West Gallery Music, also known as "Georgian psalmody" refers to the sacred music (metrical psalms, with a few hymns and anthems) sung and played in English parish churches, as well as nonconformist chapels, from 1700 to around 1850. In the late 1980s, West Gallery music experienced a revival and is now sung by several West Gallery "quires" (choirs).
The term derives from the wooden galleries which were constructed at the west end of churches during the 18th century upon which the choir would perform. Victorians disapproved of these Georgian galleries, and most were removed during restorations in the 19th century.[1]
The music sung by gallery choirs often consisted of psalm settings by composers with little formal training, often themselves local teachers or choir members. The tunes are usually two to four voice parts. "Tunes in reports" or fuguing tunes featured imitative entries of the parts, while anthems (settings of prose texts from the Bible or the Book of Common Prayer) often had changes of texture and musical meter.
Most early West Gallery groups sang unaccompanied, but later they were augmented by instruments such as the viol,[2] violin, cello, clarinet, flute and serpent. Each instrument tended to lead a group of singers who gathered around it, as in the image above.
The West Gallery tradition was exported to America around the mid 18th century, where it inspired the creation of many new compositions by members of the "First New England School".[3]
Use of West Gallery music in the Church dwindled when the organ became popular, since it was cheaper to keep up one instrument than a West Gallery group. Furthermore, the old church bands were often difficult for a vicar to control, while influence over an organist was a much easier task. Such an ousting of the band by an organist is given a fictional treatment in Thomas Hardy’s early novel Under the Greenwood Tree, which reflected actual events at Hardy’s church at Stinsford.[4] Another factor was that the music was disapproved of because it was considered not solemn enough for worship by members of the Oxford movement.
American Sacred Harp music shares West Gallery music's roots in English country parish music and singing schools.