CE Chapel of Eton College 23rd March 2011

[DracoM]

CE Chapel of Eton College


Order of Service:


Introit: A Prayer of King Henry VI (Ley)
Responses: Matthew O'Donovan
Psalms: 114, 115 (Tonus Peregrinus, Knight)
First Lesson: Job 1: 1-22
Office Hymn: Lord of beauty, thine the splendour (St Audrey)
Canticles: Bairstow in D
Second Lesson: Luke 21: 34 -22: 6
Anthem: One thing have I desired of the Lord (Howells)
Final Hymn: O praise ye the Lord (Laudate Dominum)

Organ Voluntary: Prelude and Fugue in B minor BWV 544 (Bach)

Organist: David Goode
Director of Music: Ralph Allwood

[DracoM]

Well, Bairstow and Howells.

Neither entirely straightforward, but both central repertoire nevertheless. On the face of it, a very traditional programme, but as it turned out this was an ambitious and taxing sing for a choir made up of voices almost all of which would have been at various stages of change. There was attack, energy and commitment aplenty and to spare, albeit in an acoustic that has occasioned some comment over the years of BBC relays from Eton Choral Courses – and seemed not a lot better on hearing today.

To my ears, the top line seemed valiant, musicianly, tenacious, but probably under some strain at critical points in canticles and an anthem as unforgiving as these are Perhaps pretty late in the academic year for trebles to still be at their best? The responses too presented an order of difficulty and there seemed to be the odd wobble. Basses the pick of the under parts for me, and some heroic tenor work too, especially in the Howells. So no criticism of the commitment and ambition at all, but…..

On site, no doubt the sound picture would have been entirely different. And there can be no doubt whatsoever that Ralph Allwood has had a remarkablky successful tenure of leadership at the College, encouraging teenagers to sing unflinchingly with great verve - no mean feat!

[decantor]

As usual, Draco, I agree with much you say. Such young tenors and basses are often and understandably a bit raw, and just occasionally I thought that showed through the texture, but there was certainly no lack of commitment. It is surely true that trebles will be thin on the ground in late March: I formed the impression that we were listening to a small number - eight, maybe - who knew what they were about, but whose vocal folds were, so to speak, about to change gear. As for the building itself - I have sung in that chapel a number of times, and always found the acoustic desperately unhelpful.

Ralph Allwood certainly ran a vibrant department, and is an inspirational choral director. Generous with his time in his early years at Eton, he would sometimes visit to take the boys of my choir for a rehearsal session, and - unsurprisingly - they learned more from him in 30 minutes than from me in a term! In addition to his ongoing choral courses, he also used to run similar courses for non-chorister prep school boys: not only were his standards astonishingly high, but he engendered an enormous enthusiasm for choral singing. I do hope he's not withdrawing from the scene entirely.

[ardcarp]

I thought it a most enjoyable broadcast. The 'raw' sound of young T and B has been mentioned. I actually rather like this, and find it produces a texture where you can actually hear the parts and the harmonic structure more clearly. It couldn't be more different from the full-voiced 'professional' sound of The Temple men a few weeks ago. I thought the simple Tonus Peregrinus chant with the said young voices in unison was actually quite moving. The first hymn too was evocative of the sort of hymn singing that used to be widespread in boys' schools of a past era...with just a touch of Cardiff Arms Park. Draco's technical analysis of the sound is quite right, but in this case, the sum was more than the parts, and I found the interpretation and the mood of the Howells very well judged.

At the risk of boring everyone who knows all this stuff anyway, Eton College Chapel is a 'sister' to KCC and shares some of its architectural features, but the fan-vault was added in the 20th century and is made of reinforced concrete. The organ is a great big Hill of cathedral proportions...ideal for accompanying the Anglican repertory but IMO not happy with Bach even in the hands of David Goode. A strange repertory choice there. There used to be a choir-school at Eton which closed in the late 1960s. Now the top line is filled, I think, by offering music scholarships to ex-choristers who still have some 'mileage'. The Eton Choirbook is still kept in the Chapel and occasionally wheeled out to be sung from. No doubt someone will correct me if I've got any facts wrong.

[LJB]

Lovely service, these guys get underneath the music certainly-every musical detail is clearly felt and expressed with a moving sincerity. Actually I find it quite moving to listen to-half the choir at the peak (or possibly a little beyond from today's listening) of their singing experience, the other half only just setting out on a voyage of life long discovery with their changed voices.
Congratulations to everybody. I must confess, I find the volly one of the most satisfying performances of the B minor I've ever heard.

[Miles Coverdale]

The Eton Choirbook is still kept in the Chapel and occasionally wheeled out to be sung from. No doubt someone will correct me if I've got any facts wrong.

The choirbook is not kept in the chapel itself, but in the college library (and no doubt insured for a very large sum of money). That is, when it's not on loan to an exhibition. As to its ever being used as a performing source, I very much doubt it. It may be on view when a piece it contains is being sung, but that does not mean it is being sung from. Indeed, many have questioned whether it has ever actually been performed from. It is perhaps more likely that singers either sang predominantly from memory or wrote their own parts out on a manuscript roll (known as a rotulus). A few such sources survive, one being the bass part from Browne's Stabat mater.

[ardcarp]

MC I was in Eton College Chapel in the 70s when a handful of scholars WERE singing from the Choir Book, all standing around a single desk. It made a deep impression on me at the time both musically and historically. Perhaps this practice has been dis-allowed nowadays. The precentor at the time was (I think) Graham Smallbone. I'm just going to contact a friend of mine who was also there, just to convince myself I'm not suffering from False Memory Syndrome!

