CHORAL EVENSONG: So, what is it and what’s the big deal anyway?
Evensong is an Anglican service with its roots in the ancient monastic tradition of the Catholic Church where each day was governed by Monastic Offices. The Evensong service, a combination of the Offices of Vespers (which included the Magnificat) and Compline (which included the Nunc dimittis), first appeared in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in 1662. Choral Evensong is a completely sung service that is full of liturgical tradition and history. The music reaches into a vast repertoire of composers from all centuries.
It is meditative and contemplative and offers attendees a respite from today’s busy lifestyle; about 30-45 minutes of something other than ourselves, something transcendent in a liturgical place where everything becomes otherworldly.
The big deal is that attendance at Choral Evensong services has increased dramatically in England over the last two decades, but why? No one seems to know exactly but the combination of history, tradition, liturgy, and music in this service seems to be particularly appealing to millennials, who are flocking to the cathedrals in England specifically to experience this Anglican service of Choral Evensong. In Santa Cruz we can experience this long-standing tradition here at Calvary Episcopal Church in downtown Santa Cruz about four times a year.
-Carol Walker