benedictus, English Kyrie (PB)
They shall grow not old (PB)
St George Communion Service (Kyrie/Gloria/Sanctus/Agnus Dei etc)
Evensong responses and canticles
Psalm settings - various
Gregorian chant - various
Paul's comments: When working with choirs, my role involves not only facilitating the making of sacred music (hopefully a 'stairway to heaven' for congregation and choristers alike) but also passing on to choristers/students aspects of our rich ecclesiastical and choral heritage. I try to encourahe this in what I hope is an entertaining way, often through anecdotes - topics include eccentric organs and organists I have known, S.S. Wesley's secret ladder into the organ loft at Winchester, Thomas Weelkes' troubled relationship with the Dean of Chichester, etc. These curiosities are, in my view, inform and interest singers in their choral heritage - while allowing the choir to rest for a few minutes without the rehearsal session losing energy! Actually, it's amazing how many choristers tell me that they value the background knowledge they acquire in rehearsals, and feel it enriches their experience of being a chorister. But this isn't an accident - this story-telling is intended to address a serious problem. Many people attend the Anglican Church for decades, sometimes becoming involved as church officers, PCC members - even as choristers without absorbing even the most basic knowledge of choral music and heritage, of the Lectionary, or indeed ofchurch history as a whole. They worship and sing in a vacuum, with very little background knowledge about their faith, with an extraordinary lack of passion or emotional involvement which, in my experience, colourless contemporary preaching and liturgy do little to address.
However, access to relevant information has never been more accessible. A wealth of recordings by choirs such as The Sixteen, Tenebrae, Voces 8 (with really informative CD liner notes) have opened the door to a wealth of church music, making the music of Byrd, Tallis, Mundy, Taverner, Tye etc. very well-known. In recent years, scholars such as Diarmaid MacCulloch (Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford) Eamon Duffy (Professor of the History of Christianity at Cambridge) Nicholas Orme (Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter) Alec Ryrie (Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University) have done much to raise public awareness of church history through their excellent writing and broadcasting - see bibliography below. However, ignorance about fundamental aspects of Church history remains commonplace. A number of contributory factors may be mentioned, but surely the most important is the way in which Anglican Church seems to pointedly ignore its own history: important commemorative dates mentioned in the Lectionary are almost never referred to in sermons, or even mentioned in pew slips. Important dates such as March 21st (Cranmer Day - when we might remember the martyrdom of this 'founding father' of Anglicanism in 1556) or October 6th (William Tyndale's martyrdom 1526) and October 16th (the martyrdom of bishops Latimer and Ridley in 1555) are routinely ignored. Surely, these days are opportunities for clergy to remind us of these important figures, and perhaps to teach about their Christian witness and example, but few take advantage.
Trends in higher education may be partly responsible for this lamentable situation. Church history has been marginalized in many British Universities, often surviving in the curriculum as a minor element of longer ‘survey’ courses within undergraduate history courses. Some rather diluted church history is 'bolted on' to theology courses, or forms a small part of ordination training. (I recently found myself in the rather alarming situation of having to explain to a theology graduate then working as a Youth Worker in the Church of England what the Vulgate was!) Such problems are compounded by what many perceive to be 'aggressive secularism' in our universities. As universities serve their master 'Lord Lucre' ever more diligently, they are placing ever greater emphasis on new historical sub-disciplines - media studies, critical theory, gender studies, etc. and many history departments no longer have a specialist church historian on their staff, and a perverse blindness to the central place of Christian culture in the story of Western Europe has consequently prevailed.
Nevertheless, no student, Christian or not, can achieve any sort of overview of European history without a knowledge the Christian Church - the largest multi-national corporation in Europe, politically active, exercising wide-reaching and important jurisprudence, and for a thousand years the greatest patron of music, arts and of architecture in Europe. As a result, our landscape, our place-names, our calendar, our architecture, our seasonal traditions, many of our greatest works of art and many of our popular sayings are shaped by Christian culture. Indeed, it is often pointed out that the Book of Common Prayer (1549, rev. 1552, 1559 and 1662) and the King James Bible (1611) and have had far more influence on the development of modern English than (even) the works of William Shakespeare, because they were far more widely read and heard. Church history is thus crucial to an understanding and appreciation of the Christian culture on which Western Europe is built, and thus a really exciting area of study. In my experience many university undergraduates (often contrary to their own expectations) enjoy it greatly when they discover it's an inescapable part of a core module at university!
