Sir David Willcocks, 1919-2015

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've the LP of that(1968) with one Robert Chilcott as the treble. I've just tried listening to it, bit difficult as a piecemeal house move which has lost disc cleaning items, and HiFi equipment in need of revamping(especially speakers ) resulted in not the best sound quality, but the musicality of the performance offset that to large degree.

This was the first version I ever had, and the LP is still there in my collection. Unfortunately, I've never really got on with John Carol Case's voice - ever since hearing him in a live recital in 1971.

[Nick Armstrong]

Howells 'Collegium Regale' ...I would quite like to be the Te Deum.

Which of course it should be for the morning.

Were the words "Oh go your way..." ever better set? (The rest is terrific too!)

[mercia]

Which of course it should be for the morning.

Were the words "Oh go your way..." ever better set? (The rest is terrific too!)

it's taken me a while to work out those words are from the Jubilate (which we also had this morning together with the Te Deum, Evening Canticles and a Psalm Prelude, a lovely combined 30 minutes)

[Nick Armstrong]

it's taken me a while to work out those words are from the Jubilate (which we also had this morning together with the Te Deum, Evening Canticles and a Psalm Prelude, a lovely combined 30 minutes)

Well done, Wilson, I wondered how long it would take you to spot that!

I'd forgotten too! But great to hear both (I had to sign out after the Jubilate).

[mercia]

his wonderful carol descants were a joy to sing, brilliant tunes in their own right.

Let's hope that King's do as many of them as possible this coming Christmas Eve.

having had a quick look at the order of service, I can confirm this will be the case

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

having had a quick look at the order of service, I can confirm this will be the case

Here it is:

http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/files/services/festival-nine-lessons-2015.pdf

[Karafan]

Very sad news, certainly. RIP.

I wonder if anyone managed to record the slot on 17th Oct 2015 on CD Review when the DW Complete Argo box from King's was discussed with Jeremy Summerly, please?

I missed the broadcast and it is no longer on the iPlayer. If anyone can help, please PM me. Thank you!

Karafan

[Keraulophone]

In addition to those David Willcocks classics, it's good to see the inclusion of a carol by the late John Scott.

This year there are 9 lessons and 15 carols plus 5 hymns, compared with the 9 carols plus hyms usually sung in less exalted places. I seem to remember King's once reaching 9 lessons and 28 carols and hymns, which did seem excessive.

The foreword to the Order of Service acknowledges the origins of the service in Bishop Benson's 1880 'Nine Lessons with Carols - a Festal Service for Christmas Eve', which he devised for the temporary wooden shed that served as Truro Cathedral while Pearson's building was constructed.

The history of this event is explained in a documentary by Jeremy Summerly in a DVD just issued by Regent Records (their first DVD, in fact, and possibly the first commercial DVD made by a cathedral choir). This includes a CD of a reconstruction of the 1880 service and a DVD of the 2014 service in Truro Cathedral, with the choir of boys and men conducted by Christopher Gray. The insert contains a facsimile of the 1880 service booklet. It won't be sent out to reviewers until next autumn, but is now available from Regent or, more cheaply, MDT: http://www.mdt.co.uk/blog/latest-new...ral-choir-dvd/

[Cockney Sparrow]

Karafan
Trying to send you a PM, but your inbox is full and the system will not accept the PM............

[weston752]

[QUOTE=Keraulophone;525444] I seem to remember King's once reaching 9 lessons and 28 carols and hymns, which did seem excessive.

I'm sure Kings have never exceeded nine lessons(!) and one can only hope that 28 carols and hymns is a typo!

[Keraulophone]

[QUOTE=weston752;525520]

one can only hope that 28 carols and hymns is a typo!

No typo, though on reflection, it may have been 27.

[Vox Humana]

The foreword to the Order of Service acknowledges the origins of the service in Bishop Benson's 1880 'Nine Lessons with Carols - a Festal Service for Christmas Eve', which he devised for the temporary wooden shed that served as Truro Cathedral while Pearson's building was constructed.

The history of this event is explained in a documentary by Jeremy Summerly in a DVD just issued by Regent Records (their first DVD, in fact, and possibly the first commercial DVD made by a cathedral choir).

I can't remember whether I have mentioned this before, but there is a most interesting chapter on the history of the Carol Service (dwelling mostly on the early years) in this very handsome book. It acknowledges, albeit without quite saying so, that its format was modelled on festal Matins according to the Use of Sarum. I have mentioned this here a couple of years ago, but what I didn't know until I read the book is that the benedictions that originally preceded each lesson are, with one exception, also the standard Sarum ones and mostly in their proper order. The book is superb value at £30 if you happen to be passing King's and is still worth having with the hefty postage added (at just over A4 size it's a fairly weighty book).

[Keraulophone]

It acknowledges, albeit without quite saying so, that its format was modelled on festal Matins according to the Use of Sarum.

That book looks very interesting, Vox. I went back to the DVD to see whether Jeremy Summerly mentioned Sarum, but he only does so indirectly by saying that Benson used medieval precursors of services with nine lessons.

The musical content came from Handel's Messiah, Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861) and Bramley and Stainer's Christmas Carols New and Old. Grove ascribes the Carol Revival during the 1820s to Davies Gilbert, MP for Bodmin. The choir of St Mary's, Truro would walk around the town singing carols in private houses (as opposed to pubs, as was once thought). By 1878, the Successor had brought them into the church to sing carols, and then Benson took over in 1880 in his wooden pro-cathedral. It is thought that the families of those buried in the graveyard on which the new cathedral nave was built would probably have been visited with carol singers. There's a glimpse of a document showing Benson's plans for the service, now in the Cornwall Record Office, which includes several changes of mind. He took his service with him to Canterbury before it was adapted by Milner-White for KCC.

In the video, the Precentor mentions the tiny blessings or benedictions read by the Dean before each lesson, although he doesn't say where they originated. He points out that Milner-White strung together three of these to conclude his bidding prayer for the 1919 order of service at King's.

When a Nine Lessons and Carols thread arises nearer the time, perhaps I'll mention this DVD again.

[Vox Humana]

Thank you, Keraulophon, that's most interesting. There's a photo of the notes by Benson that you mention in the King's book, although it's a little small for my elderly eyes. The book doesn't say where the benedictions originated either: I just followed my suspicion and looked them up. It was actually Milner-White who cut what he called these "rather irrelevant benedictions" on the grounds that they held up the flow of the service. The DVD sounds good: I might have to get that.