MAA 3:1a An Anthem for Two Voices "The Souls of the Righteous" by Rayner Taylor (1747-1825): Free Download

"An Anthem for Two Voices" by British emigrant composer Rayner Taylor (1747-1825) offers a portrait of American sacred music in a state of transition. Earlier anthems and extended choral pieces by Anglican and later Episcopalian musicians in Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia reflected the two most prevalent trends in urban British sacred composition, namely the conservative style of Anglican cathedrals favoring an SATB full choir, and the modish galante style SSB choir associated with the hospitals and chapels of Nonconformist and early Methodist societies, as well as charity children's choirs. However, none of the efforts by these other American musicians approached the professional standard of craftmanship exhibited by Taylor in this work.  Brought up as a chorister in the Chapel Royal, he later was active in theaters and pleasure gardens, besides serving as organist in British and American churches.  Not coincidentally, he composed both high-church style choral works and those influenced by popular-theatrical trends, following the example set by many musicians associated with this royal institution, paralleling Taylor's contemporary Samuel Arnold (1740-1802). This piece was written shortly after Taylor arrived in Philadelphia to commemorate the victims of the deadly yellow fever epidemic that ravaged the city in 1793.