However, Christian culture should not be understood as monolithic, uniform and over-arching – not only were there many regional differences in traditions, but also numerous mutations and changes in response to reformers acting from within the Christian hegemony, as well as to social, demographic and political pressures acting from without. Before the Reformation, liturgy itself varied considerably in different parts of Europe. Even within England, prior to the Reformation, the Dioceses within the Archbishopric of York (York, Carlisle and Durham) followed the Use of York, whereas Dioceses within the Archbishopric of Canterbury (with the exception of the Diocese of Hereford) followed the Use of Salisbury - the so-called Sarum Rite. After the Reformation in England, despite the Act of Uniformity of 1549, many churches in Wales, Lincolnshire and Norfolk ignored the new English Prayer Book and continued using the Latin rite.
Church history is thus, in many ways, a rich tapestry of variety and a story of endless change and renewal. The Christian Church acts as a mirror reflecting the history of ideas and of social changes, and continues to be so today. Accordingly, Church history is surely of interest to any European with even a passing curiosity about the society in which they currently live, although for those of faith, it is perhaps much more than this. Only by tracing and understanding the long and sometimes painful processes of change that we can really come to terms with our faith in the fullest sense, and cultivate a genuine and deep respect for our liturgical forms and traditions. Furthermore, it is often by looking back to earlier Christian examples, to early mystical writers and scholars, that we can find real integrity, and from it draw the inspiration and ideas with which to renew and refresh our own faith. Furthermore, we're still surrounded with the remains of that culture, despite increasing secularization, the growth of consumer culture, and the best attempts of politicians (anxious to ensure the continuity of their jobs) to misrepresent contemporary society as ‘multi-cultural’.
Personally, the process of reaching historical and cultural understandings of Christianity has become a means of affirming, reinforcing and deepening my own faith. Furthermore, I regard the sharing of those understandings as a form of ministry, which hopefully affirms and strengthens the faith of others. These ideas draw on my background both university and adult education teaching, and certainly underpin the work I've done with choirs including Cornovian Singers; St Giles, West Bridgford; the Reformation Early Music Group; Bridgford Camerata; St George's, Pontesbury etc.
Bibliography - some recent publications in Church History.
Campbell, G. Bible: the story of the King James Version, Oxford UP, 2010.
Clark, J.G. The Dissolution of the Monasteries: a new history, Yale UP, 2021.
Duffy, E. The Stripping of the Altars: traditional religion in England, c. 1400-c. 1580, Yale UP, 1992.
Duffy, E. Marking the Hours: english people and their prayers, 1240-1570, Yale UP, 2006.
Gant, A. O Sing unto the Lord: a history of English church music, Profile Books, 2015.
Garbini L. Nouvelle histoire de la musique sacrée: du chant synagogal à Stockhausen, Bayard, 2010.
Greengrass, M. Christendom Destroyed: Europe 1517-1648, Viking Penguin, 2014.
Jacobs, A. The Book of Common Prayer: a biography, Princeton UP, 2013.
MacCullough, D. Thomas Cranmer: a life (Revised Edition) Yale UP, 2017.
Madigan, K. Medieval Christianity: a new history, Yale UP, 2015.
Marshall, P. 1517 - Martin Luther and the Invention of the Reformation, Oxford UP, 2017.
Morris, J. A People's Church: a history of the Church of England, Profile Books, 2022.
Orme, N. Going to Church in Medieval England, Yale UP, 2019.
Ryrie, A. Protestants: the radicals who made the modern world, William Collins, 2017.
