Don’t miss it!

The results of the recordings recently made at St Mary’s Cathedral will be seen as part of the next three Songs of Praise programmes.

Each programme features Sally Magnusson and they represent three journeys in the West Highlands. The first heads for Cumbrae and Bute.

So switch-on to BBC1, at 5pm on Sunday 8th, 15th and 22nd August…you might even recognise bits of our lovely building.

Copy and Paste…

Some of us were at St Mary’s Cathedral last night to help in the preparation of a series of three ’Songs of Praise ‘ TV Programmes (actually there were about a million other singers there too!).

It was somewhat bizarre because there were no cameras or camerapersons gliding up and down the aisle, or zooming in on an enthusiastic singer. No, just a small booklet with 6 hymns, microphones all over the place, a brass ensemble, organist, a large number of people walking round with headphones and noteboards, and a conductor on an elevated podium, so that we could all see him.

We were there for the first of two evenings; this one was to simply practise and record the sound tape for the six hymns….(did I say ‘simply’?).

To get several hundred singers, with various skill-levels, and the occasional prima-donna thrown in, to sing as a coherent group, and in time with the organ, the brass ensemble, and the conductor, was no mean task! The Conductor was as fullsome in his praise as he was un-compromising in his criticism. It was not only him who had to be pleased because there was an independent Music Advisor and the Executive Producer. Each ‘take’ had to be assessed by all and approved by each in turn. I don’t think there were more than three ‘takes’ for any of them…thank goodness!

There was a lot of standing up and sitting down, and by the end of the 3 1/2 hours, we were all very tired! Tomorrow night we go for the ‘visuals’ where they use the cameras, and the music is conducted but not recorded. We will only hear the recordings we made last night and it is conducted to that speed. The cameras do their work of looking for viewable faces and shots of the building. The sound and vision will all be patched together so that it looks like it was all done at one time. No doubt the presenter, soloists, choir etc will be included and the finished results will seem joined-up.

Must go and get my shirt ironed, hair tidied, and teeth polished for tomorrow night!….have to please my audience after all!

Pick of the crop!

We’re coming up to the season of the year when people sing hymns and carols which may have some resonance for them.

I would love to know which are your favourites….two old carols and two ‘new’ ones. I will then endeavour to make a list of the favourites of those who come to this blog.

To get it started, my ‘old’ favourites are probably…’See amid the winter’s snow’, and ‘O Come all ye faithful’

The new ones would have to be ‘O Holy Night’…(Cantique de Noel) and Rutter’s  ’Shepherd’s Pipe carol’

BUT LET’S  HEAR YOURS……………….just click on Comments, and type in…..

Relevant Hymns?

Thought you might be interested in the following hymn definitions….any others?

Hymn Titles By Occupation

Dentist’s Hymn………………………….Crown Him with Many Crowns
The Publican’s Hymn……………..Crossing the Bar

Weatherman’s  Hymn……….There Shall Be Showers of Blessings
Contractor’s Hymn………………….The Church’s One Foundation
The Tailor’s Hymn……………………………………….Holy, Holy, Holy
The Golfer’s Hymn…………………………There is a Green Hill Far Away
The Politician’s Hymn………………………….Standing on the Promises
Optometrist’s Hymn…………………..Open My Eyes That I Might See
The Gossiper’s Hymn…………………………………………..Pass It On
The Electrician’s Hymn……………………………………Send The Light
The Shopper’s Hymn………………………………..Sweet By and By
The House Agent’s Hymn…………………………….I’ve Got a Mansion
The Massage Therapists Hymn……………….He Touched Me
The Doctor’s Hymn………………………The Great Physician

AND for those who speed on the highway – a few hymns:

45mph……………………………God Will Take Care of You
65mph…………………………Nearer My God To Thee
85mph…………………This World Is Not My Home
95mph………………….Lord, I’m Coming Home
100mph………………….Precious Memories

Crimond

Today, at the Cathedral, we used a tune so well-known to church-goers and non-church-goers alike, that it is one of the favourites used at Burial Services (you just have to lookat the most-thumbed page in Burial Service Sheets!). The words are a paraphrase of Psalm 23, and the name of the tune is Crimond.

Jessie Seymour Irvine was born in July 1836, the daughter of a Scottish clergyman who served in Peterhead, and then in the village of Crimond, in Aberdeenshire. Whilst studying the organ, she wrote a tune, which was harmonised by David Grant in 1872, when it appeared in the Northern Psalter. It was thought that the original tune was by Grant but in the 1929 Scottish Psalter, she was acknowledged as the composer.

