REJOICE AND BLOSSOM · Tradition, Quality, Innovation, Style. We offer four brands of organ each with their own identity, sounds, appearance, technology and style. All our brands

CHURCH MUSIC QUARTERLY JUNE 2020

REJOICE AND BLOSSOM

Tradition, Quality,Innovation, Style.

We offer four brands of organ each with their own identity, sounds, appearance, technology and style. All our brands share valuable

characteristics such as technological innovation and the best sound quality, which is never a compromise. All provide the player with a unique playing experience. A great heritage and tradition are our

starting points; innovation creates the organ of your dreams.

Contact us for tickets for our ‘Autumn Shades’ concert at Shaw on Saturday 3rd October 2020

Makin | Copeman Hart | Johannus | Rodgers

For more details and brochures please telephone 01706 888100

www. .co.uk

Tradition, Quality,Innovation, Style.

We offer four brands of organ each with their own identity, sounds, appearance, technology and style. All our brands share valuable

characteristics such as technological innovation and the best sound quality, which is never a compromise. All provide the player with a unique playing experience. A great heritage and tradition are our

starting points; innovation creates the organ of your dreams.

Contact us for tickets for our ‘Autumn Shades’ concert at Shaw on Saturday 3rd October 2020

Makin | Copeman Hart | Johannus | Rodgers

For more details and brochures please telephone 01706 888100

www. .co.uk

5 WELCOME

6 IN ACTION A report about the first RSCM Membership Conference

8 WHAT’S ONHighlights of RSCM events across the UK, June to October 2020

12 DIPLOMACY IN SONG, 1520Magnus Williamson looks at the musical dimension of the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

18 FROM THE DIRECTORHugh Morris on positive narratives

20 COPY-WRONG, COPY-RIGHT Stefan Putigny offers advice about copyright law.

25 GOTTFRIED HEINRICH STÖLZELWarwick Cole draws attention to an often overlooked 18th-century composer.

29 RSCM NEWSNews and reports across the RSCM’s international network

34 CONGRATULATIONSMembers’ successes and RSCM awards

35 SINGING SHENGHannah Emmrich writes about the wonderful blend of musical styles found in Nairobian churches.

38 HYMN MEDITATIONGordon Giles discusses ‘The head that once was crowned with thorns’.

42 BRING THE GLAD TIDINGSSusan Jane Matthews shares her excitement at discovering the music of Fanny Hensel and Jeanne Demessieux.

46 BRANCHING OUTGinny Arnott-Wood explains the diverse work of RSCM Canada.

48 OBITUARIES

49 CLASSIFIED ADS

50 MY FAVOURITE HYMNPeter Gould talks us through some of his favourite hymns and organ music.

51 READERS’ LETTERS

52 REVIEWSCMQ evaluates the latest church music books, DVDs and CDs.

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CONTENTS

REGENT RECORDSNew and Recent Releases

REGENT RECORDS, PO Box 528,Wolverhampton, WV3 9YWTel: 01902 424377 www.regentrecords.com (with secure online ordering). Retail distribution by RSK Entertainment Ltd, Tel: 01488 608900, [email protected]. Available in the USA from the Organ Historical Society www.ohscatalog.org.

REGCD523

OUR FATHER IN THE HEAVENSAnthems by Sir Edward Bairstow

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola CantorumSimon Bell (director) Carleton Etherington (organ) REGCD543

‘The Cathedral, and Timothy Parsons, should be rightly proud of this highlysatisfying and well-executed programme.’ ★★★★ Choir and Organ

‘It demonstrates not only the many different colours of the cathedral organ,but also the virtuosity and sensitivity of its performer.’ The Cornopean

Timothy Parsonsplays the organ of

EXETER CATHEDRALThe ENGLISH CATHEDRAL Series Vol. XX

Thirteen anthems by this iconic composer of Edwardian sacredmusic, including the first recording of ‘Of the Father’s love begotten’.

Music by Mendelssohn, Locke, SS Wesley, Vierne, Blatchly, Elgar,Muhly, Brahms, Messiaen, and Duruflé.

Browse our growing number of releases available for download or streaming

Regent CMQ June 2020.2.qxp_Layout 1 27/04/2020 18:23 Page 1

THE OUSELEY CHURCH MUSIC TRUST

A Registered Charity has supported the Anglican choral tradition for over

20 years by making grants totalling more than £2½ million to churches and choral foundations.

We help with school fees where a child is singing on a regular basis in a cathedral choir.

Please see our website at

www.ouseleytrust.org.uk

ORGAN BURSARIESThe Nancy and Sidney Hibbs Organ Scholarship Fund is available to offer bursaries to assist with tuition fees of organists-in-training who are learning to accompany Prayer Book services. It is a requirement that at least some of the services

at which the student will play are BCP services; and also that the applicant’s tutor is sympathetic towards and knowledgeable about BCP services and the requirements upon organists who accompany them.

Anyone wishing to apply for a grant from the scheme is invited to contact the Prayer Book Society on 0118 984 2582 or [email protected] information about The Prayer Book Society or to join please ring the above number or go to www.pbs.org.ukRegistered Charity No. 1099295 and Co Limited by Guarantee No. 4786973

The RSCM has since March been providing a range of resources designed to help church musicians stay sharp and choirs retain some sense of togetherness. Our website, for example, features free Hymns of the Day, and Sunday Self-Services. For choristers of all ages there is our recently launched Showbie app (explained in CMQ March 2020), which has support materials for RSCM Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. In addition, we have been running twice-daily webinars, which you can join live (to ask questions and to comment) or watch later as a video bought from our webshop. Topics covered include vocal coaching, aural skills, support for organists, Voice for Life coaching, and the teaching of Lift up your voice repertoire. This issue also contains the usual What’s On pages listing RSCM events in your local area. Readers are advised, however, that events may be subject to cancellation.

The main feature in this this issue marks the 500th anniversary of the Field of the Cloth of Gold (June 1520), an extravagant event that formed part of a summit between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France. Henry understood the political value of the arts and worked hard to attract the best musicians from far afield, including from overseas. As author Magnus Williamson explains, the movement of musicians from one princely court to another was a key factor in the spread of an international style of polyphonic music during the mid-15th century. Print was the main means by which musical styles were disseminated, yet it is possible that the intermingling of court musicians at the Field aided in the propagation of the French chanson – which itself played a role in the development of the ‘Anglican’ anthem.

Is Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel due a renaissance? On pages 25–27, author Warwick Cole brings some much-needed attention to this overlooked 18th-century composer. Despite his prodigious output, most of Stölzel’s music has been lost and he remains a relatively obscure figure: a name you recognize, but perhaps whose music you have never heard or performed. Yet, what music survives is, in Warwick’s words, ‘consistently high quality’. Much of it is also within the reach of amateur singers and instrumentalists. Why not take a look?

WELCOME


5

Ginny Arnott-Wood is a native of Toronto and has been singing for as long as she can remember. She

has sung with the choir of Trinity College, University of Toronto, the parish choir of St Peter, Erindale in Mississauga, Ontario, and currently sings with the choir of Christ’s Church Cathedral, Hamilton. Ginny has served on the board of RSCM Canada since 2011.

Warwick Cole is a freelance cellist, harpsichordist and writer on music. He directs the period-instrument

Corelli Orchestra with whom he recently recorded two discs of music by William Hayes, including the early oratorio The Fall of Jericho. He has written articles on Bach performance practice, lute music and the early piano. His current research focuses on the liturgical music of G.H. Stölzel.

Hannah Emmrich has been music director at All Saints’ Cathedral, Nairobi since the end of 2017. Before

moving to Nairobi, she read modern languages at Cambridge and did a Masters in piano performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before freelancing for several years as a classical pianist, community and church choir director and teacher.

