CE Ely Cathedral Wed, 9th November 2016

[DracoM]

CE Ely Cathedral


Order of Service:


Introit: The Spiritual Railway (Arthur Wills)
Responses: Arthur Wills
Psalms 47, 48, 49 (Beckwith, Walmisley, Elvey)
First Lesson: Leviticus 26: 3-13
Office Hymn: Most holy Lord and God of heaven (Plainsong)
Canticles: Verse Service (Arthur Wills)
Second Lesson: Philippians 4: 4-9
Anthem: O pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Howells)
Final Hymn: What shall we pray for those who died? (John Bell)


Organ Voluntary: Elegy (Arthur Wills)


Organists: Edmund Aldhouse and Alexander Goodwin
Directors of Music: Sarah MacDonald and Paul Trepte

[Finzi4ever]

a real blast of Fenlandia, with a thoroughly deserved Wills-fest!

http://www.elycathedral.org/assets/pages/00000233/DSC3955.jpg

Was a Wills anthem in addition considered a bridge too far? (Quietly pleased the voluntary is not the Etheldreda Rag...)

[Quilisma]

A Wills anthem would indeed have been lovely, of course, but consideration has also been given to the fact that the repeat broadcast will be on Remembrance Sunday... There has been a lot of Wills this year, in honour of Arthur's ninetieth birthday (which was in September). I can confirm that he is in very fine fettle, and I daresay he will be with us in the congregation on Wednesday.

[ardcarp]

Looking forward to it. Do we have boys' and girls' choirs combined here? Hope so.

[Quilisma]

Indeed we do! Hence both DoMs and both organists...

[Quilisma]

Given that the introit in particular is very little known, let me provide a few details. The words are taken from a memorial tablet now displayed in what was once the cloister of Ely Cathedral, between the south door and the lay clerks' vestry. The tablet reads as follows:

In memory of William Pickering, who died December 24th 1845 aged 30 years. Also Richard Edger, who died December 24th 1845 aged 24 years.

THE SPIRITUAL RAILWAY

The Line to heaven by Christ was made
With heavenly truth the Rails are laid,
From Earth to Heaven the Line extends,
To Life Eternal where it ends.

Repentance is the Station then
Where Passengers are taken in,
No Fee for them is there to pay,
For Jesus is himself the way.

God's Word is the first Engineer
It points the way to Heaven so clear,
Through tunnels dark and dreary here
It does the way to Glory steer.

God's Love the Fire, his Truth the Steam,
Which drives the Engine and the Train,
All you who would to Glory ride,
Must come to Christ, in him abide

In First, and Second, and Third Class,
Repentance, Faith and Holiness,
You must the way to Glory gain
Or you th Christ will mot remain.

Come then poor Sinners, now's the time
At any Station on the Line,
If you'll repent and turn from sin
The Train will stop and take you in.

Arthur Wills omits the penultimate stanza in his setting, which was published in facsimile manuscript in 1986 by Oecumuse, now, alas, defunct; I believe it has not entered the catalogue of any successor publishing house, so is presumably now unavailable.

The Preces and Responses by Arthur Wills were written for Bruce Wegg and the Choir of St Augustine's Church, Wisbech, and were published by Novello in 1967.They are more commonly sung by upper voices only with organ accomaniment. The cantor part is notated metrically (fingers crossed!), so it is through-composed.

The Verse Service was written for Timothy Lees and the Choir of St John's Church, Wolverhampton, and was published by OUP in 1974. It is, however, very much an Ely piece, and at this time Arthur Wills was planning his major radical upgrade of the organ, tamed somewhat in the subsequent Millennium rebuild, although most of the essential tangy characteristics remain.

The Howells piece needs no introduction, I should hope, and the psalmody and Office Hymn are as set for the date and day of the week.

[DracoM]

Great stuff...many thx.

[Gabriel Jackson]

Oecumuse, now, alas, defunct;

Defunct because its proprietor skipped police bail in 2004

[Quilisma]

Defunct because its proprietor skipped police bail in 2004

I'm glad I don't know any more than that... Some of the catalogue has been reissued by other publishers, but much has not.

[ardcarp]

THE SPIRITUAL RAILWAY

The Line to heaven by Christ was made
With heavenly truth the Rails are laid,
From Earth to Heaven the Line extends,
To Life Eternal where it ends.

Repentance is the Station then
Where Passengers are taken in,
No Fee for them is there to pay,
For Jesus is himself the way.

God's Word is the first Engineer
It points the way to Heaven so clear,
Through tunnels dark and dreary here
It does the way to Glory steer.

God's Love the Fire, his Truth the Steam,
Which drives the Engine and the Train,
All you who would to Glory ride,
Must come to Christ, in him abide

In First, and Second, and Third Class,
Repentance, Faith and Holiness,
You must the way to Glory gain
Or you th Christ will mot remain.

Come then poor Sinners, now's the time
At any Station on the Line,
If you'll repent and turn from sin
The Train will stop and take you in.

Thanks for that Q. I wonder how soon after 1845 those lines (no pun intended) were written? There are shades of the egalitarian "The Gospel Train" [No 2nd class aboard this train], and in that penultimate verse, the distinctly not "All Things Bright and Beautiful" [The rich man in his castle, etc]

[subcontrabass]

Thanks for that Q. I wonder how soon after 1845 those lines (no pun intended) were written? There are shades of the egalitarian "The Gospel Train" [No 2nd class aboard this train], and in that penultimate verse, the distinctly not "All Things Bright and Beautiful" [The rich man in his castle, etc]

The evidence seems to be that they were written before the accident. There is a lengthy discussion here: http://willyougotothatland.blogspot.co.uk/ The poem was published in several places during 1845 and may have been published earlier.

[Quilisma]

Yes, there is quite a bit of speculation about who wrote this poem, and indeed when. (Google to the rescue...) It's not attributed on the memorial tablet. Those are very interesting parallels. I'm glad that Arthur Wills omitted the dodgy stanza. Another thing in the same category is "The Heavenly Aeroplane", from the 1930s, now known through John Rutter's setting, which was indeed an anthem here one Tuesday last term. And why not?

We note that "a certain somebody" appears by name in the psalms today. Awkward...

[mw963]

Brilliant that we should have the word TRUMP in the psalms, and that the P should be given such explosive articulation. One wonders whether the latter was officially sanctioned (perhaps even encouraged) or just a spur of the moment unauthorised "comment".

(Apologies Qu, hadn't read your final comment when I wrote mine).

[Finzi4ever]

Yes, there is quite a bit of speculation about who wrote this poem, and indeed when. (Google to the rescue...) It's not attributed on the memorial tablet. Those are very interesting parallels. I'm glad that Arthur Wills omitted the dodgy stanza. Another thing in the same category is "The Heavenly Aeroplane", from the 1930s, now known through John Rutter's setting, which was indeed an anthem here one Tuesday last term. And why not?

We note that "a certain somebody" appears by name in the psalms today. Awkward...

Yes, I see that made it onto Twitter - how horribly prophetic!

[Finzi4ever]

'O pray for the peace of America'...