St Matthew's Church, Northampton

St Matthew's Church, Northampton is a Church of England parish church in Northampton, within the Diocese of Peterborough.

The church is a Grade II* listed building.^[1] It was erected (1891–4) in memory of brewer and MP, Pickering Phipps, beside the Kettering Road. The architect was Matthew Holding.

Canon John Rowden Hussey was vicar from its consecration in 1893 to 1937. Walter Hussey, vicar from 1937 to 1955 succeeding his father, was a patron of the arts. He celebrated the church's 50th anniversary with a sequence of events and commissions: the commission of the anthem Rejoice in the Lamb from Benjamin Britten; a performance from the BBC Symphony Orchestra (2 October 1943); an organ recital by George Thalben-Ball, and the commission of Henry Moore's sculpture "Madonna and Child".^[2]

Buoyed by the success of the 1943–44 commissions, Hussey continued to commission new works of art. Other musical commissions included The Revival by Edmund Rubbra (1944); Festival Anthem by Lennox Berkeley (1945), Lo, the full, final sacrifice from Gerald Finzi (1946), and works by Christopher Headington, Malcolm Arnold and others.^[3] There were commissions of poetry: a Litany and Anthem for St Matthew's Day from W. H. Auden and The Outer Planet from Norman Nicholson.^[4]^[5] The recitals continued throughout this time, most notably with two concerts by the singer Kirsten Flagstad

In the north transept is Henry Moore's stone sculpture, "Madonna and Child" (1944)^[6] and in the south transept a painting of the Crucifixion (1946) by Graham Sutherland. The triptych in the Lady Chapel is by C. E. Buckeridge.^[7] A 2009 addition is a bronze statue of St Matthew by Ian Rank-Broadley.^[8]^[9]

A 1956 oil and watercolour painting of St Matthew's Church by John Piper is in the collection of the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery.^[10]

Liturgy

St Matthew's follows an Anglican service with Catholic traits. The church celebrates two Eucharistic services on a Sunday including a Parish Mass at 10.15am which is Choral on Feast Days. The Parish Mass is pro populo on the nave altar and the lectern has recently been moved from the chancel step to the high altar to make way for a traditional statue of St Matthew. Choral Evensong is sung twice a month with Benediction following the service on the third Sunday of each. The church maintains a daily Eucharist service and has done since its founding in 1893. The Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer are also said publicly every day of the year.

Music

For many years St Matthew's had an all-male choir which was disbanded in the early 2000s.^{[citation needed]} The choir now consists of girl and boy choristers aged 8–18 and adult Altos, Tenors and Basses who sing two services each Sunday. The church choir is supported by The St Matthew's Singers, a choir of local amateur singers, who sing Choral Mass on mid-week Feast Days. The whole music department is overseen by a Director of Music, Parish Organist and Organ Scholar.

The choir has undertaken a tour each year since 2012. These have included week-long trips to sing at St Davids (2012), Portsmouth (2013), Carlisle (2014), Exeter (2015) and Chester (2016), Ely (2017) and Germany (2018). The choir has released two CDs in recent years; in 2013 a disc of music for Advent and Christmas, and in 2014 a recording including recent commissions from David Bednall, David Halls and Philip Stopford.^{[citation needed]}

St Matthew's is also a concert venue for Northampton. The church is home to the Northampton Bach Choir, founded by Denys Pouncey in 1935, which for many years had St Matthew's Director of Music as its Director. The church also has links with the Northampton Music and Performing Arts Trust, the Northampton Philharmonic Choir, the Northampton Chamber Choir and many other groups. St Matthew's also houses a four-manual and pedal organ built by J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd in 1895.^[11] Regular organ recitals take place.

List of organists

Many of the previous St Matthew's Directors of Music have gone on to hold important positions in Church Music. These have included King's College, Cambridge, Wells Cathedral, Norwich Cathedral, Blackburn Cathedral, Llandaff Cathedral, York Minster, and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City.

Charles John King 1895 – 1934^[12]
Denys Pouncey 1934 – 1936
Philip Pfaff 1936 – 1945
Alec Wyton 1946 – 1950^[13]
Robert Henry Joyce 1950 – 1958
John Bertalot 1958 – 1964
Michael Nicholas 1964 – 1971^[14]
Stephen Cleobury 1971 – 1974^[15]
Timothy Day 1974 – 1976
David Ponsford 1976 – 1979
Derek Gillard 1979 – 1985
Andrew Shenton 1986 – 91
Andrew King 1991 – 1998
Ian Frank Clarke 1998 – 2001
John Malcolm Tyler 2001 – 2004 (Music Coordinator)
Jonathan Starmer (Acting Director of Music) January – September 2005
Sebastian Thomson 2005 – 2009
Ben Horden 2009 – 2010
Jonathan Starmer & Ben Drouet (Acting Directors of Music) September – December 2010
Stephen Moore 2010 – 2016
Simon Toyne (Acting Director of Music) September – December 2016
Justin Miller 2017 – 2022