Peter Gould went to the Royal Academy of Music. He spent 40 years working in cathedrals as

an organist and also worked in schools in Huddersfield and Derby. He is currently chair of the Portsmouth RSCM committee, president of the local Organists Association, membership secretary of the Cathedral Organists Association and a council member and Diocesan Rep for the Friends of Cathedral Music.

Susan Jane Matthews, ARSCM, is director of music at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Burlingame,

California, and founding director of St. Paul’s Choir School. She was principal organist of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. A passionate advocate for women musicians in the church, she specializes in the organ works of Jeanne Demessieux and piano works of Fanny Hensel.

Magnus Williamson is professor of early music at Newcastle University, general editor of the British

Academy series Early English Church Music, and principal investigator of The AHRC project, Tudor Partbooks: The Manuscript Legacies of John Sadler, John Baldwin and their Antecedents.

RSCM STAFF CONTRIBUTORS Hugh Morris, DirectorStefan Putigny, Magazines Editor

THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF CHURCH MUSICRegistered Charity No. 312828Company Registration No. 0025003119 The Close, Salisbury, SP1 2EBwww.rscm.org.uk

Director: Hugh MorrisDeputy Director (Operations & Finance): Stephen MansfieldDeputy Director (Education & Voluntary Networks): Sal McDougallHead of Publishing: Tim Ruffer

EDITORStefan Putigny

GENERAL ENQUIRIEST +44 (0)1722 424848F +44 (0)1722 424849E [email protected]

MUSIC DIRECTT +44 (0)845 021 7726 F +44 (0)845 021 8826 E [email protected]

EDUCATION AND COURSEST +44 (0)1722 424843E [email protected]

ACCOUNTST +44 (0)1722 424842E [email protected]

VOLUNTARY NETWORKST +44 (0)1722 424848E [email protected]

RSCM MEMBERSHIP ENQUIRIES UK (INCL. IRELAND)T +44 (0)1722 424848E [email protected]/get-involved/Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and USA:Contact your local branch for detailsOther countries: See website for details www.rscm.org.uk/get-involved/

CMQ JUNE 2020 Front cover photo: The Crowned Rose

Motets presented to King Henry VIII. © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved / Bridgeman Images Design and origination by Smith & Gilmour Printed by Stephens & George Ltd Views expressed in signed articles, letters

and advertisements are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff. Articles, letters, classified advertisements

and members’ news for the September 2020 issue by 1 July 2020 to: Magazines Editor, RSCM, 19 The Close, Salisbury SP1 2EB T +44 (0)1722 424845 E [email protected] Review materials to:

Reviews Editor, Ashleigh House, Cirencester Road, Minchinhampton, Stroud GL6 9ELT +44 (0)7879 406048 E [email protected]

Display advertising copy/enquiries to: Stephen Dutton, Church Times, Invicta House, 108–114 Golden Lane, London EC1Y 0TG. T +44 (0)20 7 776 1011 E [email protected]

CONTRIBUTORS

S T E F A N P U T I G N Y

REGENT RECORDSNew and Recent Releases

REGENT RECORDS, PO Box 528,Wolverhampton, WV3 9YWTel: 01902 424377 www.regentrecords.com (with secure online ordering). Retail distribution by RSK Entertainment Ltd, Tel: 01488 608900, [email protected]. Available in the USA from the Organ Historical Society www.ohscatalog.org.

REGCD523

OUR FATHER IN THE HEAVENSAnthems by Sir Edward Bairstow

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola CantorumSimon Bell (director) Carleton Etherington (organ) REGCD543

‘The Cathedral, and Timothy Parsons, should be rightly proud of this highlysatisfying and well-executed programme.’ ★★★★ Choir and Organ

‘It demonstrates not only the many different colours of the cathedral organ,but also the virtuosity and sensitivity of its performer.’ The Cornopean

Timothy Parsonsplays the organ of

EXETER CATHEDRALThe ENGLISH CATHEDRAL Series Vol. XX

Thirteen anthems by this iconic composer of Edwardian sacredmusic, including the first recording of ‘Of the Father’s love begotten’.

Music by Mendelssohn, Locke, SS Wesley, Vierne, Blatchly, Elgar,Muhly, Brahms, Messiaen, and Duruflé.

Browse our growing number of releases available for download or streaming

Regent CMQ June 2020.2.qxp_Layout 1 27/04/2020 18:23 Page 1

THE OUSELEY CHURCH MUSIC TRUST

A Registered Charity has supported the Anglican choral tradition for over

20 years by making grants totalling more than £2½ million to churches and choral foundations.

We help with school fees where a child is singing on a regular basis in a cathedral choir.

Please see our website at

www.ouseleytrust.org.uk

ORGAN BURSARIESThe Nancy and Sidney Hibbs Organ Scholarship Fund is available to offer bursaries to assist with tuition fees of organists-in-training who are learning to accompany Prayer Book services. It is a requirement that at least some of the services

at which the student will play are BCP services; and also that the applicant’s tutor is sympathetic towards and knowledgeable about BCP services and the requirements upon organists who accompany them.

Anyone wishing to apply for a grant from the scheme is invited to contact the Prayer Book Society on 0118 984 2582 or [email protected] information about The Prayer Book Society or to join please ring the above number or go to www.pbs.org.ukRegistered Charity No. 1099295 and Co Limited by Guarantee No. 4786973

IN ACTION

MEMBERSHIP CONFERENCE

A N DY B R O C K WAY

It was a pleasure to welcome so many RSCM members from across the UK and around the world (from as far away as India) to the very first RSCM Membership Conference, which was held in Derby on Saturday

7 March 2020. What a thought-provoking and reflective day it was!

sessions and workshops, and also contributed uplifting elements to the opening and closing acts of worship.

Information boards and stands provided insight into how different areas of the RSCM function, and visuals explained how your membership fees are used to further the RSCM’s mission. An RSCM Music Direct stand sold publications at greatly reduced prices, including the 2020 festival service book God’s Church for God’s World. Sales were understandably brisk.

In the afternoon, everyone joined together for a demonstration and discussion of the St Martin-in-the-Fields’ Great Sacred Music programme including the Revd Dr Sam Wells, Dr Andrew Earis and the St Martin-in-the-Fields’ musicians. This was followed by a reflection from the RSCM Chair of Council, the Very Revd Dr John Hall KCVO, and a closing act of corporate worship led by Noël Tredinnick and musicians from All Souls, Langham Place. A large hall was packed full of individuals representing some very different church communities, who joined as one to create a jaw-dropping sound that lifted heavenward in a culmination of praise.

As an addition to the conference, the nearby parish church of St Peter, Littleover kindly hosted a service of choral evening prayer using beautiful but simple musical resources. The service was led by Andrew Earis and the musicians from St Martin-in-the-Fields. It was well attended and positively received by all.

The conference was a huge success and had a vibe of worship, learning, sharing, openness, fellowship, strengthening and empowerment, which is exactly what we prayed for at the start. Our special thanks go to Derby High School for letting us use their facilities. Thanks also to the staff of Sacred Bean Coffee, a Derby-based Christian organization who served refreshments throughout the event despite the large numbers of delegates present: a much-needed presence at such an event. And thank you again to everybody involved for all your support.

The event was opened by Hugh Morris (RSCM Director) and Andy Brockway (RSCM Membership Officer), with Anna Hallett

(RSCM Pipeline Scholar) performing a piece using one of the digital Makin organs that had been kindly donated for use by Church Organ World. There were also prayers and lively hymn singing.

