Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury

On Friday, 22 November 2013, we will be performing Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury as a benefit to raise funds for Gordon Page's cancer treatment.  This one-act comic opera by the famed duo Arthur Gilbert and W. S. Sullivan is one of their earliest collaborations,  first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre. The story concerns a “breach of promise of marriage” lawsuit in which the judge and legal system are the objects of lighthearted satire.

If you haven't gotten a copy of the score, you can download a copy here or here.

To help you learn the music of this charming operetta, here is a 2008 performance by the Bristol Catholic Players.

Sunday, 6 October 2013: “Lead me, Lord,” by Samuel Sebastian Wesley

Samuel Sebastian Wesley
1810-1876

The anthem for Sunday, 6 October 2013, the
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time,will be Samuel Sebastian Wesley’s “Lead me, Lord,” which is actually an extract of a longer anthem, “Praise the Lord, O my soul.”

A grandson of Charles Wesley, the composer’s middle name is a testament to his father Samuel Wesley’s admiration of the earlier composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. He dedicated his entire life to music in the Church of England, beginning as a boy chorister in the Chapel Royal, through his years as organist at Exeter, Winchester, and Gloucester cathedrals.

Here is a fine performance of this short anthem, by the Somerville College choir.

For practice at home, you may download a score here and a MIDI practice file here.