The Church Music Society
Registered Charity No. 1200306
President: The Most Reverend Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham
Welcome
The CMS exists to promote the use of church music of the highest quality for the diverse needs of the Christian Church.
We seek to enable performers and worship leaders, composers and scholars, by publishing church music, new and old, not otherwise commercially available, and by providing a platform for research and educational material.
2025 Annual General Meeting: 4th October
The Annual General Meeting of the Society for 2025 will be held at 4.00pm on Saturday 4 October in St Wilfrid's Hall, The Oratory, Brompton Road, London SW7 2RP (by kind permission of the Oratory Fathers). The meeting will be followed by a presentation on his life in music and contribution to the Society of Vice-President and long-serving Secretary, Dr Simon Lindley (1948-2025) given by Vice-President and former Chairman, Ian Curror.
Tea will be served. At 6.00pm Mass will be sung in the Oratory Church by the Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School, Director: Charles Cole.
Please inform the Administrator, Kim Gilbert, if you intend to be present by emailing treasurerCMS@outlook.com, or writing to The Administrator, Church Music Society, c/o The London Oratory, Brompton Road, London SW7 2RP, by Friday, 19 September.
The Annual Report of the Trustees and Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2025 will be available on the 'Newsletter' page here by Friday 19 September. If a member would like a hard copy please contact the Administrator via the details in the previous paragraph.
News and Updates
New Publications include a reconstruction of the Magnificat & Nunc dimittis by Daniel Roseingrave, composed for Winchester Cathedral in the 1680s, the Ascension Hymn (1913) by Charles Wood, and two new contrafacta of madrigals by Robert Pearsall adapted by Patrick Russill: Two Eucharistic Motets - O salutaris Hostia and Tantum ergo.
Forthcoming Publications
Plans include a collection of Restoration-period music for upper voices, edited by Myles Hartley, and two motets for Compline or evening use, settings of the Salva nos Domine by Italian composers active in England, Alfonso Ferrabosco and Thomas Lupo.
Free Music Downloads
Three settings of the Evening Canticles have now been added to Music Downloads: a new reconstruction of the The Sixth Service by Thomas Weelkes, a setting in E Major from 1812 by Exeter-based composer Lucy Moseley (currently the earliest-known Magnificat & Nunc dimittis by a female composer), and a recent Magnificat & Nunc dimittis for upper voices and organ by CMS member Norman Harper. Harper's Mass for Lower Voices (ATB & organ) has also been added.
Lectures and Papers
The Lectures and Papers section of the website now contains scans of nearly all the past lectures and papers issued by the society. The most recent addition to the collection is the second instalment of the General Editor's survey of the Alternative Canticles at Evensong: "David's Mystery and Mary's History", covering the period 1660-1750.
Please read our ‘Membership’ page and consider taking up the benefits of becoming a member of the Society.
Please visit our ‘Catalogue’ through which you can order our titles from our publishers, Oxford University Press, or from Banks Music Publications (with 25% discount from Banks if a Society member).