The conference was packed with sessions and workshops, expertly led and presented by our special guests Dr Noël Tredinnick, Andy Bodkin (from Same Boat Music, part of the Out of the Ark family), the Revd Dr Sam Wells and Dr Andrew Earis, as well as RSCM staff and council members. Many topics were covered across the day, including:

�Fresh ideas for developing musicians within different church communities

�Using various genres of music, instrumental set-ups and service formats for outreach

�Being a more confident, key individual, capable of continuing and developing the musical and liturgical life of our churches, schools and organizations

�Using Voice for Life as developmental tool � Helping and inspiring churches with limited

musical/liturgical resources to develop their corporate worship

Delegates were also able to attend individual and small-group tutorials for organ playing and conducting. Many people commented on how valuable these were.

Professional musicians from the London churches of St Martin-in-the-Fields and All Souls, Langham Place gave awe-inspiring musical support to the

A packed hall full of individuals joined as one to create a jaw-dropping sound


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WHAT’S ON


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HIGHLIGHTS OF RSCM EVENTS IN YOUR AREA

JUNE 2020 – OCTOBER 2020

For more highlights of events being held across the period June 2020 to October 2020 and for full details of the events listed below visit our website: www.rscm.org.uk/search-events/ or contact the named person. Readers are advised that all events scheduled to take place before 31 July 2020 have been postponed or cancelled. Please contact the named person if you are unsure whether an event is going ahead.

AREA FESTIVALS

SOUTH EAST WALES AREA

Choral festivalSaturday, 20 June » 11:00 St German, Cardiff CF24 0JYAnnual South East Wales choral festival plus awards presentation. Registration at 11:00 for 11:30 start. £5, £7 non-members, £2 children. Contact Emma Gibbins on 07952 514117 or at [email protected]

DERBYSHIRE AREA

Derbyshire choral festivalSunday, 21 June » 15:30 to 19:00Derby Cathedral DE1 3GPJoin choirs from across Derbyshire, under the baton of Alexander Binns, for a choral festival that culminates in evensong at Derby Cathedral. Music includes Dyson in D and Wesley’s epic anthem Ascribe unto the Lord. Free to sing and free to attend the final

service of evensong. 15:30 rehearsal; 16:30 break; 17:00 rehearsal; 18:00 evensong; 19:00 end. For more details and to book your place, please email [email protected] or call 01332 202231. Or contact Alexander Binns on 01332 202231 or at [email protected]

REGION ONE

Wakefield festivalSunday, 21 June » 14:00 to 17:30Wakefield Cathedral, Westmorland Street WF1 1PJFestival service with presentation of RSCM awards. £1.50. Contact Geoffrey Lockwood on 01484 688487 or at [email protected]

WINCHESTER AREA

Area festival workshopSaturday, 18 July » 10:00 to 13:00St Michael, Basingstoke RG21 7QWIan Rees will lead a workshop to look at the RSCM service book God’s Church for God’s World as a preparation for the Festival on 26 September. For more information and to buy a copy of service book (£6.00) contact Ian Rees: 07824 686147 or at [email protected]. No charge for workshop.

Area festival rehearsalsTuesday, 8 September » 19:30 to 21:00St Thomas, Lymington SO41 9NDMartin Penrose will lead a rehearsal using RSCM service book God’s Church for God’s World. Contact Ian Rees on 07824 686147 or at [email protected]. No charge.

Wednesday, 9 September » 19:30 to 21:00St Boniface, Chandlers Ford SO53 2FTGary Philbrick will lead a rehearsal using RSCM service book God’s Church for God’s World. Contact Ian Rees as above, or Hugh Benham at [email protected]. No charge.

Tuesday, 15 September » 19:30 to 21:00St Michael, Basingstoke RG21 7QWIan Rees will lead a rehearsal using RSCM service book God’s Church for God’s World. Contact Ian Rees on 07824 686147 or at [email protected]. No charge.

Area festival serviceSaturday, 26 September » 14:00 to 18:30Winchester Cathedral SO23 9LSHugh Morris will be directing this year’s festival, based on the new RSCM service book God’s Church for God’s World. Rehearsal 14:00–17:00, service 17:30–18:30. No charge. Contact Ian Rees on 07824 686147 or at [email protected]

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FOR A FULL LIST OF EVENTS, SEE WWW.RSCM.ORG.UK/SEARCH-EVENTS

AREA FESTIVALS CONTINUED

OXFORDSHIRE AREA

Annual diocesan choirs’ festivalSaturday, 26 September » 14:00 to 19:00Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford OX1 1DPChoral evensong for choirs from Oxford diocese and beyond, plus individual RSCM members. £10 adults, £8 juniors. Contact Janet Low on 01865 777257 / 07549 886561 or at [email protected]

BIRMINGHAM AREA

Annual festival and awards serviceSaturday, 3 October » 10:00 to 17:00Birmingham Cathedral, Colmore Row B3 2QBFor all choirs and individual singers. Using the 2020 festival service book God’s Church for God’s World, the service celebrates the variety and unity of God’s world. Event includes the presentation of awards to candidates successful in the RSCM Bronze, Silver and Gold examinations. Under 18s must be accompanied by a parent or choir/church leader. £6 participants, £4.50 award winners, to include book. Contact Alison Vining on 07971 265702 or at [email protected]

LICHFIELD AREA

Annual massed choirs’ festival Saturday, 3 October » 13:45 to 18:30Lichfield Cathedral WS13 7LDUtilizing the brilliant new annual festival book God’s Church for God’s

GUILDFORD AREA

Area choirs’ festival and presentation of awardsSunday, 11 October » 15:00 Guildford Cathedral GU2 7UPAnnual Area choirs’ choral evensong. A wonderful experience for parish choirs to sing together in the beautiful cathedral. Area awards will be presented during the service. Regional rehearsals will be arranged for September with the dates tbc. Keep up to date by visiting www.facebook.com/RSCMGuildfordArea/ or on Twitter at @rscmguildford. £10 to include music, £5 under 18s (award winners free). Contact David Crick on 07850 709461 or at [email protected]

DEVON AREA

Festival serviceSaturday, 24 October » 11:00 to 17:15Exeter Cathedral EX1 1HSOur annual celebration of church music in Devon with the presentation of RSCM chorister and organ awards. Rehearsal from 11:00, service from 16:00 to 17:15. £7 for singers. Collection for congregation. Contact Nicholas Brown on 01297 560493 or at [email protected]

REGION ONE

Chester diocesan festivalSaturday, 31 October » 13:00 to 18:00Chester Cathedral CH1 2HUAnnual Chester diocesan festival. A chance to use the book God’s Church for God’s World under the direction of Daniel Cook, master of the choristers and organist of Durham Cathedral. £2. Contact Karen Salisbury on 07854 171308 or at [email protected]

World, which is extraordinarily good value for money. Donations asked for help with tea costs. Books will be purchased through the online shop. Contact Cathy Lamb on 07747 444 047 or at [email protected]

ROCHESTER AREA

Area choirs’ festivalSaturday, 10 October » 14:15 to 18:30Rochester Cathedral ME1 1SXRSCM Rochester invites choirs from across the diocese and beyond to join together to sing choral evensong, including works by Stanford, Howells and Bruckner. Conducted by Francesca Massey. Details of local rehearsals will be circulated in due course. Cost tbc (music booklet will be available to buy). Contact Sue Moore on 020 8859 6997 or at [email protected]

SOUTHWELL AND NOTTS AREA

Choirs’ festival Saturday, 10 October » 11:30 to 19:30Southwell Minster NG25 0HDAnnual choirs’ festival including the presentation of Silver and Bronze Awards. The service will be evensong. Cost £9.00, including music service book. Contact Michael Worth on 0115 970 1238 or at [email protected]

WHAT'S ON


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DERBYSHIRE AREA

Sing evensongSunday, 13 September » 16:30 to 19:30St Oswald, 5 School Lane, Ashbourne DE6 1ANThe annual favourite Come and Sing evensong in Ashbourne includes music by Harwood, Reading, Brahms and Rutter under the direction of Michael Halls. 16:30 rehearsal, 18:30 service. No charge, donations welcome. Contact Michael Halls at [email protected]

