Protestant Church of St. Albans: Christmas Services

Event Information

Venue(s):
St. Albans Church

Event Type:
Choral

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
20 June 2020

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

25 Dec 1869, 12:00 AM

Program Details

Time given: Midnight.

Performers and/or Works Performed

Citations

1)
Announcement: New York Post, 24 December 1869, 3.

Part of long article discussing the decoration and music planned for Christmas Day worship services across the city. “The music of the occasion has been selected with care from the great composers, and it is said is of a character that has not before been heard in this church.”

2)
Review: New York Herald, 26 December 1869, 3.

Begins with a description of the congregants (many of whom were turned away for lack of space), decor, and pastors present. The paragraph on music is a bit confusing, and suggests the musical portion of the Mass was a composite, created from a variety of musical sources. (This is confirmed, but not further elucidated, by the New York Post announcement.)

“The music was of the light and captivating character attributed to the choirs of the modern Catholic churches. The female voices were evidently the product of refined training. The service was high mass and began much the same as in the Catholic Church. There was the Introit accompanied by the anthem ‘Arise;’ the Kyrie, Twelfth Mass ‘Sequence’ to the music of the beautiful Adeste Fideles. The tsinging [sic] of this hymn was excellent… The Creed, offertory, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus differing in some respects from their Roman prototypes, but not essentially, were chanted by the priests in a very fair imitation of the Catholic manner.”

3)
Review: New-York Times, 26 December 1869, 1.

Brief. “…The music as usually was very fine and the attendance good.”