Stanford’s setting of the Communion Service in B flat was composed in 1879

as part of his Morning, Communion and Evening Service Op. 10 and was written

for use in Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge where Stanford had been

organist since 1873 (and where he would remain until 1892) and where the

choir, of boys and men, was expanding under his directorship. The Service

was published by Novello in the same year. According to Trinity College’s

surviving chapel music lists, the Kyrie (in its older form), Credo and Gloria

were first sung in Trinity Chapel during the Long Vacation on Sunday 10

August 1879 (9th Sunday after Trinity). The Communion part of Stanford’s

service was written to comply with the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The

setting of the Kyrie eleison took the form of two responses, the second after

the Tenth Commandment, as well as the more extended movements of the

Credo, Sanctus and Gloria (in that order). The Service also included responses

before and after the Gospel, the Sursum Corda and the Final Amen. With the

exception of the Sursum Corda, these have also been retained in this edition.

In addition, since neither the Benedictus qui venit nor the Agnus Dei appeared

in the 1662 BCP (having been deliberately omitted by Cranmer in the earlier

1552 version), these settings were added by Stanford in 1910 prompted by

increasing ‘High Church’ influence and by demand for the restoration of

these components in the Communion liturgy. Furthermore, since there is

no setting in Stanford’s service of the Kyrie eleison, this movement has been

composed by the editor where material from the Te Deum and Magnificat has

been incorporated and adapted.