Choral Evening Prayer Westminster Cathedral November, 2nd 2011

[DracoM]

Endorsed 100%.

[Chris Watson]

This is the first time I've heard one of the St Thomas webcasts (I always try to hear them live when I am in NY, and it's one of my favourite churches anywhere) and I'm definitely going to listen to more. What wonderful singing!

[ardcarp]

Hi Chris. Good to hear from you again. Any comments about WCC's broadcast, or is that a big ask?

BWs

a.

[Finzi4ever]

Are you still singing at the Drome Chris and/or were you 'on' on Wed? Apols for not spotting dulcet tones if so, but testament to fantastic blend also!

[Chris Watson]

I do sing there sometimes, but I left in 2004. I wasn't there this week, and will listen properly this evening. My initial thoughts on hearing the first 5 mins was that the Requiem was a little slower than I take it with my choir (but then it is an enormous building!) and that they weren't best served by the BBC engineers (and if that is the case it wouldn't be for the first time......). I do, however, sing at Merton quite a bit, and was there for their broadcast (thanks Ardcarp for liking the tenors and thinking they didn't sound too old!) and can say with certainty that the Beeb failed to capture the sound of the building - unlike Paul Baxter of Delphian Records, who has made a few excellent CDs there with Merton (their 1st disc is just out and sounds wonderful) and Tewkesbury Abbey (who have just done a Mozart disc, due for release this month, with possibly the best treble solo singing ever heard!).

[DracoM]

Have you heard NCO / Higginbottom doing Mozart Req? All male including boy soloists? Worth more than a second listen. And I certainly echo your disappointment with the BBC engineers for the Merton Coll CE. VERY dry indeed, did not do the singers any favours IMO. Made it sound very boxy.

[bach736]

I've often thought that it would be a nice ecumenical gesture if Westminster Cathedral did a broadcast of Choral Evensong now and again.
VCC.

I've often thought that it would be a nice ecumenical gesture if we gave them back some of the churches we nicked.

[Simon Biazeck]

I've often thought that it would be a nice ecumenical gesture if we gave them back some of the churches we nicked.

Yes, please! Hilarious - not enough humour here - thank you!

[Magnificat]

I've often thought that it would be a nice ecumenical gesture if we gave them back some of the churches we nicked.

bach736

They don't want them back - as illustrated by the famous story about York Minster when it was being underpinned ( I think ) at great expense some years ago.

An Anglican vicar and a Roman Catholic priest were passing by and the latter said to the former " I'm glad it's not ours anymore."

VCC

[jean]

St Etheldreda's Ely Place must be the only pre-Reformation church they've succeeded in hanging on to.

http://www.stetheldreda.com/history.html

[vinteuil]

St Etheldreda's Ely Place must be the only pre-Reformation church they've succeeded in hanging on to.

http://www.stetheldreda.com/history.html

... I think that's right.

But an hon: mention for Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street; and for St James, Spanish Place...

https://www.findachurch.co.uk/search/church_view.php?church_id=10704

https://www.roughguides.com/travel/europe/england/london/marylebone/st-jamess-church-spanish-place.aspx

[Nick Armstrong]

St Etheldreda's Ely Place must be the only pre-Reformation church they've succeeded in hanging on to.

http://www.stetheldreda.com/history.html

I work near there, and love that place and its environs... At the end of Ely Place is a door in the enormous wooden door leading to Bleeding Heart Yard, one of the main locations in Dickens's "Little Dorrit", and now the location of the delightful Bleeding Heart brasserie. They also own the Crypt of St Etheldreda's where the ominous Henry VIII wedding feast occurred (as referred to in the article in jean's excellent link), and where one can feast oneself nowadays http://www.bleedingheart.co.uk/crypt/index.php

And next door is the wonderful and diminutive Mitre Tavern, as atmospheric a place for a pint as any I know, especially if one wants a dose of Dickensian atmos free of traffic noise etc...http://www.pubs.com/main_site/pub_de...php?pub_id=165

[jean]

But an hon: mention for Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street; and for St James, Spanish Place...

Not quite pre-Reformation, though! But a relic of the times when one could hear the otherwise proscribed Catholic liturgy in churches which were (I think) technically within the territory of the embassies they served.

(The last time I heard the Victoria was at St James, Spanish Place, in the context of a full Tridentine Requiem Mass at the funeral of a dear friend earlier this year.)

[Magnificat]

Although Anglican pre - Reformation churches are no longer owned by the Catholic church there are many examples of The Cof E welcoming their use by local Catholics.

St Albans Abbey, for example, is very strong on ecumenism generally and was a pioneer in having chaplains from all the major denominations and has at least one Roman Catholic Honoraray Canon as a member of its College of Canons.

The local Catholics have a regular Friday Mass in the beautiful Lady Chapel which they are encouraged to treat as their own and the local Roman Catholic boys independent school has donated a new and rather lovely stained glass window to commemorate a school anniversary and fill one of the existing plain glass windows with colour and it also provides boys for the choir.

Personally, although I have been brought up as a member of the Cof E and am at home in it, I am not a supporter of denominational Christianity. I love the liturgy, music and ritual etc but for me as an individual and for anyone else who calls themselves a Christian it is not necessary and nor is most of the doctrine of the various churches. All that is necessary is to be able to accept The Lord's Prayer, Apostles' Creed and the Ten Commandments and Christ's new commandment to love one another.

Jesus never dictated any doctrine other than this, any liturgy, or any other form of Church organisation to St Peter as far as I am aware and would think, I am sure, that all the denominational set - ups we have at present and have had for centuries are ridiculous.

Since we do have them the best we can hope for in the forseeable future is unity without uniformity and to share our churches.

VCC

[ardcarp]

All that is necessary is to be able to accept The Lord's Prayer, Apostles' Creed and the Ten Commandments

I wonder if the Unitarians fall within your parameters?

There is, incidentally, a shared cemetery (Anglican and RC) not far from my home, and I think that is rare if not unique. The ultimate ecumenical gesture, perhaps?