CE from St Paul's Cathedral, SATURDAY 10 April 2021, 5 p.m. [L]

[mopsus]

A service in memory of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

Introit: Justorum animae (Stanford)
Responses: Byrd
Psalm 139 vv.1-18, 23-24 (Day, Soaper)
First Lesson: Job 19 vv.23-27
Office Hymn: Crossing the bar (Parry)
Canticles: Evening Service in G (Francis Jackson)
Second Lesson: Revelation 21 vv.1-7
Anthem: How lovely is thy dwelling place (Brahms)
Hymn: Jerusalem the golden (Ewing)
Voluntary: Organ Sonata in A minor (Adagio espressivo) (Harris)

Simon Johnson (Organist)
Andrew Carwood (Director of Music)

Note the non-standard day and time for a Radio 3 evensong broadcast. Saw it and thought I'd better do a heads-up. We have Prince Philip to thank for the existence of Britten's Jubilate in C (probably thought not solemn enough for this occasion).

[Quilisma]

In case anybody is interested, we managed to arrange this evensong for today... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlzH_1FmqGk (I think Lincoln also did a special evensong today, but as far as I know there weren't any others, owing not just to the current circumstances but to it still being the week following Easter Day.)

[underthecountertenor]

A service in memory of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

Introit: Justorum animae (Stanford)
Responses: Byrd
Psalm 139 vv.1-18, 23-24 (Day, Soaper)
First Lesson: Job 19 vv.23-27
Office Hymn: Crossing the bar (Parry)
Canticles: Evening Service in G (Francis Jackson)
Second Lesson: Revelation 21 vv.1-7
Anthem: How lovely is thy dwelling place (Brahms)
Hymn: Jerusalem the golden (Ewing)
Voluntary: Organ Sonata in A minor (Adagio espressivo) (Harris)

Simon Johnson (Organist)
Andrew Carwood (Director of Music)

Note the non-standard day and time for a Radio 3 evensong broadcast. Saw it and thought I'd better do a heads-up. We have Prince Philip to thank for the existence of Britten's Jubilate in C (probably thought not solemn enough for this occasion).

Petroc Trelawny cannily gave the Jubilate an outing in last night’s sequence presented by him.

[Constantbee]

Repeated on Sunday at 3pm? At first sight I thought it was a second live broadcast. The Francis Jackson Evening Service in G should impress the faithful in our area.

[Keraulophone]

Petroc Trelawny cannily gave the Jubilate an outing in last night’s sequence presented by him.

It has been said that ‘a few eyebrows were raised on its premier’.

From a note by Martin Ennis for the Wabbey recording on Hyperion:

Though the music’s tone is generally buoyant, some of the word-setting is reminiscent of Stravinsky’s ‘alienating’ practices, found most notably in the Symphony of Psalms. ‘Be thankful unto him’, for example, is set not as a hymn of praise, but in a whisper over a long organ chord. History doesn’t record the Duke’s reaction.

IMO it’s a wonderful setting, highly characteristic of the great composer in the 1960s.

[DracoM]

Thank you for doing my job.

[Keraulophone]

Crossing the Bar


Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.


ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON


I read this at my father’s funeral. He was one year older than the Duke and experienced similar wartime naval service.
Parry’s setting is hymn-like, sober but effective.

[Pulcinella]

It has been said that ‘a few eyebrows were raised on its premier’.

From a note by Martin Ennis for the Wabbey recording on Hyperion:

Though the music’s tone is generally buoyant, some of the word-setting is reminiscent of Stravinsky’s ‘alienating’ practices, found most notably in the Symphony of Psalms. ‘Be thankful unto him’, for example, is set not as a hymn of praise, but in a whisper over a long organ chord. History doesn’t record the Duke’s reaction.

IMO it’s a wonderful setting, highly characteristic of the great composer in the 1960s.

The premiere was given in Leeds Parish Church on 8 October 1961, according to Michael Kennedy, but he doesn't say what the event was.
He also doesn't say when it was first performed at Windsor, or when the Duke first heard it.

[Keraulophone]

The premiere was given in Leeds Parish Church on 8 October 1961, according to Michael Kennedy, but he doesn't say what the event was.
He also doesn't say when it was first performed at Windsor, or when the Duke first heard it.

The piece was composed for St George’s Chapel, Windsor though the premier was, as you point out, rather strangely in Leeds. It must have been a few Yorkshire eyebrows that were been raised. Presumably its first Windsor outing must have been soon after; I’ll try to find out when.

Paul Spicer writes that Prince Philip went so far as to suggest a congregational Mass to Britten:

The C major Jubilate has overshadowed everything else partly because it is refreshingly bright, easy to sing and compared with traditional settings is a breath of fresh air. It was commissioned by the Duke of Edinburgh but Britten initially resisted his first approach saying ‘to try and make bricks out of the Morning Prayer would be a step into the past – the whole tendency is towards the People’s Mass’. But Prince Philip persisted saying he was happy to commission a congregational mass as well. So the Jubilate was written, a Te Deum was started but never finished (there was after all the earlier Te Deum in the same key), and later we found that he had also written a setting of the Venite. This setting was only found after Britten’s death but is a fascinating a rather beautiful contemplative chant-like setting although it builds to a heady climax at the temptation in the wilderness.

[ardcarp]

there was after all the earlier Te Deum in the same key

An excellent piece it is too. I don't think I know the Venite setting. Amy links to it?

[Pulcinella]

An excellent piece it is too. I don't think I know the Venite setting. Amy links to it?

Three listings at Presto, though no performers listed for one, so it might be a duplication.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/search?search_query=britten%20venite

PS: No, the alto release is a different performance: Trinity Cambridge/Marlow

https://altocd.com/product/alc1433/

[Miles Coverdale]

… and later we found that he had also written a setting of the Venite. This setting was only found after Britten’s death but is a fascinating a rather beautiful contemplative chant-like setting although it builds to a heady climax at the temptation in the wilderness.[/I]

I thnk Mr Spicer is being rather kind to it. Having taken part in a performance of it once, I can see why it was left in a drawer.

[cat]

In case anybody is interested, we managed to arrange this evensong for today... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlzH_1FmqGk (I think Lincoln also did a special evensong today, but as far as I know there weren't any others, owing not just to the current circumstances but to it still being the week following Easter Day.)

CCCO did one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZMmmYdcVXE

I haven't had time to view any yet, but will look forward to watching them if we don't get a choral funeral.

[Quilisma]

CCCO did one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZMmmYdcVXE

I haven't had time to view any yet, but will look forward to watching them if we don't get a choral funeral.

Ah, OK, thanks. Yes, I suspect there could have been several more that we didn't know about. We were just lucky that almost all of us regulars were available and several others were happy to come in and be part of it. One suspects that many details of the order of service will have been drafted and on file quite a long time in advance, such is the nature of these things.

[Keraulophone]

I thnk Mr Spicer is being rather kind to it. Having taken part in a performance of it once, I can see why it was left in a drawer.

Agreed. While singing Britten’s The Sycamore Tree carol I have a similar doubtful feeling about the awkward writing, though it’s very clever for a teenager. It’s so rarely done that a 2012 Truro CC Britten disc for Regent had to be mined for Decca’s Complete Britten collection.