'I loved the pieces you sang at the Congregational Chapel, - you brought an Appalachian style which was amazing, and the Latin songs were also great - really different from the usual Christmas fayre'. (Patrick and Sandy)
'Very much enjoyed yesterday evening at the Congregational Chapel - a very good choir. Catch them if you can'. (Will)
'It was brilliant - thank you - the choir lifted the whole event, and I particularly enjoyed the Latin numbers, Gaudete etc'. (Roy)
'The choir sounded fantastic - only 7 voices, but it filled the Chapel completely (Sue)
A lovely evening enjoyed by all. Rev. Debbie Martin led us in a thought-provoking service of carols and readings, supported by this lovely choir. (Viv)
'Amazing sound - only 10 voices, but the sound seemed to carry around the whole of St Mary's. I was taken back to the middle ages'. (Roger)
Background: Cornovian Singers is a newly-established community choir based in Pontesbury, performing mostly Christian music (often a capella) at community/charity events, and at churches where there's no existing choir. All the members of the choir are experienced church choristers, and our aim is to develop both a unique sound, and a unique repertoire of music, old and new, which can be used either in church services/informal worship or in concert situations. This repertoire includes a number of new pieces written especially for us, including a full setting of the Eucharist Service in English, anthems, new settings of many of the major Latin texts of the Christian church (Agnus Dei, Ave Maria, Pater Noster etc) as well as some Gospel music (see below). When we visit churches to perform, we're happy to offer a workshop to be followed by a service of either Eucharist or Evensong. Alternatively, we can offer a more informal Celtic style evening service with a mixture of modern music plus Gregorian and Taizé chant.
Benefits of choral singing: The health benefits of choral singing are well known. In addition, choral singing offers a free musical education, and the opportunity to become part of a fantastic musical heritage. Choristers acquire singing skills, learn to be part of a team, and develop a love of choral music which lasts a life-time. However, all choirs need a supply of new voices, the next generation of singers who will keep this tradition alive. So how about giving it a try?
In fact, choral singing is particularly strong in Britain. English cathedral choirs, the chapel choirs of some Oxford and Cambridge colleges and some important town church choirs set a very high standard in choral singing. ‘Oxbridge’ chapel choirs in particular provide a continuous supply of singers, skilled sight readers, who feed our cathedral choirs and also the fine professional British choirs which specialize in a capella singing with a strong emphasis on early music such as The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars, Stile Antico, Voces 8, Gesualdo 6 and Apollo 5. The performances and recordings of these 'premier league' choirs define the ‘gold standard’ of interpretation of choral music, particularly early church music by composers such as Byrd, Tallis, Taverner, Dunstable, Palestrina, Josquin, Victoria etc.
Repertoire: We're essentially a chamber choir with an emphasis on singing a capella, and our growing repertoire reflects this. The list is growing, and includes a mixture of traditional 'church music', new devotional pieces written or arranged for us (mostly settings of key devotional texts - Agnus Dei/Ave Maria/Sanctus/Benedictus/Kyrie eleison) as well as some gospel.
Thou knowest Lord (Purcell)
De profundis (Purcell)
The Lamb (Tavener)
Lamb of God (Dvorak arr. PB)
Hide not thou thy face (Farrant)
Confession (Sibelius)
If ye love me (Tallis)
Cantate Domino (Anon 17th-century)
Psalm 23 (Bain arr. PB)
Never weather-beaten sail (Campian)
Lord, for thy tender mercy's sake (Anon 16th-century)
Lead me Lord (Wesley)
Bind us together (Gilman arr. PB)
Father we love you (Adkins arr. PB)
O happy day (Doddridge arr. PB)
O sacred head (Bach/Hassler)
Jesu, meine Freude (Bach)
Shall we gather at the river? (Lowry arr. PB)
The Spirit lives (Damian Lundy arr. PB)
Laudate Dominum (Roman Missal - arr PB)
Salvator Mundi (PB)
Saviour of the world (PB)
Ave Maria, Agnus Dei, Sanctus - Benedictus, English Kyrie (PB)
They shall grow not old (PB)
St George Communion Service (Kyrie/Gloria/Sanctus/Agnus Dei etc)
Evensong responses and canticles
Psalm settings - various
Gregorian chant - various
Paul's comments: When working with choirs, my role involves not only facilitating the making of sacred music (hopefully a 'stairway to heaven' for congregation and choristers alike) but also passing on to choristers/students aspects of our rich ecclesiastical and choral heritage. I try to encourahe this in what I hope is an entertaining way, often through anecdotes - topics include eccentric organs and organists I have known, S.S. Wesley's secret ladder into the organ loft at Winchester, Thomas Weelkes' troubled relationship with the Dean of Chichester, etc. These curiosities are, in my view, inform and interest singers in their choral heritage - while allowing the choir to rest for a few minutes without the rehearsal session losing energy! Actually, it's amazing how many choristers tell me that they value the background knowledge they acquire in rehearsals, and feel it enriches their experience of being a chorister. But this isn't an accident - this story-telling is intended to address a serious problem. Many people attend the Anglican Church for decades, sometimes becoming involved as church officers, PCC members - even as choristers without absorbing even the most basic knowledge of choral music and heritage, of the Lectionary, or indeed ofchurch history as a whole. They worship and sing in a vacuum, with very little background knowledge about their faith, with an extraordinary lack of passion or emotional involvement which, in my experience, colourless contemporary preaching and liturgy do little to address.
However, access to relevant information has never been more accessible. A wealth of recordings by choirs such as The Sixteen, Tenebrae, Voces 8 (with really informative CD liner notes) have opened the door to a wealth of church music, making the music of Byrd, Tallis, Mundy, Taverner, Tye etc. very well-known. In recent years, scholars such as Diarmaid MacCulloch (Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford) Eamon Duffy (Professor of the History of Christianity at Cambridge) Nicholas Orme (Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter) Alec Ryrie (Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University) have done much to raise public awareness of church history through their excellent writing and broadcasting - see bibliography below. However, ignorance about fundamental aspects of Church history remains commonplace. A number of contributory factors may be mentioned, but surely the most important is the way in which Anglican Church seems to pointedly ignore its own history: important commemorative dates mentioned in the Lectionary are almost never referred to in sermons, or even mentioned in pew slips. Important dates such as March 21st (Cranmer Day - when we might remember the martyrdom of this 'founding father' of Anglicanism in 1556) or October 6th (William Tyndale's martyrdom 1526) and October 16th (the martyrdom of bishops Latimer and Ridley in 1555) are routinely ignored. Surely, these days are opportunities for clergy to remind us of these important figures, and perhaps to teach about their Christian witness and example, but few take advantage.
Trends in higher education may be partly responsible for this lamentable situation. Church history has been marginalized in many British Universities, often surviving in the curriculum as a minor element of longer ‘survey’ courses within undergraduate history courses. Some rather diluted church history is 'bolted on' to theology courses, or forms a small part of ordination training. (I recently found myself in the rather alarming situation of having to explain to a theology graduate then working as a Youth Worker in the Church of England what the Vulgate was!) Such problems are compounded by what many perceive to be 'aggressive secularism' in our universities. As universities serve their master 'Lord Lucre' ever more diligently, they are placing ever greater emphasis on new historical sub-disciplines - media studies, critical theory, gender studies, etc. and many history departments no longer have a specialist church historian on their staff, and a perverse blindness to the central place of Christian culture in the story of Western Europe has consequently prevailed.
