SUNDAY WORSHIP FOR MAY 17, 2020
Please view the embedded video of our service below by clicking on the grey arrow in the middle of the image.
"If Ye Love Me" was originally composed by Thomas Tallis for WhitSunday (Pentecost) when this Sunday's passage from the Gospel of John, on which it is based, is also appointed in other years.
During the English Reformation, Thomas Tallis was the composer for the Chapel Royal through four successive monarchs, beginning with Henry VIII. During the reign of King Edward VI (1547-1553) it was mandated that music in church services be sung in English and that the choral music be brief and succinct, with one note per syllable, so that the words could be easily understood. Tallis was among the first to set English words to music for the rites of the Church of England and "If Ye Love Me" is a classic example of these "new" English anthems.