[Miles Coverdale]

I'd be intrigued to know which piece was being sung. You say a handful - that would tend to rule out the larger-scale pieces. A variety of factors would mitigate against its being used as the sole performing source in the fifteenth century. First, the boys' parts are consistently written at the top of the page, where those of shorter stature would be least able to see them. Also, despite the book's considerable size, there is a limit to the number of people you can get round it and them all be able to see, especially in a dim, candle-lit chapel. Last, and by no means least, I wouldn't have thought that many schoolboys today would be able to sing directly from fifteenth-century notation in choirbook format. At least, not without a lot of rehearsal, at which point performance from memory, at least in part, starts to come into play.

[JimD]

The choirbook is not kept in the chapel itself, but in the college library (and no doubt insured for a very large sum of money). Stabat mater.

Assuming this is the case, what would they (relevantly) do with the money if it were destroyed?

[Magnificat]

I thought it a most enjoyable broadcast. The 'raw' sound of young T and B has been mentioned. I actually rather like this, and find it produces a texture where you can actually hear the parts and the harmonic structure more clearly. It couldn't be more different from the full-voiced 'professional' sound of The Temple men a few weeks ago. I thought the simple Tonus Peregrinus chant with the said young voices in unison was actually quite moving. The first hymn too was evocative of the sort of hymn singing that used to be widespread in boys' schools of a past era...with just a touch of Cardiff Arms Park. Draco's technical analysis of the sound is quite right, but in this case, the sum was more than the parts, and I found the interpretation and the mood of the Howells very well judged.

I agree absolutely ardcarp. There was a lot to enjoy in this service.

The sound was exactly as I would have expected from boys of these age groups.

Obviously not a perfect performance but by the standards of similar secondary school choirs this was extremely good. I would definitely go to hear them if they were standing in for my regular cathedral choir whereas I might not be too inclined to do so for other school choirs which can to say the least be very variable.

The service was beautifully ordered - I particularly liked that.

The Lessons from the Authorised Version of the Bible were a joy. The diction of the first reader was stunning and an example to many clergy who are are often terrible at it. Luckily most would not have to read from The King James these days. What a mess they would make of it.

One of my most favourite of introits. Properly short but the words are achingly beautiful; and two of the loveliest of psalm chants. And the hymn singing as you say - BR would have approved.

Yes, most enjoyable.

VCC

[ardcarp]

MC Magnus Williamson's PhD Thesis on the Eton Choirbook (Ms178) can be found here:

http://www.diamm.ac.uk/redist/pdf/WilliamsonChaps.pdf

Excellent bedtime reading!

[Miles Coverdale]

Indeed. Dr Williamson's thesis forms the basis of his introduction to the DIAMM facsimile of the choirbook, much of which I helped to proof-read.

[ardcarp]

MC I must get a copy...I think it's about £200, so I'll have to wait for a good reason to fork out (next birthday with a nought on the end perhaps...if I get there). I've contacted my friend who was at that MMA gathering in Eton College Chapel and his memory is exactly the same as mine...but I'm going to speak to Graham Smallbone (answering machine only at the moment) to get it from the horse's mouth. The whole point of the demonstration (as I remember it) was to prove that the ECB could be sung from. The notation looks a bit tricky to begin with but having done a bit of transcribing of that sort of stuff as a student, I know it's OK once you get the hang of it. And Eton scholars (probably bright-ish) having sung an antiphon from a modern edition a few times would no doubt be able to cope, using the ECB more as a prompt.

Incidentally, if anyone is finding this exchange a bit boring, do have a look at a few pictures online of the Eton Choir Book. It is a thing of great beauty...and it is quite remarkable that it (one of the very few m/s collections of source material that has survived the vagaries of religious fashion) remains in the same place it was compiled for.

[Miles Coverdale]

It's £180 with buckram binding, £250 with leather which, considering the quality of the reproduction makes it excellent value for money, in my opinion.

My guess would be that the piece in question was Cornysh's Ave Maria, mater dei, which is in four parts ATBarB. At only 59 bars in the Frank Harrison edition for Musica Brittanica, it's the shortest piece in the Eton Choirbook. The notation is, by comparison with some of the other pieces in the choirbook, pretty straightforward.

At the risk of labouring the point, even singing that piece does not really show that the choirbook can be sung from, only that that piece can be sung from the choirbook, and even then they very probably went via a modern transcription. You only have to make one mistake in reading the notation in performance, for instance by misreading a perfect breve as imperfect or getting a ligature wrong, and it's nigh-on impossible to get back on course, as you're unlikely to have a clue where you are until the next cadence point.

Rather more likely is that, as I said before, singers essentially committed their parts to memory beforehand or relied on individual manuscripts to sing from, which could of course be marked up. The markings found in the York Masses manuscripts are probably typical in this respect. The fact that the choirbook has very few markings and contains uncorrected errors shows that intermediate performing material was very probably involved.

As Dr Williamson points out, the choirbook essentially functioned as a repository of repertoire, from which individual parts were then copied out, and performed a symbolic function by possibly being placed on public view when the music it contained was being sung, for example during the daily Salve ceremony. The cost of making it in the first place meant that it was unlikely to be an everyday performing manuscript. The fact that it is in very good condition shows that it wasn't used that much. Indeed, the fact that it has survived at all shows that.

It's a great shame that quite a large portion of its contents has been lost. I for one wouldn't mind hearing a seven-part Magnificat by Browne.

[Laurence Target]

It was one of the best broadcasts I have heard recently, with a well-disciplined choir doing its best, young of course, with the challenges of youth and ambitious music, but the care of good teachers who judged ambition and reach very well - a lovely choice of music.
Even better was the modesty of the clergy! Good reading of the best versions, restrained prayers, and no shewing off. Just what the church should do all the time, but something that obviously grates them in many places week after week, where ill-read ill-chosen readings from garbled translations are coupled with prayers that are an exercize in ill-judged vanity.