SWANSEA & BRECON AREA

Come and Sing Fauré’s RequiemSaturday, 26 September » 14:15 to 18:00Brecon Cathedral, Powys LD3 9DPCome and Sing Fauré’s Requiem with Stephen Power, director of music at Brecon Cathedral. Registration from 13:30 with a rehearsal from 14:15 to 16:15 and followed by a performance at 17:00. Bring your own copies of the Requiem, but copies will also be available on loan if needed. £5, free to those in full-time education. Contact Stephen Power on 01874 624837 or at [email protected]

SOMERSET AREA

Come and Sing choral evensong with Simon LoleSunday, 28 June » 15:30 St Mary Magdalene, Church Square, Taunton TA1 1SAWe are delighted to welcome Simon Lole, former director of music at Salisbury Cathedral, to direct a service of choral evensong at this magnificent church with its newly-restored organ. Following an afternoon rehearsal, tea will be available before the service. All music will be provided. Retiring collection. Contact Jerry King on 01278 734777 or at [email protected]

SUFFOLK AREA

Residentiary ChoirMonday, 3 August – Sunday, 9 August St Edmundsbury Cathedral IP33 1LSThe Residentiary Choir is next meeting in St Edmundsbury Cathedral in August 2020 for a week of cathedral services, directed by Silas Wollston. One-to-one vocal coaching is included as part of the week, along with work on a varied repertoire of choral music in the company of other experienced adult singers. £245 course fee (B&B available at extra cost). Contact RSCM Education on 01722 424843 or at [email protected]

SOUTH EAST WALES AREA

Songs of praiseSaturday, 10 October St David, Merthyr Tydfil CF47 0BAA service celebrating hymnody. Times tbc. Cost tbc. Contact Emma Gibbins on 07952 514117 or at [email protected]

BIRMINGHAM AREA

Schools’ festivalMonday, 19 October » 10:30 to 15:00St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham B4 6EUAn inspiring service for upper or equal voices, devised to encourage worship in school, church and community. We will be using the RSCM Young Voices publication, God’s Green Planet. Cost of resource book: £26 per school. Contact Mick Perrier on 07967 595881 or at [email protected]

COME AND SING AND SOCIAL

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FOR A FULL LIST OF EVENTS, SEE WWW.RSCM.ORG.UK/SEARCH-EVENTS


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WORKSHOPS AND COURSES

SOMERSET AREA

Bath summer course for young peopleMonday, 17 August – Sunday, 23 AugustKingswood School, Bath BA1 5RGA summer residency for young singers. Singers undertake a full programme, including care and development of the voice, music tuition, Voice for Life training, recitals and choral services. SOLD OUT. Please email [email protected] to be added to the waiting list

NATIONAL

Survival kit: organ scholars’ courseWednesday, 26 August – Thursday, 27 August10:00 to 16:00Contact RSCM Education on 01722 424843 or at [email protected]


Organ workshopSaturday, 26 September » 10:45 to 13:00Brecon Cathedral, Powys LD3 9DPThis is an opportunity to bring along a prepared piece to play on the cathedral organ with advice from Stephen Power, director of music at Brecon Cathedral. 11.00–11.15, demonstration of the Brecon Cathedral organ showing its potential. 11.15–12.30, workshop on participants’ prepared pieces. 12.30–13.00, short recital by selected participants (optional). £5. Contact Stephen Power on 01874 624837 or at [email protected]

REGION ONE

Music for Mission and Ministry Tuesday, 29 September (14:00) – Thursday, 1 October (13:30)Whalley Abbey, Lancashire BB7 9SS

SOMERSET AREA

Quantock schools singing dayWednesday, 17 June » 10:00 to 15:30Various schools ending at Nether Stowey Church Centre TA5 1LJA schools singing day for years 4, 5 and 6 children from four church schools in the Sedgemoor area: Enmore, Nether Stowey, Spaxton & Stogursey primary schools. Free to participating schools. Contact Jerry King on 01278 734777 or at [email protected]

LINCOLN AREA

Millennium Youth Choir summer course Monday, 10 August – Sunday, 16 AugustLincoln Cathedral LN2 1PXSave the date. Full details to follow. Contact RSCM MYC on 01722 424843 or at [email protected]

Intermediate Millennium Youth Choir summer course Wednesday, 12 August – Sunday, 16 AugustThe 2020 iMYC Summer Course offers opportunities for experienced singers aged 12–16 to develop their vocal and musicianship skills through a varied and enjoyable programme. www.rscm.org.uk/start-learning/national-and-regional-choirs/imyc/application-materials. £345; £275 for additional siblings. Contact RSCM iMYC on 01722 424843 or at [email protected]

The 48-hour residential version of the course, including group discussions, study sessions and individual time with the course leader explores the opportunities and challenges in your church, and worship in a wide variety of styles. £350 residential (including full board accommodation, materials and resources); £375 non-member residential; £250 non-residential (incl. lunch and dinner). Contact RSCM Education on 01722 424843 or at [email protected]


Autumn singing workshopThursday, 15 October » 18:45 to 21:30Clyne Chapel, Mayals, Swansea SA3 5BTA singing workshop directed by Dr William Reynolds who has recently been appointed RSCM regional co-ordinator for Wales. The workshop will end with a short act of worship followed by light refreshments and an opportunity to socialize. £5. Contact Prof Tony Davies on 01792 429543 or at [email protected]

ROCHESTER AREA

Three-day evensong course for adultsMonday, 26 October – Wednesday, 28 October » 14:15 to 18:15Rochester Cathedral ME1 1SXAn opportunity for adults of reasonable musical standard to rehearse and sing cathedral evensong on three consecutive days. A full music list for each day will be circulated to registered participants in advance. Choristers aged 15–18 with RSCM Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards are particularly encouraged to join the group. £45 adults, £30 for 15–18s with RSCM Bronze/Silver/Gold Awards. Contact Sue Moore on 020 8859 6997 or at [email protected]

MUSICMISSIONMINISTRY


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Logo tryout 4.indd 3 25/09/2019 14:00:30

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DIPLOMACY IN SONG, 1520

M AG N U S W I L L I A M S O N


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It takes determination, sharp eyes and a detailed map to locate one of Renaissance Europe’s most mythologized diplomatic events, the Field of the

Cloth of Gold, which took place in June 1520. The site of Henry VIII’s great conference with François I of France has long since reverted to type: one of those innumerable arable fields in the Pas-de-Calais that you pass as you speed along the aptly-named Autoroute des Anglais. Of the temporary royal palace, banqueting house, tented pavilions and jousting

grounds, no vestige remains. The castle of Guînes, Henry VIII’s headquarters during his family’s sojourn in the Pale of Calais, was demolished by the Spanish in the 1590s. Cardinal Wolsey’s monumental expenditure has bequeathed no physical monuments; indeed the meagre diplomatic benefits from this showy extravaganza – the English delegation alone guzzled food and drink costing £7,410 (or several million pounds at today’s prices) – were one of the charges laid against him when he fell from power in 1529.

The Field of the Cloth of Gold neatly symbolizes the disappointments of its age: the dubious legacy of Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s talented but flawed minister; the King’s magnificent but inconsequential feats of arms, and his six near-fruitless marriages; the kingdom’s unrealistic geopolitical ambitions; and the vertiginous inequalities that underlay such ostentatious performances of princely puissance.

If the Field of the Cloth of Gold looks like a magnificent folly, however, it tells us much about 16th-century politics. In particular, it shines a light on the role of music and ceremony in dynastic statecraft. Music and musicians were integral to the Royal Household, especially under the Tudors, who understood the political value of the arts. Attracting the best musicians from far afield audibly demonstrated the discernment and power-projection of a Renaissance prince; in the 15th century, singers from northern Europe had migrated over the Alps to work in Italian princely courts. This was one of the key factors behind the spread of an international style of polyphonic music during the mid-15th century.

