As well as singing the Sunday morning Mass settings, Psalms (generally to Anglican chant) and motets, the St Bride’s Choir is one of very few choirs to sing the weekly Mass Propers for the Liturgical Year from the English Gradual (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia/Tract, Offertory and Communion). These are settings of the Psalms and other texts from the Scriptures, using beautiful plainsong. A Cantor and the Choir take turns to sing the various parts of the text, in a responsorial style. This runs as a thread through the Choral Eucharist every Sunday morning, and provides a meditative backdrop to our worship.
Our repertoire covers Renaissance Mass settings and motets from Byrd, Victoria and Palestrina to Viennese Mass settings by Michael Haydn; and Romantic English settings by Harold Darke, John Ireland and Herbert Sumsion to more modern settings by Arthur Wills, Francis Jackson and Joanna Forbes L’Estrange. Our liturgy also involves the singing of plainsong and Anglican chant week by week.