ABSTRACT
The first two decades of the nineteenth century saw die birth of a number of composers who would make significant contributions to the development of the anthem, among them John Goss, organist of St Paul's Cathedral; Samuel Sebastian Wesley, organist of Hereford. Most writers have indeed largely ignored the subject, but it is, in its own way, no less deserving of study than the purely musical aspects of anthem composition. Moreover, it underwent a significant change during the second half of the nineteenth century as composers began to look more widely than the book of Psalms predominant source at the beginning of the century for their texts. Within the space of some 100 years composer's choice of anthem texts had thus changed almost beyond recognition, but neither these changes nor the larger question of what texts were considered to be appropriate, drew much contemporary comment.
