Sharp Service (William Child)
Music files
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- (Posted 2011-06-19) CPDL #23764:
- Editor: Christopher Shaw (submitted 2011-06-19). Score information: A4, 23 pages, 215 kB Copyright: Personal
- Edition notes: Includes a keyboard reduction of the a cappella choral score. Please click on the link for preview/playback/PDF download.
General Information
Title: Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in D
Composer: William Child
Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: SATB
Genre: Sacred, Evening Canticles
Language: English
Instruments: A cappella
Manuscript c. 1625-1640 in the Peterhouse Partbooks: Former Caroline Set (John Cosin)
First published: c.1665 in manuscript
First published: 1773 in Cathedral Music, Volume 3, p. 56;64
Description: Child's "Sharp Service" was reputedly the piece de resistance in St George's Chapel, Windsor
in the first decade after the Restoration. It was probably the service performed exclusively for the entertainment of Pepys and his wife upon their expedition to meet Child, 26th February, 1666. It is said that Child wrote this service to puzzle his choirmen, they having ridiculed some of his music because it was so easy.
External websites:
Original text and translations
Original text and translations may be found at Magnificat and Nunc dimittis.