CE Winchester 2017 Southern Cathedrals Fest Wed, 30th Aug

[Nick Armstrong]

Terrific performance of the Howells!! One of the best I've ever heard - amazing balance of power with accuracy and transparency of sound, especially given the forces involved. One to keep!

Oh and I loved Oliver Tarney's introit too.

[antongould]

Terrific performance of the Howells!! One of the best I've ever heard - amazing balance of power with accuracy and transparency of sound, especially given the forces involved. One to keep!

Oh and I loved Oliver Tarney's introit too.

Most excellent IMVVHO ..

[ardcarp]

I have been away from the UK for about six weeks and away from music of any kind. I listened to this CE on i-player this pm (via some good equipment) and tears were not far away. Experiencing afresh the amazing choral tradition we have, and hearing it so well executed and directed brought emotions to the surface that I didn't know I had! Long live the SCF and its combined choirs

[DracoM]

[Lizzie]

I hope our Andy has read these lovely comments. It truly was a very special service and an extra amazing SCF. it was my immense privilege to be there

[ardcarp]

I was quite interested in what 'Jane Austen' connections OliverTarny strove after in his very atmospheric introit. It is clearly a piece of our time, but were there hints of the late 18th/early 19th century? Jane Austen flourished at a time when (according to received wisdom) Anglican Church Music was at a low ebb. Boyce was earlier and SS Wesley was later, so it's hard to think of many (any?) repertoire pieces Jane Austen might have heard at Winchester. Ideas, anyone?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thomas Attwood and William Crotch were Austen's contemporaries. Any use?

[ardcarp]

Crotch has a charming little piece 'Lo star-led chiefs' which used to be sung quite a lot. There was also a pedagogic book called 'Crotch's Specimens' ! He did write a most ingenious retrogradable pslam chant. Attwood wrote 'Come Holy Ghost our souls inspire' and 'Teach me O Lord'...both also charming, but lightweight and not I think done much nowadays. Intriguing to think Jane Austen may have heard them.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There was also a pedagogic book called 'Crotch's Specimens' !

You're kidding???!!!

I want a copy!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Sadly, Specimens of Various Styles of Music referred to in a Course of Lectures read at Oxford and London, and Adapted to Keyed Instruments by William Crotch is "Currently Unavailable from Amazon in either its 1805 edition or the 1825 reprint.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I would also advise Forumistas to take great care when Googling "Crotch, specimens".

[vinteuil]

Sadly, Specimens of Various Styles of Music referred to in a Course of Lectures read at Oxford and London, and Adapted to Keyed Instruments by William Crotch is "Currently Unavailable from Amazon in either its 1805 edition or the 1825 reprint.

... abebooks is your friend -

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&an=crotch&tn=specimens&kn=&isbn=

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... abebooks is your friend -

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/S...mens&kn=&isbn=

[ardcarp]

I haven't referred to it in over 50 years, but don't expect to be gripped by it! However music history as seen from a different point in, er, history is interesting in itself. Another example: Studies of Great Composers by Parry.

[W.Kearns]

I was quite interested in what 'Jane Austen' connections OliverTarny strove after in his very atmospheric introit. It is clearly a piece of our time, but were there hints of the late 18th/early 19th century? Jane Austen flourished at a time when (according to received wisdom) Anglican Church Music was at a low ebb. Boyce was earlier and SS Wesley was later, so it's hard to think of many (any?) repertoire pieces Jane Austen might have heard at Winchester. Ideas, anyone?

According to her biographer Claire Tomalin, George Chard (1756-1849)- Winchester Cathedral's organist - gave the young Jane Austen piano lessons. Chard, broadly speaking, seems to have been more interested in horses and drinking than music. According to SS Wesley's friend Charles Knyvett, if he heard the horn while on his way to a pupil, '"Tally ho ...', says he ... and over hill & dale into the adjoining county, with or without the brush of the fox, wd brush into the first public house handy for brandy.' (Quoted by Peter Horton in his 2004 life of Samuel Sebastian Wesley.) Why the decorous parson Austen should have entrusted his daughter's musical education to this hothead is hard to grasp, but perhaps Chard was a breath of refreshing air. Horton comments that October 1849, when Wesley succeeded Chard at Winchester, he inherited his predecessor's 'rather old fashioned [C18th] repertoire.' I haven't checked, but distantly remember reading somewhere that Winchester's Dean of the time was fond of music by Capel Bond (1730-90) - not, I think, a name that features often in the present day.