Evensong Service Aug. 22 in Memory of Samuel Hammond

Duke Chapel will hold a special Choral Evensong worship service on Sunday, August 22, at 4:00 p.m. in memory of the late J. Samuel Hammond, the university carillonneur emeritus.

The service will include its customary Anglican liturgy and English choral music, which were beloved by Hammond. Additionally, the Chapel carillon will play before and after the service in honor of Hammond. The Chapel’s Vespers Ensemble will join the Evensong Singers and Chapel Organist Christopher Jacobson in leading the music for the service.

For those attending the service in-person, face masks are required to be worn inside Duke Chapel and all other Duke buildings.

Click here for the worship guide for the service.

For those who wish to view the service online, it will be livestreamed; it will also be broadcast on channel 12 of the Duke Hospital system.

For more than fifty years, Hammond marked time, campus occasions, liturgical dates, and cultural moments with his music on the Chapel carillon. He faithfully played the instrument’s fifty bells at 5:00 p.m. on weekdays as well as before and after Sunday services and on special occasions. In 2018, the university trustees named the Chapel carillon in his honor.

In addition to his music, Hammond was known for his dry wit, dignified demeanor, and deep faith.

“It is fitting that Sam made music in the tower because he was a towering human being, full of grace, charm, humility, dignity, wisdom, and faith,” Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery said at the time of Hammond’s death on February 25, 2021. “Sam will be missed but his musical, resonant life will reverberate in our hearts and lives for many years to come.”

Read more about remembrances of Hammond.