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Track(s) taken from CDA68013

Abide with me – Eventide

First line:
Abide with me
composer
William Henry Monk (1823-1889)
NEH 331
composer
Sir David Valentine Willcocks (1919-2015)
verse 5 arrangement
author of text
Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847)

Westminster Abbey Choir, James O'Donnell (conductor), Robert Quinney (organ)
Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
Recording details: January 2013
Westminster Abbey, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Adrian Peacock
Engineered by David Hinitt
Release date: January 2014
Total duration: 4 minutes 46 seconds

Cover artwork: Westminster Bridge (detail). Samuel Scott (c1702-1772)
Private Collection / © Agnew's, London / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘The recording is first class. Engineer David Hinitt and producer Adrian Peacock have successfully captured the rich acoustics and yet achieved a clear reproduction of the voices and the mighty organ. Anyone who has ever been in Westminster Abbey should be overwhelmed by the lifelike sound picture. The generous programme is also finely contrasted … the quality of the singing is on a high level and Robert Quinney negotiates the organ accompaniments excellently’ (MusicWeb International)» More
Henry Lyte wrote the text of Abide with me whilst he was dying of tuberculosis, complete with his own tune. Lyte received his last sacraments from Henry Manning (still at that time an Anglican) at Nice on 20 November 1847. The opening lines seem to hint at the words spoken to Jesus on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24: 29. One of the most popular funeral hymns of the last century and a half, it has been frequently immortalized in film and television, and was performed at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The popular tune Eventide by W H Monk (1823–1889) was one of fifteen original tunes written for the first edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern of 1861. Perhaps surprisingly to our twenty-first century ears, Monk criticized sentimentality in Church music, and was a champion of the restoration of plainsong in the Anglican liturgy. He is buried in Highgate Cemetery, where a memorial was erected by public subscription.

from notes by The Revd Dr James Hawkey © 2014

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