Britten did write extensively for chorus but set standard liturgical texts on three occasions only (not counting his highly unorthodox War Requiem): First an early Te Deum (1935) to which he appended a Jubilate in 1961 and this Festival Te Deum composed for the 1944 centenary of St. Mark's Church in Swindon. Despite the mostly Latin title this work employs an English translation of the usual text. Britten also maintains some degree of musical tension through this work (or perhaps comments on the staid unchanging nature of the church) by restricting the organ to a steady dotted-half-note accompaniment even while the chorus widely enjoys varying tempi.