By virtue of its insular geography, England was less susceptible to this kind of migration. A few Englishmen appeared in continental courts, such as the composer Robert Morton (c.1430–79), who sang in the Burgundian ducal chapel (1457–76), and English music had circulated widely in continental manuscripts during the second quarter of the 15th century. But this arguably stemmed from the special circumstances of the 1420s and 1430s, when the English occupied much of northern France following Henry V’s victorious campaigns of 1415–22. The resident household of John, Duke of Bedford, England’s regent in France from 1422 to 1435, included the composer John Dunstaple (c.1390–1453), whose music played a key role in the emergence of the international style.

Henry V cast a long military shadow, but in its impact upon music the Field of the Cloth of Gold followed not the pattern of war and occupation but the tradition of medieval diplomacy. Numerous treaties, negotiations and conciliar meetings are known to have spawned musical compositions or consequences: these included the marriage negotiations of the soon-to-be Edward III in the 1320s; John of Gaunt’s conference with Charles VI of France at Amiens in 1392; the Treaty of Canterbury, between Henry V and the Emperor Sigismund in 1416; the Council of Constance (1414–18), the period’s most important single meeting of secular and spiritual leaders; the marriage of Margaret of York to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, in 1468; and the marriage of the young Margaret Tudor to King James IV of Scotland in summer 1503.

When princes of church or state met in conference, their retinues often came with them. This provided rare opportunities for household musicians from each party to hear each other perform, to suss out their competitors, to exchange ideas, and to make copies of unfamiliar pieces. Practices and repertories that would normally never leave the parish were thereby enabled to cross international borders.

At this point it is worth pausing to consider the scale of the retinues meeting in 1520. By the treaty of 12 March, the retinue of the King of England alone comprised 3,997 people and 2,087 horses. These all needed accommodation, and for this purpose Guînes Castle was converted into a royal residence, a temporary courtyard palace erected adjacent to it, rooms commandeered in town, and elaborate tented pavilions erected in the open fields. The temporary Palace of Guînes was built to Cardinal Wolsey’s own specifications; its rectangular courtyard plan,

Left: Field of the Cloth of Gold (c.1545), artist unknown, showing Henry VIII and his retinue at Guînes, June 1520. Courtesy of the Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.


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328 feet square, provided separate lodgings for King Henry, Queen Catherine, Mary the king’s sister and dowager queen of France, and Wolsey himself. The combined workforce included 250 carpenters, 100 joiners, 60 sawyers and 40 plasterers.

A large chapel projected from one of the sides of this palace. It probably included an organ. Although none is mentioned in the building records, an organ had been despatched to Tournai in 1513 for Henry VIII’s royal entry into that town (following one of his early military adventures). A good instrument would make a favourable impression on visiting diplomats: while visiting the court of the Emperor Philip the Fair in Augsburg in 1513, the diplomat Sir Robert Wingfield had observed in the imperial chapel ‘the best organs that ever I heard’. Wolsey, the logistical mastermind behind the festivities of 1520, is also unlikely to have omitted such a detail.

As chief minister, Wolsey had oversight of ecclesiastical, foreign and domestic policy. During the plague epidemic in 1518 he had quickly put Oxford and London into lockdown to curb the contagion. On 22 March 1520 he issued injunctions for Augustinian Canons, tightening up rules around exclusion of women from cloister and enforcing vows of obedience and poverty. His ceremonial provisions show a detailed knowledge of musical practices: the canons should sing psalms neither too quickly nor too slowly, but with perfect expression of the words and moderate pauses between verses; chant was to be sung by the professed monks without ‘lascivious

melody’ to tickle the ears or division of notes, but plain and modest song that would guide the listener heavenwards; the brethren were to sing no polyphony (‘pricksong’) in the monks’ choir, but might instead employ lay clerks and boys to sing polyphonic music at votive masses in the Lady chapel, where organ playing was also permitted.

Wolsey’s detailed knowledge of musical practices is no surprise. He himself had been a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. He also maintained a household worthy of a great prince of church and state, whose chapel included three organs and a number of music books. By 1520 Wolsey’s chapel choir vied in size and

virtuosity with the Chapel Royal itself: Henry’s suspicion that Wolsey’s might be better than his own was confirmed in an arranged sing-off and sight-singing test. The Cardinal’s colleagues and rivals in the nobility would also have maintained chapel choirs, and secular singers and instrumentalists served in their retinues. Until his execution in 1521, Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, employed both a chapel choir and an ensemble of secular singers for his private apartments. The king himself maintained just such an ensemble, directed by the Fleming Philip van Wilder from the 1520s until that composer’s death in 1553.

Edward Hall’s chronicle, perhaps the most vivid account of the 1520 festivities, makes comparatively little mention of religious ceremonies, but the king’s chapel at Guînes was lavishly furnished. A great statue of the Virgin Mary was shipped out to France: the serjeant of the vestry paid 3s. 4d. (around £150 today) for a leather case to carry her in; above the altar was a rich canopy ‘of merveilous greatnes’, and the walls and choir stalls were lined with cloth of gold. Silken copes once donated by Henry VII to Westminster Abbey were borrowed back for the duration, and a whole new set of vestments was made from Florentine cloth embroidered with red roses. Similar effort was made on a pop-up chapel erected in the Field itself during the festivities. Here, on Saturday 23 June, the combined royal courts of England and France attended Mass celebrated cum nota by Wolsey himself.

The gentlemen and boys of the Chapel Royal provided polyphony for this event. The 10 boys were directed by their master, the composer and impresario William Cornysh (1465–1523). The 30 or more gentlemen included several more composers: foremost, Dr Robert Fayrfax (1464–1521), whose name heads the list of chapel men attending the king in France; the priest John Lloyd, whose cryptic compositional degree exercise is preserved in Cambridge University Library (in manuscript Nn.6.46); Thomas Farthing, once a chorister of King’s College, Cambridge; and, from the next generation, Robert Jones and William Crane (not a composer, but who would succeed Cornysh as master of the children).

The composers serving in Henry’s chapel belonged primarily to an older generation whose mastery as spinners of florid melisma made heavy demands on their performers, in terms of vocal agility, confidence and musicianship. Meeting and hearing their French counterparts must have been an eye-opener.

On the French side, the chapel of François I comprised 32 adult chantres, a chapel master, and


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Music and musicians were integral to the Royal Household, especially under the Tudors, who understood the political value of the arts


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an organist. Like his English contemporary, Fayrfax, the senior chapellain and maître de la chapelle Antoine de Longueval (d.1525) was gentry. He had previously served aristocratic patrons in Savoy and Ferrara, where he was described as ‘contrabasso’. His St Matthew Passion was widely circulated in Lutheran Germany and his compositions gained wide circulation in print. His famous colleague Jean Mouton (d.1522) was a canon of Saint-Quentin. A master of the motet and de facto court composer, Mouton produced encomiastic motets to mark royal coronations, victories, births, deaths and recoveries. Mouton’s compositions exemplify the art of pervasive imitation or fuga, a method of composition not yet normative in England. His sacred music first reached England in the Anne Boleyn Music Book (Royal College of Music, MS 1070), which the future queen took from the French court to England, perhaps a year or two after the festivities of 1520.

The chapelle of François included some composers equally obscure as Jones and Farthing: Mathieu Gascongne, composer of various Masses, also a priest in the diocese of Cambrai; and Antoine Rycke or Riche (Latinized as Divitis), a Flemish choirmaster who had fled his creditors to join French royal service in 1510. But the younger generation of the chapelle

included the indisputable giant, Claudin de Sermisy (c.1490–1562). Like so many star singers a native of Picardy, Sermisy was also a singer at the famous Sainte-Chapelle and, more importantly, the paramount master of the Parisian chanson. His chansons included settings of fashionable texts by the court poet Clément Marot (1496–1544), and circulated in print and manuscript throughout Europe.

