CE St Edmundsbury Cathedral 26th September 2012

[ardcarp]

I was very surprised to hear this tune in a non-Catholic context.

Tunes, surely, cross the Catholic/Protestant divide quite readily? As a postgrad student, I taught part-time at a Convent school and part of my duties included playing for some of the Chapel services, always under the watchful eye of a moustachio-ed sister/chaperone. Having been reared as a prot, this was quite a new experience, but I can clearly recall the first hymn that was thrust at me, Mary Immaculate, Star of the Morning. It was sung to the same tune as Brightest and Best...the lovely Bach-harmonised Lutheran chorale. And, boy, could those girls sing!

[Mr Stoat]

Tunes, surely, cross the Catholic/Protestant divide quite readily? As a postgrad student, I taught part-time at a Convent school and part of my duties included playing for some of the Chapel services, always under the watchful eye of a moustachio-ed sister/chaperone. Having been reared as a prot, this was quite a new experience, but I can clearly recall the first hymn that was thrust at me, Mary Immaculate, Star of the Morning. It was sung to the same tune as Brightest and Best...the lovely Bach-harmonised Lutheran chorale. And, boy, could those girls sing!

"Stella" has appeared in a number of books of many denominations. I just randomly picked up AMR and it is there at No 203

[Simon]

Blessed be the God and Father, probably.

Indeed.

Also abbreviated as BB the G&F, at least when it has been mentioned in the past on here.

[jean]

Catholics have adopted a lot of Protestant tunes in recent years, although of course many Anglican tunes especially are adaptations of original plainsong melodies, but there's not been so much traffic the other way I'd say - probably because modern Catholic hymns are mostly so horrible.

This one was first published in Henri Frederick Hemy's Easy Hymn Tunes for Catholic Schools (1851), (it says here).

I'd never heard it to another text, and I was interested in the Stella coincidence

[Roger Judd]

Irritatingly I was relying on iPlayer to hear this one. I heard up to the second lesson, but on picking up the thread later was denied, being told that I needed to upgrade the technology, which my ageing Mac couldn't support. What I did manage to hear made this all the more frustrating, because up to that point the service was being really well put across - I especially enjoyed the introit, and the unmannered delivery of the Psalm - as an earlier writer said, there was a real sense of listening in to the daily offering.

It is greatly to St Edmundsbury's credit that they can broadcast so confidently so early in the term - congratulations to all involved - I wish i could have heard it all.

à propos the side theme of coldness in church, having been Arthur Wills assistant at Ely I can vouch for the intensity of the cold during the depths of winter. The Gurney stoves (or Victorias, being squat, black and with a little crown on top!) were worse than useless - the coke fumes frequently filled the building with acrid smells and smoke. In those days I drove a 1949 MG TD, and I wore more layers to play the organ than to drive the car! Not for nothing was a pathway around the east end of the Cathedral known as 'pneumonia alley'!
RJ

[Op. XXXIX]

à propos the side theme of coldness in church, having been Arthur Wills assistant at Ely I can vouch for the intensity of the cold during the depths of winter. The Gurney stoves (or Victorias, being squat, black and with a little crown on top!) were worse than useless - the coke fumes frequently filled the building with acrid smells and smoke. In those days I drove a 1949 MG TD, and I wore more layers to play the organ than to drive the car! Not for nothing was a pathway around the east end of the Cathedral known as 'pneumonia alley'!
RJ

Very interesting, Roger. Would love to hear more about your experiences with Arthur Wills. I have only visited Ely during warmer months (terrific Moore Second Service I recall), but weren't those Gurney stoves not converted to gas until about 1987? Also, the City of Ely seems to have been lit by gas lights until the 1960's.

[DracoM]

Ely has [a] one of the most gorgeous acoustics to sing in - the Lady Chapel. BUT [b] it is also the coldest place I have ever rehearsed and sung in.

Ely in a merciless, grey February reminds you of exactly how endemic hypothermia must have subverted Hereward the Wake's bid for glory.

[Roger Judd]

Yes, the acoustics of the Lady Chapel are truly wonderful. When I worked there we sang services in the Lady Chapel only once or twice, which was a great sadness. A totally different approach was required from singing in the main body of the Cathedral if any sense of the music was to be achieved. The main building's acoustic was also interesting because, although a huge space, music never got muddied up - clarity was preserved right to the west door - perhaps the Nave's wooden ceiling helped with that.

Incidentally, John Rutter's very earliest carol discs were recorded in the Lady Chapel - though hopefully not in the winter!
RJ

[bach736]

You'd be much more comfortable in the Ely Lady Chapel today, RJ - it has underfloor central heating.
Evensong is sung in there quite often as is Compline in Advent and Lent.

[DracoM]

Sounds like a win-win for any choir and their congregation!

[mopsus]

Having just sung at Ely with a visiting choir, I should add that the October half-term is not the best time to visit, as we were told that the heating is not turned on in the main body of the Cathedral until Remembrance Sunday. (I don't know when it goes off again!)

[DracoM]

Remembrance Sunday afternoon at about 5.30 if my memory of singing there in an early Dec CE is anything to go by.

[MrGongGong]

Ely has [a] one of the most gorgeous acoustics to sing in - the Lady Chapel.

If you must sing in a stable

[Finzi4ever]

If you must sing in a stable

How appropriate for December, but I assume you're referring to Cromwell.