History
In the Tudor and early Stuart periods, services were described as "Short", "Great" or "Verse" services:
- Verse services incorporated sections for solo voices.
- short services were simple settings for four-part choir which could be sung a cappella.
- Great Services (of which the most famous is that by William Byrd) were long and elaborate and presumably kept for special occasions.
Following the Restoration this classification gradually broke down and services became known by the key in which they were written; hence the common shorthand terminology "Purcell in G minor" or "Stanford in B flat".
From the twentieth century, compositions are often named after the college chapel or cathedral for which they were written: examples are the Collegium Magdalenae Oxoniense of Kenneth Leighton for Magdalen College, Oxford and the Gloucester Service of Herbert Howells for Gloucester Cathedral.
Read more about this topic: Service (music)
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