All for Jesus

Stainer's 'The Crucifixion' Temple Church Wednesday 16th April 2025

My maternal grandparents, who were both fine amateur singers, would have been particularly busy during Holy Week in the period between the two World Wars. They would have attended church out of devotion, of course, but they would have also been called on to sing: Handel's 'Messiah' no doubt, perhaps the Bach Passions, but certainly Maunder's 'Olivet to Calvary', and, above all Stainer's 'Crucifixion'. I imagine it would have been difficult to find a British town during this period where there was not a performance of the work over Easter.

Of course, times change, and 'The Crucifixion' is no longer the ubiquitous Passion meditation it once was. Interestingly, even when popular, it was hugely disparaged by the musical establishment: Ernest Walker dismissed the work, writing in 1924 that "Musicians today have no use for The Crucifixion". Edmund Fellowes said: "It suffers primarily from the extreme poverty, not to say triviality, of the musical ideas dealing with a subject which should make the highest demand for dignity of treatment".Kenneth Long said that Stainer had a libretto "which for sheer banality and naïveté would be hard to beat". Stainer himself characterised his work as "rubbish".

Despite this, 'The Crucifixion' is still performed and recordings are still being made. To discover why this is the case it is a useful starting point to consider the life and character of its composer. Sir John Stainer (1840-1901) came from a relatively humble background, but his father was a self-taught musician and the musically precocious John grew up in a happy, supportive family. He bcame a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral and was later organist at St Michael's College Tenbury, St Paul's and Magdalen College Oxford. By all accounts a winning and magnetic personality, he persuaded lay clerks to come to rehearsals when previously they would only attend services, thus raising standards and expanding repertoire. He was renowned for his enthusiasm and hard work, making many arrangements of hymns, Christmas carols and folk songs. An exceptional organist, he was a particularly skilful improvisor and was considered 'a genius' by his friend and contemporary Sir Arthur Sullivan. He worked so hard that his eyesight and general health were seriously affected and he was forced to retire while still in his 40s. He died of a heart attack aged 60, 'universally beloved and esteemed'.

Of course, being a fine man does not make one a fine composer, so let me consider the pros and cons of the work (and the performance) I heard at Temple Church.

It is worth remembering that Stainer intended his composition to be within the compass of a standard parish church choir, so there is nothing particularly advanced or complex, even by Victorian standards, but moments of greater inspiration still impress: the voicing of some of Jesus' words by four part male chorus is very effective, and the ominous, rumbling and growling organ before the bass utterance 'There was darkness over all the land', is genuinely chilling. Against this, some of the solo tenor music might well have been written by Stainer's friend Sullivan for the Victorian parlour, so vacuously decorative does it sound.

Over all though 'The Crucifixion' impresses as a sincere meditation on what many consider, in the words of Sir John Betjeman, 'The most tremendous tale of all'. In this performance by the Temple Singers, tenor Nathan Vale and bass Hugo Herman-Wilson, organist Charles Andrews and conductor Thomas Allery, we were clearly hearing something far superior to a 'standard' parish church choir, indeed, my wife and I agreed this was the best performance of the piece we'd ever heard. The choir was first rate, with very accomplished 'step out' soloists, Vale and Herman-Wilson were both excellent and combined beautifully in the duet 'Thou liftest thy divine petition'. Organist and conductor were exemplary.

A final observation: 'The Crucifixion' is particularly noted for the inclusion of four congregational hymns. During my not entirely successful attemps to sing these, I felt a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes at the following:

Jesus, the Crucified, pleads for me,

While He is nailed to the shameful tree,

Scorned and forsaken, derided and curst,

See how His enemies do their worst!

Yet, in the midst of the torture and shame,

Jesus, the Crucified, breathes my name!

Wonder of Wonders, oh! how can it be?

Jesus, the Crucified, pleads for me!

In memory of my grandparents, Constance and Bertram Waters, contralto and bass.