The French chanson was arguably the most important medium for spreading new continental methods of composition in England: the early ‘Anglican’ anthem is perhaps its most surprising stylistic progeny. Practical evidence for the impact of French chansons on Tudor musicians can be found in a modest-looking pair of Henrician music manuscripts, previously from the Royal Library but now in the British Library: Royal Appendix 56 and 58. Both are important manuscripts in the history of keyboard music: RA56 is an early source of English organ music, while RA58 contains music for stringed keyboard. But both manuscripts contain arrangements of chansons by Sermisy and his colleagues, the voice parts distributed between the two books, probably for teaching purposes.

The most likely conduit for these chansons was an imported copy of Attaingnant’s pioneering collection


Sermisy’s chanson, D’où vient cela. Setting a poem by Clément Marot, this was printed by Attaingnant in 1528. Here, a Tudor music teacher, perhaps not a fluent French speaker, has extracted the Contratenor part in British Library MS Royal Appendix 56 and 58, with incipit ‘Dum vince la bellegi vow’, while the other three voices are arranged in keyboard score in the corresponding RA56. © British Library Board: Royal Appendix 56 and 58.

Chansons Nouvelles, which was printed in 1528. Before the 1520s, only the more privileged English listeners and performers had encountered Franco-Flemish polyphony in the form of Latin motets copied into prestigious choir books such as BL Royal MSS 8.G.VII and 11.e.XI. These continental choir books were copied or imported as diplomatic trophy gifts intended to win royal favour, and therefore out of general circulation almost from the moment of their arrival. Chansons, on the other hand, were generally accessible, short, easy to sing, non-liturgical and, in the case of printed collections hot off Attaingnant’s presses, fashionable and affordable.

LEGACYEnglish musicians were already turning their eyes towards the Continent before the Field of the Cloth of Gold. William Cornysh had already written French-texted songs with pervasive imitation in the 1510s: one such song, Adieu mes amours, is found in the so-called ‘Henry VIII Manuscript’ (BL Additional MS 31922), which was copied several years before the events of 1520. The Field of the Cloth of Gold


16


Above: A transcription of Sermisy’s chanson, D’où vient cela. Text underlay in italics and notes in brackets are found in Sermisy’s chanson but not in its Tudor adaptation.

Right: The anonymous pitch-spiral motet Salve radix, notated in circular staves around a heraldic Tudor rose. Copied in the mid-1510s, this prestigious royal choir book evokes the elevated sociability of the Henrician court. British Library Royal MS 11.e.XI, f. 2v.

The French chanson was arguably the most important medium for spreading new continental methods of composition in England


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left as few discernible musical legacies as it did diplomatic ones; indeed, print was probably more important in introducing the chanson to English listeners, and the most widely circulated single composer of chansons was a Fleming, Philip van Wilder (1500–54), whose reputation was propagated largely by his having lived and worked in England, as director of Henry VIII’s secular consort of Privy Chamber singers.

The Field of the Cloth of Gold nevertheless symbolizes an important moment in the history of English church music. Following the lead of their king, English musicians looked increasingly towards continental ideas and genres, particularly the chanson. At the same time, the flourishing native tradition of choral singing had never been – and never again would be – more widespread or more diversely cultivated. Henrician England was home to many hundreds of choirs in a huge variety of different contexts: cathedrals, monasteries and hospitals,

college chapels and collegiate churches, parish churches and religious confraternities, aristocratic and episcopal households, even in the chapel on London Bridge. Students of history and readers of Hilary Mantel will know what happened next: the King’s ‘Great Matter’, the break from Rome, Dissolutions, Reformation, and the near-death of the English choral tradition, but the musical future looked bright in the summer of 1520. It also looked rather French.

Above: Henry VIII’s three-man part-song, Pastime with good company (British Library, Add. MS 31922 (the ‘Henry VIII Book’), ff. 14v-15). Nothing would seem as emblematically Henrician as this song, but it owes much to continental models, including its main melodic idea.


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Stories are powerful things. All of us can recall tales told to us as children. They form an important part of the collective experience of

families – tales that are told and retold around the dinner table. The language that is used in such stories is important. Sometimes, of course, the language is prone to amplification, but that is usually done to make the story more compelling, memorable, and appealing to listeners. Of course, there are few storytellers who managed to achieve so much meaning as Jesus Christ. His parables are powerful examples of how carefully chosen, relevant words can share a clear message that resonates to wide groups of people across time and space.

What relevance has this to the RSCM? The answer is that if we are to build the RSCM’s ability to make a positive difference now and into the future – and it is my firm belief that not only is that desirable, but deeply necessary – then we have to be able to build that on the foundations of a positive narrative. The purposes of that story are two-fold. First, it enables us to reach out to new supporters who can engage with our work, and who can spread news of it (a perennial problem we have is that much of our work is seen as valuable and of good quality, but by a group much smaller than we might want to engage with). Second, and it’s not unrelated to the first, we need to reach out and find new sources of financial support. One of the challenges we have as an organization is that

everyone who engages with us assumes we must be funded by someone else. Our title suggests lots of connections: royal implies wealthy endowments; school implies some sort of state support; church implies we can access funds from the church. But none of these is true. The RSCM is not funded by the monarch, the state or the church, which means we have to work on building our development capability. If you live outside the UK, you would recognize that more explicitly being referred to as fundraising.

But our story has much to tell. It can speak of how we can help connect church and community through music. There are still times in life – including the uncertain times in which we now live – when people, in what one might term the liturgy of life, look to music, and specifically church music, for reassurance. We are working hard to innovate, to reimagine, and to enable new and exciting ways of building a positive future. The raft of recent resources we have created online to support people through the ‘general pause’ of church life is an example of that. The story still has pages to be written and I invite you to join me in writing them.

You can find links to the RSCM’s resources created in response to Covid-19 at www.rscm.org.uk/rscm-digital-resources-and-support-to-help-in-the-current-climate/

FROM THE DIRECTOR

H U G H M O R R I S

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2

Search for ‘OUP Choral’ on Soundcloud, or ‘Oxford Choral 2020’ on Spotify or many other well-known streaming platforms

Explore more at www.oup.com/sheetmusicFollow Oxford Choral on Facebook for news, inspiration, and resources for the choral world

You can now instantly download or print a wide range of Oxford sheet music from anywhere in the world. Choose from hundreds of top-quality pieces from our

trusted retail partners, including:

Listen to brand new choral music from OxfordTop-quality performances of new music available to stream now

Discover the latest carols for Advent and

Christmas 2020, as well as beautiful secular, sacred,

and liturgical repertoire, performed by professional

singers, directed by Bob Chilcott, and produced,

engineered, and edited by John Rutter.

Including brand new pieces by:

MALCOLM ARCHER IAN ASSERSOHN DAVID BEDNALL

DAVID BLACKWELL ALAN BULLARD ANDY BROOKE

BOB CHILCOTT MICHAEL HIGGINS GABRIEL JACKSON

CECILIA MCDOWALL BECKY MCGLADE SARAH QUARTEL

JOHN RUTTER BENEDICT SHEEHAN HOWARD SKEMPTON

OLIVER TARNEY WILL TODD JAMES WHITBOURN

MACK WILBERG TOBY YOUNG

2

Search for ‘OUP Choral’ on Soundcloud, or ‘Oxford Choral 2020’ on Spotify or many other well-known streaming platforms

Explore more at www.oup.com/sheetmusicFollow Oxford Choral on Facebook for news, inspiration, and resources for the choral world

You can now instantly download or print a wide range of Oxford sheet music from anywhere in the world. Choose from hundreds of top-quality pieces from our

trusted retail partners, including:


20

COPY-WRONG, COPY-RIGHT

COPYRIGHT LAW FOR UK CHURCHES

S T E FA N P U T I G N Y

The RSCM’s publications department receives many enquiries regarding copyright. This article answers some of the most commonly

asked questions, but is intended only as a guide. If you have any questions regarding UK law, you should consult a professional legal advisor.

