Tenor or bass?

 

From my early choral youth, I sang tenor after my voice broke. Maybe this was because father, cousins and uncles all sang tenor, and there was an immense amount of pride in who could sing highest.

However as musical education and experience continued and increased, I was informed sagely by one of my uncles (who still sings in his 90’s!) that if I ever wanted to conduct or write music, then I had to be able to read and, if possible, sing, all the parts.

This did prove useful to me in my early composing days, in that I gained an appreciation about what is ‘singable’, and how boring it is to sing a part which is difficult or un-interesting.

When writing, I usually compose soprano and bass parts together, then fit in tenor notes, and finish with the poor old altos. Of course it’s not always like that, but there are always notes , or ‘jumps’ which you would prefer not to have to use but are needed for completeness.

But now that my voice is dropping into baritone and bass levels, I revel in the simplicity of finding (hopefully) the bass notes at any time. Anyone with an awareness of chordal structures can generally fall into this line very quickly, whereas the poor old tenors and altos have the constant struggle of keeping in touch with their notes.

So one great advantage of aging, for me, is that I can really enjoy my singing and still make it difficult for the inner lines in my compositions….sorry folks!

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!

To compose or not to compose?

With our up-coming visit to Ballachulish, we felt it would be nice to make something special out of our Service of Sung Evensong at St John’s. The building, the beautiful rural setting, the local history (gory as it is) …they all tell of a long-standing place of worship in this somewhat isolated (and perhaps a bit sad), community, close to the Vale of Weeping, Glencoe.

The choice of music for such a location and occasion must be determined by the wish of people to join in music they know, and the fact that evening hymns must be there. The Chants may or may not be known, the Responses should be known by a least some.

But to make it somewhat special, perhaps an anthem would be in order. So what should we do ?….pick an old favourite, do something extrovert with modern harmonies etc, or write and learn something original.

Scottish music has some rather unique features….the drone of the bagpipes, the scotch ‘snap’, the almost-plainchant simplicity of the melodic line of local music, and the obvious ‘sadness’ in much of the music, stemming from the nation’s history.

The name, St John’s, led me to thinking of some verses from Revelation about the ‘new heaven and earth’ replacing the ‘old heaven and earth’.

I used a mysterious organ introduction (with simulated bagpipe-drone) leading to a simple tune by the men, and a response from the ladies. A harmony of thirds gives the plainchant ‘feel’, small triplet figures simulate waves on the adjacent loch, and the climb to the high notes and descent indicate the soaring peaks of the area. Two part harmony only appears two thirds of the way through. A reprise of the early mysterious notes sweeps to the final phrases…’He shall wipe away each tear’, by the ladies, and then two- and four-part harmony take us to the final words of …’the former things have now passed away’. Instead of a gloriously-loud ending, the organ gives us a simple rendition of the original melody line……..

So there we have the dissection of this new piece. When it sees the light of day, I hope that it achieves the effects I wanted from it, but that has to be left to the listeners to decide. Let’s hope the Good Lord is forgiving of the paucity of the content, and the presence of all my errors!

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.

‘Angel voices, ever singing…’

 

At Aberfoyle, we sang one of the most satisfying tunes in any hymn book, as far as part-singing is concerned. It has a tremendous ‘vertical’ feel about it, in that every chord is wonderful, and each part feels important. Even the repeated notes, when they occur, are not boring. As your part remains constant, the other parts ‘slither’ in steps through a sucession of rich chords.

The words were written by Rev Francis Pott who was born in 1832 in Southwark, taking Holy Orders in 1856. He wrote several original hymns including the above. However he is better-known for his translations. He was on a committee which compiled Hymns Ancient and Modern. He retired in 1891 with deafness, and died in 1909.

The tune was written by Edwin George Monk (no relation to W.H.Monk), who was born in Somerset in 1819. He was organist and choir-master at Radley College, Oxford, followed by a move north to be organist at York Minster, where he stayed for nearly 25 years. He wrote church music, and he spent much time as editor of hymn books, and chant books (remember them?). He died back in Radley in 1900.

Now if he had only called it ‘ANGELUS VOICES, EVER SINGING’ !

STAINER, JOHN

 

There is probably not a single Church in the UK which doesn’t have some music of John Stainer’s, and most of this would have been dog-eared copies of ‘The Crucifixion’ (I even had a choir where they all used Tonic Solfa editions!)

