Choral Evensong - Thursdays, 5:45 pm

Derived from the ancient monastic evening offices of Vespers and Compline, Evensong (literally “Evening Song”) is an almost entirely sung service. Thomas Cranmer, the first Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, combined the above two Roman Catholic monastic offices into one Anglican lay office, characterized by the chanting of psalms and the singing of the principal canticles from each – the Magnificat from Vespers and the Nunc dimittis from Compline.  This felicitous pairing, and the mystical atmosphere of a church at dusk, have fired the imaginations of many of the Anglican Church’s greatest musicians.

Evensong generally uses Rite I, connecting us with our traditions as a denomination.

"Evening Hymn," Henry Balfour Gardiner (1877-1950)

Magnificat for Double Choir in B flat, Thomas Attwood Walmisley (1814-1856)