The choir of leeds parish church

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The Choir of Leeds Parish Church was founded by Vicar Richard Fawcett as early as 1815, and certainly in existence by 1818 (in which year there is accounting evidence for choristers' laundry), the Choir of Leeds Parish Church - Boys and Men - was, from its origins, a charge on the Church Rate; and, in what was then a largely non-conformist town, a none-too-popular one. By the 1830s, the choir's resourcing had been taken over by a list of voluntary subscribers. On arrival as incumbent of Leeds in 1837, the great Dr Walter Farquar Hook said he found "the surplices in rags and the books in tatters".

Contents

[edit] Daily Choral Services

Hook set at once to work to re-vitalise the huge Parish and to provide a Church suitable for what he termed a "good" service; the choral provision formed a significant part of this endeavour and, since the opening of the "new" Church in 1841, choral worship has been maintained on weekdays as well as on Sundays. Organists since 1842 include the great Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1842-1849), Dr (later Sir) Edward C Bairstow (1906-1913) and - nearer our own day - two musicians trained at Gloucester Cathedral by Dr Herbert Sumsion - Dr Melville Cook (1937-1956) and Dr Donald Hunt OBE (1957-1975). The present Organist and Master of the Music, Dr Simon Lindley, has served in that capacity since 1975.

[edit] Choral Foundation

There has never been a Choir School at Leeds, nor any large-scale endowments. A large-scale appeal for £500,000 was established in 2002; so far, £403,000 has been raised, of which £22,000 has been sponsorship to cover specific expenditure (mainly events), and a further £28,000 has already been paid out in grants to the Choral Foundation. The total administrative costs of the Appeal over the last six years have been less than £2,000, so this leaves £352,000 already invested towards our target of a £500,000 endowment for the Choir.

[edit] Friends of the Music

The Friends of the Music of Leeds Parish Church (a trail-blazing support organisation founded in 1951) has saved the Choir from oblivion as has the indefatigable support of many recent parishioners and of successive Head Teachers of the Parochial School, St Peter's Church of England Primary School, now situated in Burmantofts but previously housed within the Parish Church Precincts.

[edit] Boy Choristers

The Boys attend a great variety of Schools in Leeds itself and further afield, with a considerable percentage drawn from St Peter's, the Parish Church's own school (now Primary, St Peter's was a Middle School during the period of the City Council's operating a three-, rather than a two-tiered school system. A number of Boys have risen to great eminence in musical, educational and artistic fields and LPCC alumni include Paul Trepte (Director of Music at Ely Cathedral since 1990), King's Singer Stephen Parham-Connolly, Peter Simpson (formerly of Israeli Opera) as well as leading figures in business and academia.

[edit] Choir Gentlemen

There are three categories of adults singing in the Choir: Choral Scholars and Lay Clerks (many are university and college students who sing in the "daily" Choir as well as at weekend) and "Sunday" Gentlemen, being voluntary singers from all walks of life.

[edit] Weekly Choir Schedule

Sunday Choral Services at 10.30 am and 6.30 pm (3.00 on Sundays preceding a Bank Holidayand the last Sunday in September, and on the Sunday immediately preceding Christmas Day). Monday 5.30 pm Choral Evensong (Boys) - the Choristers read the Scripture Lessons at this Service, a tradition dating back over forty years Wednesday 5.30 pm Choral Evensong (Full Choir) Thursday 5.30 pm Choral Evensong (Men's Voices) Friday 7.00 pm Choral Evensong (Full Choir) Saturday 11.45 am Morning Worship (Girls' Voices - sung by the Girls' Choir, formed in 1997 by Jonathan Lilley)

[edit] Links


[edit] References

  • An account of a Chorister from S S Wesley's day - from Samuel R Dyer: Dialect of the West Riding of Yorkshire (1891)


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