Choirs and Places....

[ardcarp]

https://quiresandplaces.co.uk/blogs/from-quires-places/o-may-we-soon-again-renew-that-song

[Keraulophone]

All so true.

‘Blest Pair’ was the anthem at my first cathedral service in Sept 1989, and it will also be the last this Sunday.

What a privilege it has been.

[Alison]

Well done Keraulophone and hope it goes well!

[Keraulophone]

hope it goes well!

Thank you, Alison.

I doubt that I’ll be able to sing the final page… ‘and sing in endless morn of light!’.

[DracoM]

Well done Keraulophone and hope it goes well!

[ardcarp]

Blest Pair was also the first anthem I sang aged 11. I absolutely adored it. It is indeed full of memorable 'tunes' and they rang around my head for years afterwards......and still do. Parry was an intersesting character and not at all a conformist, but he certainly had a melodic gift. I'd no idea what Milton's words were really about, but they were wonderful too, with those 'Golden Wires' and the 'Sapphire coloured throne'.

[jonfan]

Well done Keraulophone and hope it goes well!

[Petrushka]

I was only in a lowly Parish Church choir but vividly remember the very first item that I did with them (1965) was Psalm 42. The anthem we all loved, men and boys, was 'O Thou the Central Orb' by Charles Wood which still brings back many happy memories.

[jonfan]

Brought up a Methodist, I first experienced taking part in a CE at college and got hooked on the music and the disciplined structure of the liturgy. A 1966 Lenten CE in the college chapel stays in my mind where we sang ‘Drop, drop’ by Walton, ‘Vinea mea electa’ by Poulenc and ‘Lamentations’ by Bairstow - a trio of fabulous pieces! A string quartet played a piece by Kenneth Leighton as a voluntary, the composer being in the congregation.

[ardcarp]

As I'm sure everyone knows, Leighton himself set Drop, Drop Slow Tears as the final part of his Crucifixus Pro Nobis. (Pity the whole thing isn't done more often.) There must be something about the words which brings the best out of composers...even Orlando Gibbons' hymn setting. Not sure which version to choose for my funeral.

Interesting to hear about your 'conversion' to the Anglican repertoire, jonfan! It's great for the Forum that it happened, as you are a great contributor, if I may say so, and not a grumbler as many of us are.

It's Bairstow's The Lamentation (singular) BTW.

[Vox Humana]

There must be something about the words which brings the best out of composers...even Orlando Gibbons' hymn setting.

That inspired combination of words and music is truly deeply moving, but it's worth mentioning that the pairing is not Gibbons's. The tune is only the first quarter of what was originally a much longer one, set to much more cheerful words for Christmas, either as Song 47 as here, or Song 46 (whence the tune's name in modern hymn books)—depending on which edition you consult. (Wither's 'Hymnes and Songs of the Church' was published multiple formats, all set up separately and containing different variants; editing the tunes must be a bit of a nightmare.)

[jonfan]

Thanks for kind comments Mr A, red face here! The Leighton also generated the presence of the main music critic of the Yorkshire Post, Ernest Bradbury, equivalent in fame to Neville Cardus of the Manchester Guardian at the time. It must have been a new work of Leighton but Bradbury, a noted conservative in music circles, wrote more on how wonderful was the sung music and almost ignored the Leighton.

[jonfan]

All so true.

‘Blest Pair’ was the anthem at my first cathedral service in Sept 1989, and it will also be the last this Sunday.

What a privilege it has been.

A terrific final service for you to go out on with singing of the highest order. Wonderful controlled and intense psalm singing plus the thrilling Canticles and Anthem.