Nevertheless, no student, Christian or not, can achieve any sort of overview of European history without a knowledge the Christian Church - the largest multi-national corporation in Europe, politically active, exercising wide-reaching and important jurisprudence, and for a thousand years the greatest patron of music, arts and of architecture in Europe. As a result, our landscape, our place-names, our calendar, our architecture, our seasonal traditions, many of our greatest works of art and many of our popular sayings are shaped by Christian culture. Indeed, it is often pointed out that the Book of Common Prayer (1549, rev. 1552, 1559 and 1662) and the King James Bible (1611) and have had far more influence on the development of modern English than (even) the works of William Shakespeare, because they were far more widely read and heard. Church history is thus crucial to an understanding and appreciation of the Christian culture on which Western Europe is built, and thus a really exciting area of study. In my experience many university undergraduates (often contrary to their own expectations) enjoy it greatly when they discover it's an inescapable part of a core module at university!
However, Christian culture should not be understood as monolithic, uniform and over-arching – not only were there many regional differences in traditions, but also numerous mutations and changes in response to reformers acting from within the Christian hegemony, as well as to social, demographic and political pressures acting from without. Before the Reformation, liturgy itself varied considerably in different parts of Europe. Even within England, prior to the Reformation, the Dioceses within the Archbishopric of York (York, Carlisle and Durham) followed the Use of York, whereas Dioceses within the Archbishopric of Canterbury (with the exception of the Diocese of Hereford) followed the Use of Salisbury - the so-called Sarum Rite. After the Reformation in England, despite the Act of Uniformity of 1549, many churches in Wales, Lincolnshire and Norfolk ignored the new English Prayer Book and continued using the Latin rite.
Church history is thus, in many ways, a rich tapestry of variety and a story of endless change and renewal. The Christian Church acts as a mirror reflecting the history of ideas and of social changes, and continues to be so today. Accordingly, Church history is surely of interest to any European with even a passing curiosity about the society in which they currently live, although for those of faith, it is perhaps much more than this. Only by tracing and understanding the long and sometimes painful processes of change that we can really come to terms with our faith in the fullest sense, and cultivate a genuine and deep respect for our liturgical forms and traditions. Furthermore, it is often by looking back to earlier Christian examples, to early mystical writers and scholars, that we can find real integrity, and from it draw the inspiration and ideas with which to renew and refresh our own faith. Furthermore, we're still surrounded with the remains of that culture, despite increasing secularization, the growth of consumer culture, and the best attempts of politicians (anxious to ensure the continuity of their jobs) to misrepresent contemporary society as ‘multi-cultural’.
Personally, the process of reaching historical and cultural understandings of Christianity has become a means of affirming, reinforcing and deepening my own faith. Furthermore, I regard the sharing of those understandings as a form of ministry, which hopefully affirms and strengthens the faith of others. These ideas draw on my background both university and adult education teaching, and certainly underpin the work I've done with choirs including Cornovian Singers; St Giles, West Bridgford; the Reformation Early Music Group; Bridgford Camerata; St George's, Pontesbury etc.
Bibliography - some recent publications in Church History.
Campbell, G. Bible: the story of the King James Version, Oxford UP, 2010.
Clark, J.G. The Dissolution of the Monasteries: a new history, Yale UP, 2021.
Duffy, E. The Stripping of the Altars: traditional religion in England, c. 1400-c. 1580, Yale UP, 1992.
Duffy, E. Marking the Hours: english people and their prayers, 1240-1570, Yale UP, 2006.
Gant, A. O Sing unto the Lord: a history of English church music, Profile Books, 2015.
Garbini L. Nouvelle histoire de la musique sacrée: du chant synagogal à Stockhausen, Bayard, 2010.
Greengrass, M. Christendom Destroyed: Europe 1517-1648, Viking Penguin, 2014.
Jacobs, A. The Book of Common Prayer: a biography, Princeton UP, 2013.
MacCullough, D. Thomas Cranmer: a life (Revised Edition) Yale UP, 2017.
Madigan, K. Medieval Christianity: a new history, Yale UP, 2015.
Marshall, P. 1517 - Martin Luther and the Invention of the Reformation, Oxford UP, 2017.
Morris, J. A People's Church: a history of the Church of England, Profile Books, 2022.
Orme, N. Going to Church in Medieval England, Yale UP, 2019.
Ryrie, A. Protestants: the radicals who made the modern world, William Collins, 2017.