The legislation Copyright law in the United Kingdom is set out in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, with subsequent amendments. These amendments often derive from European Union Directives (you may have heard, for example, of the EU’s recent and controversial Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, particularly Articles 11 and 13). Various legal precedents and even landmark rulings have also established principles.

Why does copyright law exist and what does it do? Put succinctly, copyright law provides protection for intellectual property. Laws differ from country to country, but UK law stops people from stealing the identity of your products or brands, your inventions, the design or look of your products, and the things you write, make or produce. Some of these protections are applied automatically (literary works, sound records, film, music, photography and art are all covered automatically at the point of creation), while others need to be applied for (patents for inventions, for example).

Copyright law therefore prevents people from copying your work, from distributing it or selling it, renting or lending it, performing it, adapting it, or putting it online. To do any of those you need


21

permission from the copyright owner, who will typically, but not always, require a fee in order to grant you a licence.

Where did the idea of copyright law come from?Legal cases, trials and arguments over copyright became more prevalent across Europe following the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. The world’s first copyright statute was the British Copyright Act of 1710. The Statute of Anne, as it was sometimes called, granted publishers 14 years of protection for any published book, with an option to renew for an additional 14 years. It also had the effect of creating the ‘public domain’: a term meaning that a work has passed beyond the number of years covered by copyright law (in 1710, a maximum of 28 years) and can therefore be reproduced without licence or charge. The Statute of Anne was replaced by the Copyright Act 1842, itself replaced in 1911.

The duration of copyright in literary and musical workThe duration of copyright is no longer 28 years as it was in 1710. The Copyright and Patents Act states that: ‘copyright expires at the end of the period of 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies’. It is important to remember, however, that where a work has more than one author, copyright expires 70 years after the death of the last person to have been involved in its creation.

Matters become slightly more complicated because of the laws regarding typography. Typographical arrangement – meaning the style, composition, layout and general appearance of a page of a published work – expires 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the edition was first published. This means that a piece of music currently in the public domain cannot be photocopied if the setting is taken from a publication less than 25 years old.

If a publishing house produces an edition of S.S. Wesley’s Lead me, Lord (1861), they are creating a piece of original notesetting, typesetting and layout,

and that particular edition is under copyright for 25 years. Of course, older editions are no longer covered by the 25-year rule. The music, words and typography are therefore all in the public domain and may be photocopied and used free of charge.

Can I photocopy music resources?If the work is in the public domain, both as a composition and as a piece of typography, then yes, you may adapt or copy the resource. The music of Henry Purcell (1659–95) is in the public domain because the author has been dead for more than 70 years. Pieces of Purcell’s music printed more than 25 years ago are also in the public domain. The same rules apply to arrangements. For example, Benjamin Britten’s arrangements of Purcell’s music are still under UK copyright because the author of the arrangement died in 1976; they are therefore still protected under the 70-year rule. Editions are also protected by copyright law. In 2001, Ex Cathedra, a leading English choir and early music group, recorded four sacred works by Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657–1726) for Hyperion Records. They used,

Copyright law prevents people fromcopying, distributing, selling, renting, lending, performing, adapting, or putting online any protected work without permission from the copyright holder

Above: The Statute of Anne, 1710.


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performing them in a way that might harm the author’s reputation.

This rule is not really designed to prevent a choir master from making a few small adjustments to a piece of music for their own church choir to sing on Sunday – providing changes made are respectful and are not intended to be published. If, however, your performance is going to be broadcast, or if you are seeking to publish the arrangement, you are advised to seek permission from the copyright holder.

EXCEPTIONS

If you want to copy or use a copyright work you usually have to get permission from the copyright owner, but there are a few exceptions where you can copy or use part or all of a copyright work without permission. For example, students currently in education may make copies under certain conditions – likewise teachers in the classroom.

Can I photocopy 10% of a book?It is often said that you can photocopy 10% of any publication without breaking the law, but this is not the case. Many academic institutions allow students to copy a percentage of a publication, or one chapter, for purposes of study. Such institutions will, however, have a licence from the Copyright Licence Agency allowing them to make copies within certain boundaries and under the principle of ‘fair dealing’. What if I already have copies of the music?It is often repeated that if you own a number of copies of a piece of music then you may make copies commensurate to the number of printed copies purchased. This is not the case. If you want to photocopy music that is under copyright, you need to contact the rights holder for permission. When asked, some publishing house may allow you to make copies

however, editions prepared by a scholar named Lionel Sawkins, who sued Hyperion and won. The High Court ruled that Dr Sawkins’s edition was ‘sufficiently original in terms of the skill and labour used’ to warrant copyright on three of the four motets. The decision, although controversial, established a precedent and saw Hyperion hit with £1,000,000 in legal fees and damages. It cannot be stated enough that if you wish to photocopy musical resources that you think may be protected by copyright law then you need to contact the licence holder to obtain all relevant permissions.

Can I adapt or arrange a copyrighted composition? Copyright lines often include a clause about the author asserting their ‘moral rights’. As set out in the 1988 Act, these rights protect the author’s integrity and prevent others from altering their works, or from

Left: A Scottish publisher named Alexander Donaldson (1727–94) caused great controversy by printing works no longer covered by the 1710 British Copyright Act. The decades of legal cases that followed became known as The Battle of the Booksellers and resulted in 1774 in a ruling against perpetual copyright. The decision of the Court of Session, upon the question of literary property (1774). Courtesy of the University of Glasgow.

It is often said that you can photocopy 10% of any publication without breaking the law, but this is not the case


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of music already purchased for certain purposes. For example, a publisher may allow you to make 20 copies of an anthem to use for choir practice if you already own 20 copies of the music in another printed form (perhaps as part of a large, bulky collection that is difficult for the choir to use). In all instances, however, you will need to speak to the rights holder(s).

Blanket licencesIn 1976 a Christian songwriter and publisher named Dennis Fitzpatrick filed a suit against the Archdiocese of Chicago in the USA. He claimed that 238 churches in the diocese were photocopying his music illegally. In 1984 Mr Fitzpatrick won his case and was awarded over $3.1 million in damages. It was clear that copyright licensing for churches needed to change.

A solution for churches everywhere was found (and adopted in the UK as well as the USA) in the form of collective licences. These licences represent an easy way to cover your church, building, or school from prosecution by paying an annual fee (or fees, depending on the breadth of the licence) to use copyrighted material in a variety of ways. The best-known examples are One License and the Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI). Such licences allow churches to copy and print resources and – depending on the type of licence obtained – project lyrics, stream services, copy and scan music, playback films and television, and hold concerts and recitals. They work by allowing you to

pay one organization, who then make payments to hundreds of different publishing houses and copyright owners all around the world, without the need for you to contact those rights holders individually every time you wish to print a lyric sheet or screen a TV show in Sunday School.

GETTING A LICENCE

What do I do if I want to photocopy resources still in copyright? You need to contact the copyright holder. Copyright lines are included on printed music to let you know that the work is under ownership, but also to tell you who to contact should you need to reproduce, adapt or use their material. An address will sometimes be included as part of the copyright line, but if it is not then further details are often printed on the inside cover on sheet music or the reference pages in large printed works. If you still need a point of contact, a quick internet search will in most cases bring up the publisher’s website and contact details.

Legal repercussionsBreach of copyright law can have serious repercussions. Conviction at the Magistrates Court carries a maximum penalty of six months’ incarceration and/or a fine of up to £50,000. More serious offences are passed to the Crown Courts and can lead to 10 years’ incarceration and an unlimited fine.

