Church and Country

Available for 12 days

Donald Macleod visits the home of Jane Austen with historian Amanda Vickery to discover some of the seasonal customs and Christmas music of late-Georgian Britain. Today, Donald and Amanda explore some of the varied church music on offer to Christmas congregations during the Georgian era – and they examine what the many memorable clergymen from Austen’s novels tell us about the changing role of the church in national life. Trad (arr. Townsend): Arise and Hail the Joyful Day (Arr. Townsend) The Mellstock Band and Choir Trad.: Awake, and join the cheerful choir Anonymous 4 Andrew Lawrence-King, Baroque harp Attrib. Wade (arr. Vincent Novello): O come, all ye faithful Philippa Hyde, soprano Timothy Kenworthy-Brown, alto Patrick McCarthy, tenor Julian Perkins, bass Psalmody The Parley of Instruments, conducted by Peter Holman Arr. Thomas Butts: Hark! how all the welkin rings The Parley of Instruments, Psalmody, conducted by Peter Holman Attwood: O God, Who by the Leading of a Star Musica Sacra, directed by Indra Hughes Mendelssohn: The Evening Bell Silke Aichhorn, harp Sabrina von Lüdinghausen, Harp Handel: Messiah (Extract from Part II) Carolyn Watkinson, mezzo-soprano Paul Elliott, tenor Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford The Academy of Ancient Music, directed by Christopher Hogwood