Sunday 11 am services designated A Choral Feast present the opportunity to experience great sacred choral repertoire, often heard in concert halls, within their original context of a worship service. These services are held about once each month and celebrate a specific theme, composer, or present a major choral work, often with instrumentalists joining St. Bartholomew's Choir. Our magnificent Aeolian-Skinner organ is always a featured part of our musical offerings, including approximately ten minutes of solo organ music before the service, as well as a featured work to conclude worship.
Many of the great composers of the western musical canon have written music for use in worship, including major works such as Masses and Cantatas. Over the years, St. Bartholomew's has distinguished itself as a musical destination by including hundreds of such works, often with chamber orchestra, as a part of regular communal worship. Through A Choral Feast, St. Bart’s endeavors to present these great masterworks as they were originally intended by their creators: offered not in concert, but as a vehicle for worship, in gratitude to God.
October 27, 2024 Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
Duruflé: Requiem
with orchestra
At our annual Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, it has become our practice to offer a setting of the Mass for the Dead or Missa Pro Defunctis, most commonly identified for the opening word of its text: Requiem.
Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) was titular organist at St. Etienne-du-Mont in Paris for much of his career. An extremely exacting and self-critical composer, his complete published works comprise six organ works, and a very small number of instrumental and choral pieces. His masterpiece is the Requiem, Op. 9, completed in 1947. St. Bartholomew’s is among the first churches outside of France to offer this landmark work as part of its regular repertoire. The piece’s first American performance was given at Calvary Church in 1952 by Jack Ossewaarde (later Organist & Choirmaster at St. Bartholomew’s) with Frederick Swann (later St. Bartholomew’s Assistant Organist).
The work’s melodic inspiration is the Gregorian plainsong Requiem Mass, which gives rhythmic freedom, expansiveness, and a natural flow of both text and music. Its harmonic language is Duruflé’s own unique expression of French Impressionism, influenced by Debussy, Ravel, and his teacher Paul Dukas.
A special thank you to the supporters of St. Bart’s Sacred Music Campaign whose generosity makes possible the additional rehearsals and resources needed for these services throughout the year.
Join us in person (Park Avenue at 51st Street) or online (live streaming on YouTube and Facebook) to hear St. Bartholomew's Choir sing this beloved work with orchestra this Sunday at 11 am. Visit stbarts.org/sunday for complete Sunday schedule.
November 10, 2024
Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli
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A Choral Feast Archives
Choral Feasts have celebrated Americana for the Fourth of July, music of LGBTQ composers for Pride Weekend, and themes of heroism and service for Memorial Day. They sometimes mark red-letter days in the cycle of the church year, such as the Last Sunday after the Epiphany or All Saints’ Day. Recently featured composers have included Felix Mendelssohn, Johann Sebastian Bach, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Tomas Luis da Victoria, among others.
Click titles to see recordings on YouTube
September 22, 2024
Mozart: Missa Brevis in C Major, K. 259
with orchestra
August 4, 2024
Duruflé: Messe Cum jubilo, op. 11 for chorus of, baritones, baritone solo, and organ
June 30, 2024
Music for Pride Sunday
Missa Brevis – David Conte (Commissioned by St. Bartholomew's Church)
the would is the light is the place is – Joseph N. Rubinstein
Music of Francis Poulenc, Ned Rorem, David Hurd, Bruce Neswick, Angela Morley
May 5, 2024
Mendelssohn: Die Deutsche Liturgie
April 14, 2024
Bach: Cantata 67
with orchestra of period instruments
October 29, 2023 Commemoration of All Faithful Departed
Mozart: Requiem
October 1, 2023
Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb
July 30, 2023
Rheinberger: Cantus Missae, op. 109
June 25, 2023
Music for Pride Sunday
Music of Caroline Shaw, Calvin Hampton, David Hurd, David McK. Williams, and David Conte's Missa Brevis, commissioned by St. Bartholomew's Church in 2013.
May 7, 2023
Music of Handel
with orchestra
Coronation Anthem No. 2, “Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened”
Excerpts from Coronation Anthem No. 3, “The King Shall Rejoice”
Spiritoso from the Organ Concerto in B-flat Major, HWV 308
Andante from the Organ Concerto in A Major, HWV 296a
Organ music by Walton
April 23, 2023
Schubert: Mass in G
with orchestra
Organ music by Bach and Gade
February 12, 2023
Holst: Mass in A Minor
Organ music by Florence Price and Jeanne Demessieux
October 30, 2022
Fauré: Requiem
with orchestra
Organ music by Vierne
October 2, 2022
Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb
Organ music by Handel and John Cook
March 27, 2022
Williams: Mass in G Minor
Love bade me welcome from Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs
Organ music by Bridge and Stanford
February 14, 2022
Modern Masters
Featuring the Missa Brevis of Jonathan Dove
Additional works by Barrie Cabena, Janet Yieh, Arvo Pärt, David Conte, Calvin Fuller
November 7, 2021
Duruflé: Requiem
All Saints’ Day
Organ music by Duruflé
October 10, 2021
Haydn: Missa Sancti Nicolai
with orchestra
Organ music by Bach
January 26, 2020
Music of Amy Beach, Lili Boulanger, and Hildegard von Bingen
Organ music by Beach and Henri Mulet
November 17, 2019
Schubert: Mass in C Major
with orchestra
Organ music by Vierne
September 8, 2019
Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli
Organ music by Vivaldi
August 4, 2019
Bach: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied
Organ music by Bach
July 7, 2019
A Modified 1662 Liturgy for the Day
Featuring works of Batten, Alice Parker, David Conte, and Loosemore
Organ music by Dan Locklair
June 30, 2019
Pride on Park
Pride Weekend featuring works of Trafka, Hurd, Bernstein, and Copland
Organ music by John Corigliano and Ethel Smyth
May 26, 2019
Morning Prayer & Holy Eucharist
Memorial Day weekend Te Deum in B-flat - Charles Villiers Stanford
Jubilate Deo - William Walton
My soul there is a country (Songs of Farewell) - Charles Hubert Hastings Parry
King of Glory, King of Peace - Gerald Near
Organ music by Franck and Alain
May 12, 2019
Mozart: Missa Brevis in B-flat
with orchestra
Organ music by Eugène Gigout
March 3, 2019
Morning Prayer & Holy Eucharist
Featuring the Te Deum in G of Ralph Vaughan Williams
Antiphon (Five Mystical Songs) - Ralph Vaughan Williams
Surge, Illuminare - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Organ music by Vierne and Bach
February 3, 2019
Love Never Ends: music inspired by the love of God & neighbor
Missa “Vidi Speciosam” - Tomás Luis de Victoria
A Song of Divine Love - Grayston Ives
I beheld her - Healey Willan
Organ music by Bach
January 20, 2019
Mendelssohn: Die Deutsche Liturgie
Organ music by Mendelssohn