Protestant Church of St. Albans: Christmas Services

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.”

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

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.”