Trinity Parish Choirs Festival
Event Information
Venue(s):
St. John's Episcopal Church
Conductor(s):
Charles Edward Horsley
Event Type:
Choral
Record Information
Status:
Published
Last Updated:
22 December 2025
Performance Date(s) and Time(s)
19 Nov 1874, 8:00 PMPerformers and/or Works Performed
Citations
“The second concert at St. John’s Chapel last night afforded a delightful treat to a fashionable and critical audience who filled the church long before the exercises began. A chorus of well-trained voices, 150 strong, articulating with remarkable distinctness and modulating in exact accordance with the requirements of the score, is rarely heard, and it is safe to say could not be gathered together anywhere else in the country outside of the trained musical societies. This large body with only one rehearsal interpreted the church music of Dean Aldrich, Dr. Boyce, Orlando Gibbons, and other old composers with a fidelity and spirit that merited the generous approval of the audience. Prof. Chas. E. Horsley of St. John’s Chapel conducted the exercises, and presided at the organ. The exercises consisted of the usual evening services of the Protestant Episcopal Church…Then followed the supplemental musical exercises, consisting of six anthems. It is one of the rules that the music of the last anthem shall be furnished each year by the musical director. This requirement is somewhat exacting, as the composer’s music comes directly after the classical productions of some of the old masters. It is a matter of congratulations to Mr. Horsley that his anthem, which was sung to the 42d Psalm, was received with delight by the audience, who listened to it and gave such evidences of approval as the place would allow. It began with a quartet in D major, followed by a most effective chorus in A minor, in which the words, ‘Ye shall be slain all the sort of you,’ were sung with fine effect. The Rev. Wm Cook sang the tenor solo beginning ‘He is my strength,’ and the anthem closed in the original key, the chorus singing ‘O put your trust in him alway, you people.’”
Hymns and anthems comprising the musical portion of the program. “The new organ of St. John’s Chapel was of course an important element in the festival.”