CE Southwark Cathedral Wed, April 4th

[DracoM]

CE Southwark Cathedral



Order of Service:



Introit: Salvator Mundi (Tallis)
Responses: Morley
Psalm: 88 (Howells)
First Lesson: Isaiah 63:1-9
Office Hymn: The royal banners forward go (Gonfalon Royal)
Canticles: The Short Service (Byrd)
Second Lesson: Revelation 14: 18 - 15 :4
Anthem: Miserere mei, Deus (Byrd)
Final Hymn: When you prayed beneath the trees (Witford)



Organ Voluntary: Crucifixion from Symphonie-Passion (Dupré)




Jonathan Hope (Organ Scholar)
Peter Wright (Organist)
Stephen Disley (Director of the Girls’ Choir)

[Simon]

Looks like a very pleasing programme.

[DracoM]

Reminder 3.30 p.m. today.

[Simon]

Nicely done, I thought. Some sweet dynamics. They made the best job of the anthem, IMO, as expected. Many thanks to all involved.

Shame we didn't get psalms 22 & 23, though - so many chants and settings to choose from for 23 that it seems an opportunity missed... And what happened to the old tune to Royal Banners?

bws to all

S-S!

[Caussade]

Nicely done, I thought. Some sweet dynamics. They made the best job of the anthem, IMO, as expected. Many thanks to all involved.

Shame we didn't get psalms 22 & 23, though - so many chants and settings to choose from for 23 that it seems an opportunity missed... And what happened to the old tune to Royal Banners?

bws to all

S-S!

Simon - Psalm 88 is appointed in the Common Worship Lectionary for the Wednesday in Holy Week, but you know that; so not a missed opportunity, rather a reflection of the cathedral's normal liturgical practice, which is still supposed, just about, to be the point of these broadcasts. Gonfalon Royal is surely not a new- fangled tune.

[DracoM]

Straightforward repertoire, forthrightly sung. For me, not enough light and shade - well, the men tried to, but the top line tended to be mf > ff throughout.
Liked the bright registration of the introit.

Thanks, Southwark.

[Simon]

Simon - Psalm 88 is appointed in the Common Worship Lectionary for the Wednesday in Holy Week, but you know that; so not a missed opportunity, rather a reflection of the cathedral's normal liturgical practice, which is still supposed, just about, to be the point of these broadcasts. Gonfalon Royal is surely not a new- fangled tune.

Thanks for the info. But I know nothing in detail about the Common Worship Lectionary and to my knowledge have never seen one. Most of the churches and cathedrals I manage to visit sing the same psalms as we did, which is what seems to happen on most CE broadcasts as well. But it's Southwark's choice, of course. [One could wonder why anybody saw any need to change what had been working perfectly well for several centuries, but not on this thread at the moment, perhaps.]

As to Gonfalon Royal, I didn't think it was new-fangled, though it was new to me. Everywhere else I've heard and/or sung that hymn, the tune has been Winchester New, which I imagine was written much earlier than the music we heard today, hence my use of the phrase "old tune".

[Wolsey]

As to Gonfalon Royal, I didn't think it was new-fangled, though it was new to me. Everywhere else I've heard and/or sung that hymn, the tune has been Winchester New, which I imagine was written much earlier than the music we heard today, hence my use of the phrase "old tune".

In my experience, Winchester New is usually associated at this time of the year with the hymn Ride on! Ride on in majesty. Gonfalon Royal (arguably one of the better Long Metre tunes) is set in the New English Hymnal as the alternative tune for the Office Hymn sung in this service, and is a worthy substitute for Vexilla Regis which would be better described as the 'old' tune. A little web research reveals that Sir Percy Buck wrote Gonfalon Royal specifically for The Royal banners; 'gonfalon' is an ancient Anglo-Norman word meaning 'banner'.

[pole_2_pole]

'gonfalon' is an ancient Anglo-Norman word meaning 'banner'.

+1 for this, very interesting! The Common Worship Lectionary choice of psalms for Holy Week tend to be used by the vast majority of cathedral nowadays...

[ardcarp]

I don't think I've ever sung anything else but Gonfalon Royal to The Royal Banners...and I go back quite a lomg way. What I didn't like was the last hymn. Yuk. Nicely sung service tho'. Well done Southwark.

[Finzi4ever]

I don't think I've ever sung anything else but Gonfalon Royal to The Royal Banners...and I go back quite a lomg way. What I didn't like was the last hymn. Yuk. Nicely sung service tho'. Well done Southwark.

I couldn't agree more about the truly awful Witford tune and ghastly, simpering words. What made it worse was that it was sandwiched between two works of great religious and emotional intensity: despite a 400 year age-gap between them, they both evoke the true spirit of Holy Week plaintively and effectively and yet they were both 'lessened' by this nauseating interpolated hymn.

[Vile Consort]

Did anyone detect any words in the singing?