It seems to be a perfect example of the Scottish Psalter compositions, and whilst to some it may smack of sentimentality but it does have that simplicity of tune which makes it easy to learn and remember, and difficult to forget….it truly passes the ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’.

She died in 1887 and is buried in St Machar’s Cathedral, in Aberdeen…..and while she is mainly remembered for this tune alone….surely that is sufficient epitaph alone!

The Wonderful Wesleys!

If I dropped the word ‘Wesley’ into a dinner-party conversation, there is a reasonable chance that someone would say ‘Methodist’. ….but maybe not much more. In fact within a relatively-small family there was a large amount of (largely-unknown) talent.

Many people know the phrase at the beginning of the Methodist Hymn Book

Rev John Wesley

which says ‘Methodism was born in song’, and this was largely due to the brothers John and Charles, who were both Anglican Ministers  but decided  to set up a new church …and we now know this as Methodism.

The two brothers showed a considerable appreciation of music, as well as the emotional effect which music can have within worship. John (1703-1791) was a friend of Pepusch, who arranged the music for ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ .

Charles  (1707-1788) had two sons (Charles Jnr., and Samuel) who as children, gave musical concerts at their father’s home in Marylebone.

Charles .Jnr (1757-1834) could, before he was three, play on the harpsichord, any tune he heard, adding a correct bass. He was an organist at various London churches, and composed choral and organ works.  The promise of this child prodigy was never completely fulfilled.

His brother, Samuel (1766-1837) was also a gifted child. By eight he had composed an oratorio. He became the finest organ soloist of his day, and was a great extemporizer, composer of choral music, he was one of  the first to recognise and promote the music of J.S.Bach, and was a friend of Mendelssohn. In his late teens he temporarily joined the Roman Catholic Church, and at 21 he fell into a street excavation, and was incapacitated for some seven years.

Samuel had a son, Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876) who certainly continued the talent. He was a chorister of the Chapel Royal, and then organist of three London churches, where he showed his expertise in extemporization. Prime Minister Gladstone recommended that Queen Victoria give him a civil list pension of £100 per year. He is still well remembered by church musicians for his anthems, hymns, and services.

Another child of Samuel Wesley, was Eliza Wesley (1819-1895), who was 40 years a church organist and published correspondence from Bach to her father. Other  brothers included…R Glenn Wesley,who was an organist at the Cathedral of Methodism ; Rev Charley Wesley, sub-Dean of the Chapel Royal; Matthew Erasmus Wesley, who was treasurer of the Royal College of Organists; Rev Francis Gwynne Wesley who bequeathed a scholarship to the Royal College of Music for the study of Extemporizing; and Gertrude Wesley who was a soprano and harpist……when the Wesley line finished.

SOME FAMILY!

Why an Apple Tree?

Along with the Authorised parts of the Bible there is a group of books which did not have the full backing of the Canonical Committee who decided what should be ‘in’ and what should be left ‘out’.  And so the the Apocrapha contains some of the ‘doubtful’ ones which still have something to offer.

                                                                                                                                        

 And so it is with some of our carols. Some are based on delightful stories, such as ‘Good King Wenceslas’, some such as ‘Candlemas Eve Carol’  and ‘The Holly and the Ivy’talk of the woodlands, plants  and trees, whilst others such as ‘The Cherry Tree Carol’, about the life of Joseph are pure stories. And yet others such as ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ are quite nonsensical.

Recently at the Cathedral we heard the haunting piece ‘Jesus Christ the Apple Tree’. Why should this carol (nothing to do with Christmas!) hold some special place in our psyche. Even Archbishop Robert Runcie loved it. It could be called an allegorical poem and was written with a very-simple verse construction by an anonymous New Englander, appearing  in a collection in New Hampshire in 1784, so the words have been around for a long time. Open a Bible at The Song of Solomon, and you find in Chapter 2, lovely references to the Rose of Sharon, the lily, and, yes, there it is, the apple tree. The words of the carol refer directly to the Biblical verses….so no mystery there.

The music is extremely simple. Written in the key of C, with no incidentals it is easy to learn and memorise. It sounds a bit like a form of plainchant with many repeated notes. Also when sung it usually begins in unison and graduallybecomes more rich with other parts coming in. It was written by Elizabeth Poston, who only died in 1987.

So, another quirky set of words which add to the wonderfully-diverse tapestry of worship we have available to us.

How well do you know Carol?

