Britten wrote extensively for chorus, but he set standard liturgical texts on only three occasions (not counting his highly unorthodox War Requiem): 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 a minor degree of musical tension through this eight-minute 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. The opening section, "We praise thee, O God," initially sounds like accompanied plainchant, but quickly takes more modern (but not dissonant) harmonic turns and achieves a little climax on the words "Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of Sabaoth!" Although Te Deums are traditionally noisy, triumphal affairs (think of works by Bruckner and Dvorák), Britten keeps the chorus in a state of hushed awe until the fast, jubilant outburst of "Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ." After this substantial passage, though, Britten scales everything back for an ethereal soprano solo on the words "O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine heritage." The full chorus edges back in, building to a climax on the first half of the final line, "O Lord, in Thee have I trusted," but then withdrawing to a softer delivery of the words "let me never be confounded," which are repeated by the high soprano soloist as the organ accompaniment fades away.

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