The Church of St. Alban the Martyr, Birmingham

A Brief history of St. Alban the Martyr

Music at St. Alban’s
There has been a choir at S. Alban’s since the first mission church was built in 1867. A choir-vestry and a wide chancel that included choir stalls were part of John Loughborough Pearson’s designs for the present church in Conybere Street, and the high nave provides excellent acoustics for congregational singing, and choral and organ performances.

The Pollock brothers used hymn-singing as a means of bringing people together at the church. Thomas Pollock wrote hymn verses and also served on the committee of Hymns Ancient and Modern, which was published by High Churchmen in an attempt to revive hymn-singing in the Church of England.

The strong choral tradition of the Anglo-Catholic church has developed from the plainsong choir formed at the first mission church.

Plainchant is still sung every Sunday during Choral Mass, just as it was in the Pollock’s day. Despite an attempt by the priest during the 1920s to replace plainsong with the spoken word, it was retained, and remains an important feature of S. Alban’s worship that adheres to the ideas of the early Anglo-Catholics.

Psalms are still sung antiphonally, in the same manner noted by an early observer at S. Alban’s.

Even in the early years at S. Alban’s the choir’s repertoire was ambitious and its standard very high. In 1900 the choir performed Gounod’s Messe de Pacques, and in 1901 sang Stainer’s Crucifixion.

Performances with an orchestra were frequent, although this practice had to be discontinued during the First World War. The church’s assistant organist, a young student served three years’ active duty and remarkably returned to S. Alban’s unharmed in 1918.

For many years, local boys were employed to sing regularly at services and pump the organ (a twopence fee in 1900). The choir provided the boys with social activities, and many of the boys were taught to read music and appreciate it through the choir.

Until the 1960s there were sufficient numbers of local boys to provide the choir with trebles, but the rebuilding of most of the parish during the late 1950s and early 1960s deprived the choir of an important asset.

Women were first admitted into the choir shortly after this, and have become a permanent feature of the choir. The inclusion of women has allowed the choir to become much more flexible and to expand its repertoire considerably.

The choral tradition at S. Alban’s remains as strong today as it has always been. The last few years have seen a number of early S. Alban’s traditions restored, allowing the choir to perform more frequently, and to an impressive standard.

Early music has formed a significant proportion of the choir’s repertoire throughout its history, since it accords with the Anglo-Catholic ideal of the restoration of the early Anglican church. A recent survey has shown that a large number of the motets performed since the 1960s date from before 1700.

S. Alban’s has links with the West Midlands Early Music Festivals and helps to promote research and performance of early music locally.

Recent festivals in particular have provided the choir with many more musical opportunities, and the chance to perform with local soloists and orchestras.

Evensongs now encourage the performance of early music and allow local choirs to visit the church and experience the unique acoustic of S. Alban’s, Highgate.