Musical anniversaries in September
2024 is a year with multiple anniversaries in the worlds of music and literature: at St Botolph’s we have already marked some of these, and there are two more significant anniversaries in September.
4 September is the exact 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Austrian composer and organist Anton Bruckner. Many of his compositions are on a large scale including his settings of the Mass, which would not work liturgically at St Botolph’s; but some of his choral works are on a more miniature scale and one of his settings of Tantum ergo sacramentum is included in our music list for that day along with an organ Postlude. These are paired with a shorter Mass setting by his near-contemporary Josef Rheinberger.
Then at the choral service on 18 September we anticipate the 150th anniversary of the birth, on 21 September 1874, of the English composer and teacher Gustav Holst. Holst will be represented by an anthem in honour of Our Lady and two pieces of organ music, and the hymn tunes will all be his; as he did not write any settings of the Mass, Iestyn and the Choir will present a rare performance of the Mass in A minor by his daughter Imogen Holst, also a gifted composer as well as an influential teacher, conductor, and as a close musical associate of Benjamin Britten, joint artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival.