20 Anthems by Women Composers that My Church Choir Sang This Season

This program year, the church choir I direct sang 19 different pieces by women composers.

At the beginning of the season, I made an intentional effort to program music by women composers every Sunday. I didn’t have 100% success but between the choral, organ and other instrumental music, I’m happy to report we had music composed by a woman almost every week.

What I Learned and What I’m Doing Differently Next Year

• This goal is completely doable. (Of course it’s doable…but it did require a budget for buying new music.)
• Have some go-to pieces for Introits or other service music that you repeat. We sang many of the shorter pieces as Introits multiple times, and one of my goals for the summer is to find several Benedictions written by women. (Any you particularly like?)
• I need to plan more for the “big” days. Apart from Christmas, I didn’t program choral music by women composers on holiday services. I still had women composers on the program via instrumental music but I would like to improve in this area. (I can’t wait to do THIS on Christmas Eve!)
• And my big mistake: where are the composers of color on this list? While I did program a fair amount of choral music by African-American composers who are men (as well as international music), we only sang choral music by one composer of color who is a woman. That’s a big omission on my part, and I’m programming with this in mind next year.

If you purchase through some of the following links, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thank you for supporting the work I do! 

20 Sacred Choral Pieces by Women Composers

1. Blessed Be the Lord — Abbie Betinis

An SAB gem. One of the easier pieces on this list.

2. Gloria in excelsis Deo — Eleanor Daley

A short Christmas piece — not difficult to put together and very festive. Optional brass quintet (we didn’t use brass and it still sounded great).

3. Consider the Lilies — Emma Lou Diemer

Beautiful. While not an “easy” piece, it’s definitely among the easier here because of the supportive organ accompaniment. Not difficult to direct from the organ bench (only one moderately tricky cut-off).

4. Awake My Heart — Jane M. Marshall

This is such a fun piece. Typical “church anthem” with the fast A section, slower B section, and then return to A — but “church anthem” in the best of ways. Recording in the title link includes optional brass. Here’s a different recording without the brass and at a quicker tempo.

5. Covenant Prayer —Jane M. Marshall

Y’all, I’m so disappointed that I can’t find a recording of this piece. EDIT: Thank you to Reader Linda for finding a recording online! Here it is. (For what it’s worth, I take it slower and amp up the rubato.)

Here’s the story on Covenant Prayer: my choir was going to sing it back in January with only a couple of rehearsals to learn it. But because we canceled some services due to weather, I postponed it about 8 weeks. At first I thought it was, you know, nice. But as we got more comfortable with the shimmery, sometimes dissonant chords, it became magical. I’m so glad I postponed it so we could really get to know this piece.

6. My Eternal King — Jane M. Marshall

A classic. Here’s a link to a recording (title link is to sheet music).

7. O Love — Elaine Hagenburg

Probably my choir’s favorite new piece this year. (From what I’ve seen online, it’s everyone’s favorite right now!) We sang the SATB version and will be buying the new optional cello part for next season. It also comes in SSAA and TTBB versions.

8. Quem pastores laudavere — Susan LaBarr

Beautiful setting of a 14th c. Latin carol. It’s not an incredibly difficult piece, and it doesn’t have any divisi. But you do need a strong tenor or tenor section.

At my church, a quartet sang this piece, with an alto on the soprano line, and a high tenor on the alto line. (And since I wasn’t conducting, I could gasp at how beautiful the fifth stanza is.) On New York Polyphony’s Grammy-nominated album that includes Quem pastores laudavere, the all-male-ensemble sings the piece down several steps than written in the published version.

9. Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal — Alice Parker

It’s a classic for a reason! The title link includes a recording and there are many more online. We sang the original SATB version, and it’s also available for treble and lower-voice choirs.

10. He’s the Lily of the Valley — Alice Parker

This short arrangement includes a soloist plus a backing choir. We sang this as an Introit, but it would also work as an anthem. I couldn’t find a professional recording online, but here’s one of a college choir.

11. Peace Be Within This Sacred Place — Alice Parker

We sang this lovely piece several times as an Introit. In a way, it was tricky to program because it’s restrained and quiet (at the church where I work, we usually need more upbeat music at that place in the service). However, several choir members commented that it was one of their favorite Introits we sang this year. Here’s a recording (title link is to sheet music, which is included in the collection Six Hymns to Doctor Watts).

12. Come Sound His Praise Abroad — Alice Parker

Like #11, this piece is in the collection Six Hymns to Doctor Watts.

13. The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation — Rosephanye Powell

So good! (And fun to sing!) This piece is much less challenging than it appears on the page. The syncopations throughout make for a lot of carrying across barlines (hence the tricky-looking page), but aren’t that difficult to sing once vocalists have spoken through the text several times. It’s available as a printed octavo as well as a digital download.

14. Sanctum — Sarah Quartel

Gorgeous music for SSSAA. We are singing the Lux movement and plan to sing more for All Souls/All Saints this fall. Her website describes it well: “some of Quartel’s most atmospheric and dramatic writing to date.” It’s available as a printed octavo as well as a digital download.

15.-19. Five Hymns from the Sacred Harp — Martha Shaffer

This amazing set includes:

• Sweet Canaan
• King of Peace
• Come, Trav’ler, Haste Away
• I Would See Jesus
• How Firm a Foundation

We sang all of the pieces throughout the year, and I loved them so much that they inspired our spring choral concert, which featured music by Missouri composers. You can hear a snippet of the anthems here (title links are to sheet music).

20. We Walk in Love — Deanna Witkowski

Of all the pieces here, this is the one we sang most often. At first a lively, unaccompanied Introit, we are now singing it as an accompanied congregational song.

Bonus – One Piece We Didn’t Actually Sing

I had planned to do Organum floris by Carlotta Ferrari during Advent, but the service went in a different direction. I still want to include it here because it’s a great Introit for Advent 3, plus it’s relatively easy and the composer makes all of her sheet music freely available.

So choir directors, what music did you love doing this past season? I’m still deciding specifics for the next program year, and I’d love to know what you’ve enjoyed lately!