He was born in Southwark in 1840, his father being a school-master, with a musical interest. Actually he could play piano, organ and flute. The house was full of music including a chamber organ, and John was taught from a very young age by his father. Things moved very quickly for him:-

• He became a probationer in St Paul’s Cathedral at the age of 8
• a full member at 9. He was also learning the organ and occasionally played at St Paul’s.
• By the age of 14 he had been appointed as organist at a local church in St Paul’s Wharf.
• at 16 he became Organist at Tenbury College, in Worcs for a couple of years under Ouseley
• at 19 he was awarded Batchelor of Music
• by 20 he was appointed organist at Magdalen College, Oxford
• by 21 he became organist to the University
• by 24 he completed a Batchelor of Arts Degree
• by 25 he got his Doctorate in Music after writing ‘Gideon’
• by 26 he got his M.A. from Oxford
• by 32 he became organist at St Paul’s Cathedral
• by 42 he was appointed, additionally, as Government Inspector of Music in Elementary Schools
• by 48 he became Sir John, but he felt that his eyesight was failing (just like Bach and Handel!) and he resigned as organist at St Paul’s.
• by 49 he accepted the professorship of music at Oxford, for 10 years, but he retired at 59 due to arguments with the authorities
• at 60 he went on holiday and in Verona he died of a heart attack. His body was returned to Oxford for burial…

AND YOU THOUGHT HE JUST WROTE ‘The Crucifixion’ !!

Allegri, Gregorio

 

Born in Rome in 1582, and died there in 1652. He was an ordained priest, singer and composer. His last 25 years was spent serving the musical interests of thePope.

Probably his most famous piece was ‘Miserere’ which is for four soloists and a five-part choir (does this tell us the size of the Vatican Choir?), was to be sung only by the Cistine Choir, in the Cistine Chapel during Holy Week.

Many know the story of Mozart visiting there and memorising it…actually he went back a few days later to sort out a few points he had forgotten. He then wrote it down and performed it. At that time excommunication was usually the punishment, and when Mozart was called to Rome by the Pope, he feared the worst, but was commended and congratulated.

If you want to hear some of it, click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x71jgMx0Mxc

J. S. Bach

 

Probably the best known composer in a family of seven generations of musicians bearing the same name (there are over 50 who were musicians of some kind or another).

He was born in Eisenach in North Germany in 1685, in the same era as George Frederic Handel, who also was influenced by the Protestant background of the area. Music played a large part in the life of the upper class, municipal life, and the Church. He took full advantage of this and was in turn, a choir-boy, violinist in a Prince’s orchestra, organist in various town churches, and chief musician at a court. This last post   was in Leipzig as cantor of St Thomas’sChurch and school, including all the musical oversight. It was here that he produced his major output of ‘Church’ music, and when he gained his vast experience from studying the technique of others.

He passed-on his skills to others by the ‘Goldberg Variations’ and ‘The Art of Fugue’, and catalogued all his own compositions for future generations. His return to Church life was not without its problems as his musical temperament  and opinions would often clash with the clerics…..no change there then!

Despite his vast output of composition, he was known in his own day as a keyboard player of extraordinary talent, and often was a guest at the builing and dedication of a new Church organ.

He was twice-married, with some 20 children, (how did he have time?) and many of them gained high positions in the music profession. Towards the end of his life, his eyesight failed, and the last months were in total darkness. He died in Leipzig in 1750, only 65 years old.

From a choir point of view we remember him best probably from the number of Chorales which he wrote. He did not invent them, because Martin Luther almost exactly two hundred years before, had written many hymns, and not a few hymn tunes for his Reformed Church. What  Bach did was provide high-quality tunes  with superlative harmonies. He of course also wrote pieces like ‘St Matthew Passion’.

The compexity of his music ranged from extremely simple (such as the Anna Magdalena Notebook) to complex organ solos. His music is not predictable in the same way as was Handel’s, and so is one of the great pillars of musical art. It was strange that on his death, his works were set aside, and it was only nearly 100 years later that Mendelsohn and Samuel Wesley brought him to the fore again. Now there is not a church in the land where the music cupboard and the organ stool has no music by Bach.

If you want something special by him, click on the link below……..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBmajjf5WKE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU_QR_FTt3E