Pacem - A concert for Peace - St Wilfrid's Church

Featuring four works:

Marsh A Psalm for Chichester
Elgar Serenade for Strings
Bernstein Chichester Psalms
Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem

A Psalm for Chichester was commissioned by Chichester Cathedral to celebrate the 950th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Chichester. It was first performed on 17th May 2025 by the Cathedral Choir directed by Charles Harrison. Elgar’s Serenade to Strings offers music with a youthful charm but which is also indicative of the skills Elgar developed as he progressed towards musical maturity. You may know the opening bars of the first movement - used by a classical music station as introductory music. Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms were first performed on 15 July 1965 with the composer Bernstein conducting. The music, particularly in the second movement, dramatises the conflict between faith and the crises that threaten it, a central theme in Bernstein's life as well as in much of his music. The work ends with a chorale which Bernstein called “a prayer for peace”, a message which could hardly be more apposite for our own troubled times. The final work in the concert Dona Nobis Pacem (which translates as Grant us Peace) encapsulates Vaughan Williams’ feelings on war, serving as a warning against violence, and imploring us to recall the better angels of our nature.