Ascribe unto the Lord: Text setting and coherence within the large-scale anthem of Samuel Sebastian Wesley, with considerations for rehearsal and performance

Samuel Sebastian Wesley is widely regarded as the most significant composer in the English cathedral tradition between Henry Purcell (1659–1695) and Charles Stanford (1852–1924). Throughout his career as a cathedral and parish church organist, which spanned over four decades, Wesley composed many sacred anthems. His style is characterized by innovative modulations, flawless eighteenth-century counterpoint, German Romantic harmonies, and an intuitive sense of natural word stress and phrasing. Written in 1851, Ascribe unto the Lord comes from Wesley’s Winchester Cathedral period. This anthem displays aspects of his later style, such as more conservative harmonies, beautiful melodic dissonances, absence of solo material in the verse movements, varieties of vocal texture, shorter movements overall, and organ parts that are more supportive than independent. Using words extracted from the Book of Common Prayer translation of Psalm 96 and Psalm 115, Wesley effectively creates a textual and musical narrative, beginning with a summons to the whole earth to worship the Lord, followed by a glimpse into the futility of the heathens’ idol worship, and ending with an assurance of divine blessing on the Lord’s people.
Focus will be given in this document to Wesley’s approach to text selection and setting, ways in which he creates coherence within this large-scale anthem, and a brief reflection on rehearsing and performing Ascribe unto the Lord.