St. Mark’s English Church in via Maggio is gearing up for Holy Week and has just released its seasonal music programme. This Easter, Bishop Robert Innes, who oversees the entire European Anglican community, will pay a visit to the church, so an exciting and diverse programme has been planned to reflect such a significant occasion.
The preliminary services begin with the monthly office of Evensong on March 27, which will include a selection of twentieth and twenty-first century British music, including Tavener’s Mother of God, Dyson’s Evening Canticles and MacMillan’s A New Song, where continual chanting from the choir mimics bagpipes, and a specially composed Apostolic Blessing. Palm Sunday heralds a celebration of five hundred years of Anglican Choral tradition, commemorating Christ’s return to Jerusalem: Thomas Tallis’s If Ye Love Me will be sung, along with And the Glory of the Lord, the opening chorus from Handel’s Messiah.
On Good Friday, the congregation will reflect on Christ crucified, with many minor-key selections focusing on Jesus’s betrayal and death, including sections from Stainer’s Crucifixion. Finally, on Easter Sunday, the music will match the triumphant celebration of the Resurrection; highlights will include a performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria and the Hallelujah Chorus. All are welcome to attend St. Mark’s services or to stop by at any time during Holy Week.
St. Mark’s English Church
Via Maggio 16, Florence
