‘With the advent of projects such as this, women composers can see that they do have a tradition to be part of, a tradition that goes back over a thousand years, and will only continue to grow.’ Judith Bingham OBE
Sacred Music by Women Composers
Volume 1
SATB Anthems for use throughout the liturgical year
‘Women composers are hugely underrepresented in church-music repertoire. Our radical series, begun in 2019, ‘transformed the landscape’ of sacred music in the UK!’
‘I feel that this is a seminal moment in bringing female composers’ works into the repertoire and I am so in favour of the way you have done it; the artwork, the mixture of composers that you have selected, both well-known and the discoveries! Brilliant!’ Lizzie Ibrahim, composer, and Producer for BBC Radio 3
Watch the one minute trailers below. Click on the composer's name to find out more.
Volume 2
Upper Voices Anthems from miniatures to major works
‘National Youth Choir of Scotland is delighted to have worked with Multitude of Voyces to create this anthology (Volume 2). Our support of this anthology is related to our wider support of equal representation.’ Edward Milner, NYCOS
Watch the one minute trailers below. Click on the composer's name to find out more.
Volume 3
Advent to Candlemas Mixed Voices Anthems
‘It’s really wonderful what you’re managing to achieve with these volumes’. Christopher Gray, formerly Director of Music, Truro Cathedral, now Director of Music, St John’s College, Cambridge
Watch the one minute trailers below. Click on the composer's name to find out more.
Alice Tegnér
(1864–1943)
Bethlehem's Star / Betlehems stjärna
(arr. Sarah MacDonald)
(S & B solos, SSAATTB & organ)
anthology series Sacred Music by Women Composers
In November 2019 MoV broke new ground, publishing the first volume of an anthology series Sacred Music by Women Composers (SATB anthems). The research and preparation of the volumes was funded through loans, voluntary labour and a Crowdfunding campaign.
The volume was launched in style by the Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, under their influential director Sarah MacDonald.
We believe this was the first such anthology of choral anthems in the world. In the first twelve weeks over 1,250 copies were sent out to choirs all around the UK, Europe and the US!
Volume 2 was published in April 2020 (Upper Voices anthems) and Volume 3 (Advent to Candlemas Mixed Voices anthems) was published in December 2020 in readiness for the return of music to our churches, cathedrals and schools following the Covid pandemic.
The three volumes address the historical underrepresentation of female composers within the sacred choral tradition, presenting 63 women composers spanning 800 years of music, with many historical works published for the first time, and several works composed specially for our volumes by both emerging and established composers.
The rapid publication of the series was a carefully planned and targeted intervention. The purpose of such large-scale and intensive work was to help reflect the sheer number of female composers of multiple nationalities and who have contributed to the sacred music canon over the centuries.
Carefully-researched biographies and commentaries shed light on historical inclusion as well as historical exclusion; in the case of young living composers many of the works in these books provided them with their first opportunity to have their work published.
The anthology series was very warmly received and inspired the later publication by commercial publishers of similar initiatives.
Some works under the control of commercial publishers are currently included with in the volumes, to give fair representation to those female composers who had already broken through the ‘glass ceiling’ to achieve commercial contracts.
As well as the research of the charity’s Associates and other ‘in-house’ contractors, the volumes draw together the research of several musicologists and academics whose study of particular historical composers has reached a much wider audience thanks to the inclusion of their work within our project.
In October 2022 our friends at the Royal School of Church Music recognised the series as having ‘transformed the landscape of sacred music in the UK’.
As well as the high-quality printed volumes, most of the works published across the three anthology volumes are now available singly from MoV either printed on high-quality ‘music’ paper, or as licenced digital pdfs. Some works are also available through the RSCM Music Shop for wider distribution.
The research, preparation and publication of the anthology series was funded through private loans and Crowdfunding.
The sale of the volumes raises essential funds for the continued running of this project and supports some of the charity’s core costs, enabling us to work with more composers and writers from underrepresented communities.
v.5
A brief introduction to our anthology series
Our anthology volumes in use!
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