The Purbeck Village Quire
Why ‘West Gallery’, and
why ‘Quire’?
Up
to about 1860, the singing in most English churches and chapels was led, not by
an organ, but by a small group of singers and a band, usually situated in a
gallery at the west end of the church. Thomas Hardy used the old spelling
‘Quire’ to describe this combination of band and singers, and we have
adopted his suggestion.
The
bands were made up from local people who also played for village dances and led
the militia parades. The singers and instrumentalists were recruited from the
village, and would be both trained and taught to read music by the Choirmaster
or Parish Clerk.
The
musicians developed their own style, blending aspects of contemporary art music
with folk music. They also composed their own tunes: ‘Wareham’, by William
Knapp, Parish Clerk of Poole, a tune that is in many current hymn books today;
and a tune - one of over 400 thought to have been sung for ‘While Shepherds
Watched’ - composed by John Corben of Worth Matravers, are two examples.
One
of the objectives of the Oxford Movement was to get rid of the old Quires and
their village music, and replace them with organs and surpliced choirs in the
chancel. In the process, the old galleries were torn down and many of the old
Quire books destroyed. The tunes that survived were re-arranged for organ, and
set to new words. Within two generations, West Gallery music had been almost
entirely forgotten.
Fortunately,
major research libraries preserve many of the printed texts, and