Choral Vespers in Philadelphia

For those of you in the Philadelphia area, you may wish to stop by Trinity Lutheran Church, 2300 S. 18th St., on Saturday, December 9 at 7pm, where there will be a solemn Vespers service. Music will start approximately ten minutes before the Vespers begins.

Trinity is not your typical Lutheran Church. It's liturgical praxis is far more closely aligned with High Anglican or Roman Catholic worship than with Lutheran liturgy. Saturday's service will feature a good measure of polyphony, including Anton Bruckner's Locus iste; Paul Manz's E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come; Christopher Tye's Laudate nomen Domini; and Orlando Gibbons' Magnificat from the Short Service in A-flat. The service also includes an organ improvisation on Ecce in nubibus caeli, the first Psalm antiphon for the Office of the Second Sunday of Advent, as well as Bach's Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, with the cantus firmus in the pedal. Finally, two traditional Advent hymns will be sung: Creator of the Stars of Night, and Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending.