Choral Festival Service July 13 1967

[Petrushka]

I did mention on here at one time that as a boy chorister I sang at three choral festival services in 1965, 1967 and 1972 all under the direction of Dr Gerald H Knight. To my great joy I've discovered the 1967 programme during a spring clean and thought I'd like to share and see if any other boarders may also have memories,

The 1967 Choral Festival Service was held on July 13 1967 in the Victoria Hall, Hanley with choirs from churches in the Lichfield diocese with Richard G, Greening on the organ and conducted by Gerald H. Knight.

The music was:

Psalm 122 (Joseph Gelineau)
Anthem: Behold Now Praise the Lord (Arthur Wills)
Office Hymn: All My Hope on God is Founded (tune: Michael by Herbert Howells)
Psalm 20 (Knight); Psalm 148 (Nicholson)
Canticles: William H Harris in A Major
Anthem: God, Which Hast Prepared (Thomas Mudd)
Hymn: Sound Aloud Jehovah's Praises (tune: Dolberrow by Walter K, Stanton)
Middle Voluntary: Sonata De Primo Tono Para Organo con Trompeta Real (J. Lidon)
Anthem: He That Shall Endure to the End from Elijah (Felix Mendelssohn)
Hymn: Our Lord, his Passion Ended (tune: Naphill by Harold Darke)
Anthem: O Lorde the Maker of Al Thing (John Joubert)
Final Hymn: Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken (tune: Abbot's Leigh by Cyril Taylor)
Concluding Voluntary: Carillon-Sortie (H, Mulet)

[Vox Humana]

What splendidly edifying musical values Dr Knight had. It shows here - and what an eminently practical programme this is for amateur choirs (even though I could live without one or two items). Events such as this helped to spread good practice (as then perceived) amongst the parishes. How times have changed!

My abiding memory of the Joubert comes from 40 years ago when I had an all-male choir and, on dishing it out at one rehearsal, the head chorister complained, "Oh, but Sir: it's so slushy!" I still can't quite get my head around that critique!

[mercia]

I haven't heard that Wills anthem for years, I'd like to hear it again - it must have been quite new in 1967

[ardcarp]

Do these (Diocesan?) Choral Festivals still go on? They used to have fully printed-out booklets...and heaven knows how they got round the copyright thing! They were a great experience for good parish church choirs.

I don't see the Joubert piece as 'slushy'' Quite austere in many ways, but then young people see things differently! Being name-droppy, I knew Richard Greening very well (a lovely man with a minimalist one-finger conducting technique in the choirstalls) and he died tragically early. Likewise I was taught composition by John Joubert..another lovely man who is still going strong in his eighties. I saw him last year and he informs me he is still composing.

[DracoM]

The Joubert 'slushy'? Erm..........I don't think so. Maybe says more about the chorister than the music? Or what his / her usual fare was like?

[mopsus]

The Diocese of Bath & Wells had a choral festival for many years. The booklets are a very useful resource for our church choir library. I think there was one in 2012 but they are only occasional now as far as I know.

I came across one in progress in Exeter Cathedral a few years ago. I can think of some dioceses where it would have been impossible to have one for many years; when I lived in Manchester in the 1990s I was told that the number of diocesan choirs which sang regularly in four parts could be counted on the fingers of one hand! An internet search reveals that Peterborough's is still going strong.

[Miles Coverdale]

A quick internet search for Diocesan Choirs Festival yields a fairly good number.

[mopsus]

Anglican ones I turned up include Hereford and Peterborough, Salisbury, Ely, St. Paul's, St. Alban's (biennial), Guildford, Chichester, Worcester (seems to be county rather than diocese here), Canterbury, Southwell, St. Edmundsbury. So yes, quite a few survive, mostly in rural dioceses. They are under the patronage of the RSCM and don't necessarily take place in the Cathedral. Information about them is actually rather hard to come by - in some cases my source was a passing reference on a parish church website. I suspect that St. Alban's isn't the only biennial one and that information about those that will happen in 2015 rather than 2014 isn't available yet.

The Exeter one I encountered about the turn of the millennium was well attended (the nave was full of singers) but was one of the last there.

[decantor]

I haven't heard that Wills anthem for years, I'd like to hear it again - it must have been quite new in 1967

I agree about the Wills anthem - it dates from 1965, apparently. When I was directing a chapel choir in the 1980s, we used to sing it in alternate years: the choristers rather liked it, mainly because they reckoned the music at "....ye that by night stand in the house of the Lord" was lifted from a TV advert for Turkish Delight - in rehearsal they'd sway their hips at that point! It's not a bad piece (of music, not candy) - a pity it seems to have dropped from the repertoire.

The Joubert was popular too - slushy? hardly! a bit of a shout at the climax, perhaps - but that has fortunately held its place.

[ardcarp]

I agree about the Wills anthem - it dates from 1965, apparently. When I was directing a chapel choir in the 1980s, we used to sing it in alternate years: the choristers rather liked it, mainly because they reckoned the music at "....ye that by night stand in the house of the Lord" was lifted from a TV advert for Turkish Delight - in rehearsal they'd sway their hips at that point! It's not a bad piece (of music, not candy) - a pity it seems to have dropped from the repertoire.

A good composer,Arthur Wills...and that oriental bit has been noticed by others too! A pity some of those 60s composers (Aston, Racine Fricker, Hewitt-Jones, etc) seem to have been forgotten; well wrought stuff IMHO. Anyone remember Sydney Campbell's "Michael and his angels fought against the dragon"? Always a hit with choristers.

[Petrushka]

I haven't heard that Wills anthem for years, I'd like to hear it again - it must have been quite new in 1967

The beautifully printed programme book ('price three shillings') doesn't give a date but what is so noticeable is that in 1967 most of the composers listed, including Harris, Howells and Darke, were still alive while Joubert, as has been pointed out, is still very much with us.

There was so much that passed a 13 year old chorister by of course. I'd love to be able to go back via Tardis and realise what a wonderful event I'd taken part in. I should have the 1965 programme book somewhere.