Herbert Howells (1892–1983), Communion Service (Collegium Regale)  This stirring mass setting was written in 1956 for the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and quickly became one of the most popular Anglican settings of the mass.  The bold Gloria is followed by a mysterious Sanctus, serene Benedictus, and brooding Agnus, all replete with the harmonic and modal fingerprints of Howells’s style.

Thomas Tallis (c 1505 to 1585) was an elder colleague of William Byrd, with whom he collaborated in publishing. One of the finest composers of his generation, his church music encompasses a wide variety of styles from complex works for the Latin Rite to more simple but no less effective pieces with English texts. If ye love me sets words from John 14, 15-17.

Text:

If ye love me,
keep my commandments,
and I will pray the Father,
and he shall give you another comforter,
that he may ‘bide with you forever,
e’en the spirit of truth.

O nata lux  This famous anthem was first published in 1575 in ‘Cantiones sacrae’, a joint publication with William Byrd.  Tallis sets the ancient text in a simple, yet mysterious way, with the clear text setting making this anthem especially memorable.

Henry Purcell (c. 1659–1695), O God the King of Glory

Purcell has perhaps one of the most distinctive musical voices; he blended the continental music of his day with the English styles he inherited into a unique early baroque idiom.  He excelled in all the genres of his day, and is renowned as much for his stage works as for his church music.  His bold (and sometimes eccentric) harmony and counterpoint ensured his influence over composers as late as the twentieth century (Benjamin Britten in particular), and his mysterious and early death was mourned across Europe.  O God the King of Glory sets the collect for the Sunday after Ascension, and demonstrates his stylish word-setting, fluent harmony, and clarity of musical thought.