Musical commissions

A list of musical commissions of St Matthew's Church is here below:^{[citation needed]}

1943 – Benjamin Britten – Rejoice in the Lamb
1943 – Michael Tippett – Fanfare No 1 for 10 Brass Instruments
1944 – Edmund Rubbra – The Revival
1945 – Lennox Berkeley – Festival Anthem
1946 – Gerald Finzi – Lo, the full, final sacrifice
1946 – Benjamin Britten – Prelude and Fugue on a Theme of Vittoria
1948 – Christopher Headington – Festival Anthem: Supreme Bliss
1949 – John Rose – Festival Hymn
1950 – Malcolm Arnold – Laudate Dominum
1954 – James Butt – Bless the Lord
1956 – David Barlow – Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord
1958 – George Dyson – Hail universal Lord
1959 – Elizabeth Poston – Festal Te Deum
1960 – Peter Dickinson – Justus Quidem Tu Es, Domine
1962 – Brian Judge – Ambrosian Prayer
1964 – Christopher Le Fleming – Communion Service in D
1965 – Kenneth Leighton – Let all the world in every corner sing
1966 – John McCabe – A Hymne to God the Father
1967 – Richard Rodney Bennett – Five Christmas Carols
1968 – Gordon Crosse – The Covenant of the Rainbow
1968 – Herbert Howells – One thing have I desired of the Lord
1968 – Robert Walker – Fanfare
1973 – William Mathias – Missa Brevis
1977 – Sebastian Forbes – Quam Dilecta
1983 – Philip Moore – At the round earth's imagined corners
1986 – Herbert Sumsion – The spacious firmament on high
1987 – Geoffrey Burgon – The song of the creatures
1988 – John Tavener – The Call
1988 – Simon Lole – Carol for Advent
1989 – Richard Shephard – St Matthew's Mass
1989 – Alan Ridout – Toccata
1989 – Ivan Moody – Canticle of Simeoon
1990 – Paul Edwards – God that madest heaven and earth
1990 – Trevor Hold – Verses from St Matthew
1991 – Alec Wyton – A Prayer for Church Musicians and Artists
1993 – Diana Burrell – Heil'ger Geist in's Himmels Throne
2008 – David Briggs – Toccata for St Matthew's Day
2009 – David Bednall – The Walter Hussey Centenary Mass (with motet, Aspire to God, my soul)
2012 – Paul Mealor – How beautiful on the mountains
2013 – David Halls – Mass of the Altar of Life (with motet, This is the Day)
2014 – Philip Stopford – O how glorious is the Kingdom
2016 – Simon Johnson – Behold, the tabernacle of God
2016 – David Maw – Allein nach dir, Herr (part of the Orgelbüchlein Project)
2017 – James Davy – Introit for a Feast Day
2017 – James Whitbourn – Beatus vir
2018 – Grayston Ives – All people that on earth do dwell
2020 – Robert Walker – A Little Organ Mass of the Angels

References

^ Historic England. "Church of St Matthew (Grade II*) (1039661)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
^ Webster, Peter (2017). Church and patronage in 20th century Britain : Walter Hussey and the arts. London. pp. 54–84. ISBN 9781137369093. OCLC 1012344270.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Webster, Peter (2017). Church and patronage in 20th century Britain : Walter Hussey and the arts. London. pp. 85–97. ISBN 9781137369093. OCLC 1012344270.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Webster, Peter (2017). Church and patronage in 20th century Britain: Walter Hussey and the arts. London. pp. 108–118. ISBN 9781137369093. OCLC 1012344270.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Webster, Peter (2017). Church and patronage in 20th century Britain : Walter Hussey and the arts. London. pp. 100–108. ISBN 9781137369093. OCLC 1012344270.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Henry Moore: Sculptural Process and Public Identity. The Tate. March 2015. ISBN 9781849763912. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
^ Wright, Christopher; May Gordon, Catherine (2006). British and Irish Paintings in Public Collections: An Index of British and Irish Oil Paintings by Artists Born Before 1870 in Public and Institutional Collections in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Yale University Press. pp. 215–216.
^ "St Matthew's Church - Northampton : Art and History - St Matthew". www.stmatthewsnorthampton.org.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
^ "St Matthew". Ian Rank-Broadley. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
^ "St Matthew's Church Northampton". Retrieved 28 February 2019.
^ "The National Pipe Organ Register - NPOR". npor.org.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
^ Dictionary of Organs and Organists. Frederick W. Thornsby
^ The Hymnal 1982 companion, Volume 2. Raymond F. Glover
^ Norwich Cathedral: church, city, and diocese, 1096–1996. Ian Atherton
^ Alan Macfarlane (interviewer) (4 July 2008). "Stephen Cleobury interviewed". Alan D.J.Macfarlane (online). Retrieved 25 December 2014. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St Matthew's Church, Northampton.

Mystery Worshipper Report, 2009

52°15′08″N 0°52′39″W / 52.25222°N 0.87750°W / 52.25222; -0.87750