A Service of Choral Evensong / Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Birth of Our Nation

We will be celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Birth of Our Nation on Sunday, July 5, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. , at St. Alfred's Episcopal Church, with a Service of Choral Evensong. We will gather to sing, pray, and hear music that brings to mind who we are, our history, and hope for the future. The service will include familiar patriotic hymns and prayers for our nation. The two canticles sung at Evensong, the Song of Mary (Magnificat) and The Song of Simeon (Nunc Dimittis, will be metrical settings of those biblical texts by Francis Hopkinson, an American Founding Father. Francis Hopkinson was a representative from New Jersey to the Second Continental Congress, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a designer of early versions of both the American flag and the National Seal. He was also a musician and vestryman at Christ Church, Philadelphia. Also included in the service will be a Native American chant, a Spiritual, a contemporary patriotic song by Eugenie Rocherolle, and two selections from Randall Thompson's A Testament of Freedom. Randall Thompson, an American composer born in New York City, was an eminent American composer educated at Harvard University. He is known for his settings of texts by well-known Americans, notably Robert Frost and Thomas Jefferson. A Testament of Freedom is a four-section work, each based on a different text by Thomas Jefferson, and written in celebration of the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birthday. It was first performed on Founder's Day, April 13, 1943, at Cabell Hall at the University of Virginia, especially appropriate since Jefferson was the University’s founder. Randall Thompson was the head of the music department at the University of Viriginia at the time. The premiere performance was broadcast nation-wide and rebroadcast to the Armed Forces overseas. Originally written for men's voices and orchestra or concert band, Thompson later arranged the piece for a choir of mixed voices. The first of the two selections the choir will sing at the service is from Jefferson's A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774). The second is from a letter written to John Adams (1821). Both texts are set to beautiful and inspiring music. Following the program, there will be an ice cream social in Reister Hall.