Contribution of Cambridge Ecclesiologists to the Revival of Anglican Choral Worship, 1839-62

First published in 1997, this book asks how an ecclesiastical climate was created in which Anglican choral worship could flourish in the mid-nineteenth century. Dale Adelmann draws on a wide range of sources, including diaries, correspondence, pamphlets, newspapers and critical writings, to answer this question. His research reveals the hitherto unrecognized extent of the influence of the Cambridge Camden Society (1839-62) in the revival of Anglican choral worship, in particular through the auspices of its periodical The Ecclesiologist, but also through the dedicated efforts of the remarkable individuals who promoted the Society’s aims in their writings, lectures, and in their own parish churches.

The study examines the arguments that were framed in defence of choral worship and the often heated debates they initiated between both individuals and institutions. In so doing, it provides a re-evaluation of the place of Anglican choral worship in mid-nineteenth-century musicological and ecclesiastical history, and demonstrates the role of Cambridge ecclesiologists as primary force behind its rival.