Mass of Five Melodies

When I was a young child, the Church of England used the 1662 Prayer Book and services were mainly sung to the plainsong-like settings of Merbecke and Shaw, which I found dismal. But once a month we used the new setting by Appleford, which to me was a breath of fresh air.

The music had wide appeal. My grandfather liked it so much that he asked the organist of our parish church to make a tape recording of it, which he did one night at choir practice; years later I played the Creed at my grandfather's funeral.

Sadly the Mass of Five Melodies fell out of use when the Church dropped the 1662 Prayer Book and adopted modern language for its services. Appleford (d. 2018) is now best known for his hymn 'Lord Jesus Christ, you have come to us'.

As I grew older, I started to appreciate the plainsong settings more, but Appleford's setting still stands out and sparkles for me. I managed to find a copy of the music on a rare music web site.

The music is in 1662 Prayer Book order:

Kyrie
Creed
Sanctus and Benedictus
Agnus Dei
Lord's Prayer
Gloria