Choral Conundrums

[ardcarp]

Hmm. I think I've got one of the composers, but I can't fit him in with the composition. I think I may be barking into the wind, if I may mix metaphors thus...

If you've got Stanford. try Justorum Animae!

[ardcarp]

...oh, sorry, I should have mentioned John Shepherd too. (We West Country folk often don't twig these pastoral allusions.)

[Simon]

Byrd was the one I got almost immediately; didn't spot Stanford till too late!

J A is a gem that I've loved since first I sang it, and is still the first piece to come to my mind when I think of Byrd. Yet I couldn't fit it in with the clue, as I was hung up on the fact that "simply no booze a" is an ideal anagram - "crazy state" - of an 8,6 answer and would you believe I spent a while trying to fit z into some kind of anthem title? "Zion" was as good as it got... Of course I see it all now...

I shall have to remember in future that decantor is a devious so-snd-so who deliberately misleads... Typical of anything to do with Dec, of course.

"Cantoris Rules OK". :cool2:

Nice one all!

[ardcarp]

Mrs Ardcarp made this one up. Shouldn't be too difficult. [Don't tell her I said that.]

No summer solstice celebrations and no lux perpetua for this one.

[decantor]

Mrs Ardcarp made this one up. Shouldn't be too difficult. [Don't tell her I said that.]

No summer solstice celebrations and no lux perpetua for this one.

Mrs Ardcarp is clearly very demanding. I hate to be begging for mercy, but is there any chance of a hint at what we're looking for (a title? a composer?), or maybe the number of letters involved if it's a cryptic?

[ardcarp]

decantor No jiggery pokery with anagrams and the like. You are looking for a very well-known piece and its composer. More hints in a day or two!

pp Mrs Ardcarp

[decantor]

My thanks to the gracious Mrs Ardcarp.

So now I would suggest "In the freezing conditions of the winter solstice", as set to music by Harold Darke (on whose soul luceat lux perpetua)

[Simon]

Nossun dorma?

Thank you, Mrs Ardcarp!

[ardcarp]

Well done decantor. Mrs Ardcarp is now well sozzled rejoicing in your victory, and sends, albeit incoherently, her appreciaton to you and Simon for your kind words.

[decantor]

Whilst a-pondering solstices, I was delivered of an idea for a different type of puzzle - quite trivial, and hardly worthy of the choral aficionados on this board. I hope you might be rewarded with a grin - though more likely with a groan - on your journey to a solution.

Percival Pigeon had lived all his young life on the roof of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. One thing in particular about his home enchanted him, and he decided that he would visit all similar cathedrals in England. Setting off at once, he was sorely tempted to go westwards, where he knew double delight lay within easy reach, but he stuck to his original plan. He skimmed without pause over the country’s third-most-ancient cathedral (or so he thought – his memory was less reliable than his sense of direction), built by St Dungulf or St Funguld or some such, and duly arrived at his first target, where St Samuel (he thought) had been murdered, and George (was it?) had written a verse play about it. He cooed in contentment to be there. Then he set off again, and landed on the spire of eponymous psalms – were they by St Richard? (He couldn’t quite remember). Quickly moving on to his next destination – and resisting the temptation to veer to starboard to the home of the patron saint of rain (or something like that) – he maintained the port tack and settled happily in view of sea, sail, and (perhaps?) of the Triumph. There he drew breath a while, as the next leg of his journey was long. He flew and flew, keeping to the coast, straight past a cathedral that made him think of Rome for some reason, to the much newer building where (he reckoned) Christmas carols had been invented by Bishop Hedges (was that right?) before being taken over by many others, and especially by royalty for relay to the world. Then another very long flight, now over land, winging his way without sideways glance between two cathedral foundations – both old, but one strangely called ‘new’ – until he was once more ensconced on favoured stones that had long ago witnessed the burning of a Bishop Swan (was that really his name?) and the interment of a king that had good reason to hate poker. After a short rest, he took off once more. Where, pray, was he headed now? And what exactly was his ‘original plan’?

[Simon]

Lovely stuff, decantor! I hope to have time to muse happily later...

[ardcarp]

Simon. I think I've got Rochester, Canterbury, Chichester, Winchester, Exeter, Truro and Gloucester...and did he fly p[ast Bristol and Wells?

... but not sure of:


-'all similar cathedrals' (what's similar to St Paul's?)
-the 'double delight' of the amnaesic pigeon's first thoughts
-where he was headed now

Don't tell us yet...someone might get it.

I like the poker bit!

[Simon]

It's not mine, ardcarp - the honour is decantor's!

I have more or less what you have, with a couple of additions, and I believe I have an inkling of what he might be after. But I need to check - and I also think like you that, as it's Wednesday and we'll have more visitors, others might like a shot at the full answer.

[ardcarp]

decantor ... I think we may need a bit of a nudge on the Percival Pigeom front. I'm being a bit dim about the 'double delight' within easy reach. OK cathedrals within easy reach are Wabbey and The Drome (is that the double delight?) or Southwark. And I'm afraid the last 2 sentences of your original question are proving a bit tricky. Any hints?

[decantor]

Ooops! Didn't mean to cause any mental torture.

Yes, 'double delight' refers to Wabbey & Drome, but NOT to Southwark.......(and that fact in itself contains an essential clue!)

Everything you declared in your earlier post (#27) was accurate and relevant, though there was an omission. Is that enough of a nudge? (Glad you enjoyed the poker!)