Low Notes 5
By David Ward
November 2016. This is the latest in an erratic series of newsletters about the choir that will include information about what we are singing plus irrelevant ramblings and observations from the back row of the basses.
I don’t like to say (or even sing) this too loudly, but I think I’m getting the hang of the material for the Christmas concert. Or at least I’m getting the hang of it when I am securely jammed between two far more competent singers lending support in left and right ears.
Some of what we are doing is tricky (you can say – or sing – that again) and I have had to use both fingers and toes to help keep count in some of those swiftly changing bars. The opening of Donald’s piece has brought out the coarse actor in me and further on he serves us up a terrific tune which has found its way into my bathroom repertoire.
Cecilia McDowall’s Missa Brevis is a lovely setting, even if it pushes singers such as me to the limits of their competence (and sometimes beyond). But it’s worth the effort; it’s real music by a composer with a distinctive voice. Mind you, the Linguae Ignis motet in the middle is driving me nuts and my tongue turns to fire when I try to get the broken syllables right.
The Vaughan Williams Fantasia trips me up with its rhythm changes but the lovely opening folk tune makes it all worthwhile. Though I must remember when to hum closed and when open.
One full practice and dress rehearsal to go as I write so, with a bit of luck, we should be fine – so long as we can transfer our competence to St Oswald’s with ease. I don’t want to push my luck but I sense a collective determination to go for it on the day. Let’s flog lots of ticket
And then there are the carols, both trad and new. I’m never going to be John Rutter’s biggest fan, which is perhaps why I very much enjoyed this cartoon, which Steve Thorpe sent me:
Here’s a link to a carol session in the Royal Hotel, Dungworth, near Sheffield, at which, as far as I know, no Rutter carol has yet been heard. There are carol sessions every Sunday lunchtime from Remembrance Sunday until Christmas; the place is packed and the carols unusual. There are usually at least five versions of While Shepherds Watched. I’ll be there the Sunday before Christmas – I’ve learned the words and bass parts by osmosis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoXN8jth7p8
And here’s another unusual Christmas piece, a fuging tune by Daniel Read, one of the great New England composers of the time of the American Revolution. I love it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmhUWZJaT4o
Enough of this self-indulgence. Our Messiah for All is approaching fast: it’s on Tuesday 13 December and tickets will be available at our final practice and by phone on 01625 261933. Our charity this year is Action Duchenne, which supports young people with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
If you go to Choir Events on the choir website and click on Messiah for All, then Read More and the Learn About Action Duchenne, you can read an account by Trish Kerrison, sister of one of my neighbours, whose two sons have the condition. It’s a very good cause.
Most people know that Handel rehearsed Messiah in Chester (and shouted at an inept bass; we’re always in trouble) before the first performance of the oratorio in Dublin. Less well known is that its first performance in any church in England was at Church Lawton in Leicestershire on 26 September 1759, five months after Handel died. The vicar wanted a Handel festival to raise funds for a public library and a college.
The performance turned out to be quite an occasion and I would love to have been there. The vicar reported that the locals were terrified by the whole affair. Since “few had ever heard anything of the kind by such a band, most of them were struck into seeming statues. Some of the common people were frightened and hurried out of the church with all speed: for hearing the kettle drums, which they took to be thunder, and the trumpets sounding in the midst of such heavenly noise, they thought…that the Day of Judgement was really come indeed.”
More than 20,000 people were said to have turned up (it must have been a bit sweaty in the church) and there was a traffic jam of carriages.
I’ve known about this for years and have always meant to go to Church Lawton to try to imagine this wondrous event. But I haven’t got there yet. Perhaps we should have a choir outing…
I forgot about the last choir committee meeting and the others have taken their revenge by electing me vice-chairman in my absence. Which I think is the sort of dirty trick Donald Trump might play if he were in a choir.
Enough. Enjoy the concert and have a happy Christmas.