 

Some facts you might not have known about Christmas Carols:-

 

• Originally a Carol was not a religious song, but a secular dance, often in triple time.
• The carol ‘In Dulci Jubilo’, when the words are sung as a mixture of English (from the German), and Latin, is an example of a ‘macaronic carol’. The melody can be found in a 14th century manuscript in Leipzig University.
• The wonderful combination of Charles Wesley and Felix Mendelssohn gave us ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’.
• The tune of the French carol ‘Whence is that Goodly Fragrance’ later appeared as the rousing drinking song ‘Fill ev’ry glass, for wine inspires us’ in John Gay’s ‘The Beggars Opera’ in the 18th Century. I remember well singing it with the Kirkie Players some 16 years ago!
• ‘Good King Wenceslas’ originally appeared in Piae Cantiones in 1582, as a Spring carol. It was only about 150 years ago that the 10th Century story of Saint Wenceslas of Bohemia was told. After his father died, he encouraged Christianity in Bohemia, against the wishes of his mother, and was murdered by his brother Buleslav.
• The Romans used Holly to decorate their houses at the feast of Saturnalia, which occurred in the winter season. Ivy was dedicated by them, to Bacchus from the idea that it warded-off drunken-ness!
• The Coventry Carol (‘Lul-ly, lul-lay’) is one of the oldest English Carols. The original tune comes from 1591 and was sung in the Coventry Plays of that era.
• There are several Wassailling Songs. The word Wassail means ‘Keep You Well’.
• Czechoslovakia has provided a number of lovely quiet carols including the ‘Rocking Carol’, ‘The Birds’, and ‘The Zither Carol’. ‘Infant Holy’ is from Poland.
• ‘We Three Kings of Orient Are’ was written in 1857 by Dr J.H.Hopkins of Pennsylvania, one of very few well-known carols from the USA.

 

So give a thought, when next singing over Christmas, that the words and music may have had a very strange history!

 

 

A tale of two composers

We attended an art exhibition and musical sing-along at Glasgow’s St Mary’s Cathedral on Saturday night, which is celebrating All Saints’ Tide. The Cathedral serves as a perfect gallery, and the pictures which were by local artists were certainly eclectic.

However, we were there specifically to see two of Scotland’s most prominent composers who had been involved in the planning and execution of the evening which was called ‘Celebrating Three Loves’.

Neither John Bell, nor James MacMillan, can say that they enjoy universal appeal. In this they are no more fortunate than any other composer or writer. In many ways they are different……

•  John (on the left of the above photo) is a Church of Scotland Minister, extrovert in nature, has a somewhat outrageous dress-sense, achieves an instant rapport with an audience, often writes both words and tunes in his hymns, draws on many traditional secular Scottish tunes, which he then adapts. His great association with Wild Goose Publications and the Iona Community shows the historical background of Scottish religion which he utilises. He also likes a lot of Third-world music and words, and much of this appeared in the programme.  We have a fair experience of his music at the Cathedral and the vast majority is easy to sing. It appears to grow out of nature and relates to contemporary problems of life.

 

• James comes from a Catholic background (he and his wife are lay Dominicans), and like John Bell, his faith is very important to him in his personal and musical life. St Anne’s Mass and the Galloway Mass are relatively simple and are suitable for congregational singing. His Mass of 2000 was written for Westminster Cathedral much of it only suitable for liturgical use. He seems to be a much more reserved and introverted person, but perhaps that is not the experience of those who work with him. His music seem to me to be very inward-looking, and comes from deep within his own psyche.

Quite a bit of the evening’s music was written by one or the other. Of course you can’t compare chalk and cheese, and any comments must be made on the merits of any piece to which one is listening. I listened intently to each piece, and whilst not everything was to my particular liking, I had to admit that the whole evening gave us a rare insight into the talent which is about today within our small country. As long as we can all pick and choose the pieces we like, then all is well in our musical firmament……especially when it can be played and sung by the marvellour musicians of St Mary’s.

And again….and again….and again

Many of our hymns have a refrain which follows every verse. Now this a surely a strange word to use, considering the other meaning which is …to NOT do something!….).

It is actually an organist’s nightmare! To keep me in touch with where I am in accompanying a hymn, I keep listening to the words of the last line of each verse, just before the refrain comes along. I remember once losing the place, and was unsure where I was in the hymn. Luckily I guessed correctly and stopped at the right place.

On one other occasion, I started playing another verse and when I noticed, I just took the opportunity to extemporise, and was complimented later for it….talk about serendipity!

But why do we have refrains?…….I don’t think a refrain, when repeated so often, adds anything to the value of the wordage, and smacks slightly of Sunday School Choruses….but maybe someone has other ideas!