COPY-WRONG, COPY-RIGHT

The Code of Fair Practice issued by the Music Publishers Association covers such things as making a photocopy to ease a difficult page-turn or emergency use. This useful and short document is at https://www.mpaonline.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/The_Code_of_Fair_Practice_ Revised_Apr_2016.pdf

If you wish to consult The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, you can download it in full (all 328 pages) at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/copyright-acts-and-related-laws

Copyright lines are included on printed music to let you know that the work is under ownership, but also to tell you who to contact should you wish to use their material

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originally sung by the title role. To judge from the libretto, the opera was a hugely lavish affair and a major achievement for the 28-year-old composer. Of the music, only this and a handful of other arias survive in a manuscript collection now in the Sing-Akademie, Berlin. The only other source is Anna Magdalena’s copy.

Quite how or why Frau Bach had access to this music is uncertain. But what is clear is that her husband appreciated Stölzel’s music enough to have acquired copies and performed significant amounts of it. From the researches of Tatiana Shabalina in St Petersburg, we know that Bach performed a Stölzel Passion in Leipzig in 1734 and he is thought to have presented a complete cantata cycle by Stölzel at about the same time. Later, in the 1740s, Bach returned to the Passion, reworking one of the arias as Bekennen

Sometime around 1725, Anna Magdalena Bach (1701–60) took time to copy out several vocal pieces into her personal music notebook. Among

the items by various members of her immediate family, one aria has subsequently proved particularly popular: Bist du bei mir. The text speaks of life-long devotion and how departure from this world will be that much more joyful in the presence of a loved one. It offers a tantalizing and endearing glimpse into the domestic music-making of the Bach family: it is tempting to imagine Bach accompanying his wife with her ‘good, clear soprano’ as they shared this charming piece.

The aria was long thought to be by Bach himself and was listed in Schmieder’s catalogue as BWV 508. But it is now known to be by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690–1749). Taken from the opera Diomedes, produced in Bayreuth in November 1718, it was

GOTTFRIED HEINRICH STÖLZEL

REDISCOVERING A COMPOSER VALUED BY J.S. BACH

WA R W I C K C O L E

Assessment of Stölzel’s legacy is hampered by the fact that much of his enormous output has been lost

Left: Originally attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach and copied by his second wife Anna Magdalena Bach, Bist du bei mir is now attributed to Stölzel. Copyright Lebrecht Music & Arts / Alamy Stock Photo. All rights reserved.


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suggests a young musician who was widely respected and much in demand: in addition to the appointments he lists, we know too that he turned down a position at Sondershausen. The extensive list of dramatic works, both serenatas and operas, that he produced in his twenties – often set to libretti that he wrote himself – indicates a network of wealthy patrons and a wide appreciation of his musical and poetic skills.

Any assessment of Stölzel’s legacy is hampered by the fact that much of his enormous output has been lost. The catalogue of his works, both sacred and secular, instrumental and vocal, easily sets him on a par with Telemann, Graupner or Fasch in terms of productivity. According to his obituary, of the 12 complete annual cycles of cantatas, eight were double cycles; he wrote 14 passion settings and Christmas Oratorios, as well as numerous occasional pieces and instrumental works. Like many university-educated musicians of his time, he pursued an active interest in the theoretical, ‘scientific’ aspects of music, becoming a member (before Bach) of Mizler’s Corresponding Society of the Musical Sciences and contributing a treatise on recitative. That his personal archive seems to have been discarded in the latter part of the 18th century is nothing short of tragic.

will ich seinen Namen (BWV 200). Stölzel’s work influenced aspects of Bach’s own Christmas Oratorio. And previously in 1720 he had transcribed a keyboard partita for his son Wilhelm Friedemann, adding a trio to the final minuet.

Since Bach clearly valued Stölzel’s music, it is odd that much of it remains unperformed in modern times. This year sees the 300th anniversary of Stölzel’s appointment to the court of Saxe-Gotha, and although the musical world likes to celebrate births and deaths – 2020 is of course a Beethoven year – it seems appropriate to mark this point in Stölzel’s career since it is only from 1720 onwards that we have any real idea of the quality of his music.

So, who was Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel and why should we take any notice of him? Much of what we know of his life comes from the autobiographical sketch he provided for Johann Mattheson’s Grundlage einer Ehren-Pforte (Hamburg, 1740). He was born in the small village of Grünstädtel near the historic border between Saxony and Bohemia. He studied at Leipzig University, where, like Telemann before him and his contemporary Fasch, he fell under the spell of the student Collegium Musicum and the fledgling opera, and where he received the patronage of Melchior Hoffmann, organist of Neukirche. After a number of short-term appointments in Silesia, Gera and Naumburg, Stölzel travelled to Italy where he met, among others, Vivaldi and Gasparini. Three years spent in Prague were followed by a short stint in Bayreuth and Gera again before his eventual appointment at the Friedenstein palace in Gotha. The somewhat transitory nature of his career prior to this point

Above: The stage of the Ekhof theatre at the Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha (Friedenstein Palace), the oldest baroque theatre in the world with its stage machinery still working. Stölzel was appointed Kapellmeister at the Friedenstein Palace in 1719 and remained in post until his death.

Opposite: The opening of the cantata Siehe, das ist Gottes Lamm, written for Estomihi Sunday (Sunday before Lent) in 1721, and recently identified as an autograph composing score by Warwick Cole. Despite having to compose, rehearse and perform at least two cantatas every week, his fluency as a composer is evident in the relative scarcity of corrections. Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, Musikabteilung. Used by permission.


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Three factors, however, have contributed to the partial survival of his music. First, unlike Bach, he seems to have taken a pragmatic approach to his composition. His music makes comparatively few technical demands on the performers. For example, the forces required in the first Jahrgang (1720/21), a cycle comprising 144 cantatas of which 94 survive, are modest, for the most part requiring only a single oboe, strings and four voices. The solo vocal writing is predominantly syllabic, with only the occasional melismas to highlight key words in the text. The chorus writing is similarly restrained in its demands. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his poetic skill is matched by a fertile melodic fluency that makes his music extremely approachable. Second, Stölzel seems to have nurtured a network of clients to whom his works were distributed. Because of this, there are multiple secondary manuscript sources that survive. And from printed libretti, we know that his music was widely performed throughout Protestant Germany. Third, having declined a post at Sondershausen, he was appointed external Kapellmeister, which required him to provide a regular supply of music. As a result,

the library in Sondershausen has a major holding of Stölzel’s music. Among hundreds of cantatas are copies of his Brockes Passion (1725), and parts for the 1720 Passion subsequently performed by Bach.

This last work is Die leidende und am Creutz sterbende Liebe Jesu (also known by its opening chorale incipit as Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld). It is a distinctive work and one that deserves

wider recognition. The libretto – by Stölzel – is set as a series of tableaux and follows a regular pattern not dissimilar to that of the first part of Bach’s St Matthew Passion: a section of narrative set as secco recitative is followed by an accompagnato and aria where the allegorical figure ‘the believing soul’ reflects on the spiritual significance of the unfolding drama. Each section concludes with a chorale verse in a plain four-part setting as sung by ‘the Christian church’. Within this rather structured format Stölzel injects an immediacy into the narrative in that, following Aristotelian principles, the drama plays out in real time. Each of the four sections is intended to be performed as part of separate liturgical events mirroring the Passion accounts. The first recounts the Thursday evening of Holy Week, the final one the crucifixion. To underline the point, and presumably again to provide a sense of immediacy, Stölzel’s verse paraphrase of the Gospel narrative is set entirely in the present tense, thus removing any sense of the reportage that we experience in Bach’s and others’ settings.

What remains of Stölzel’s music is of a consistently high quality. Although various recordings have been made in the recent past, there are vast quantities still to be explored, and much of his liturgical music is well within the scope of amateur singers and instrumentalists. Perhaps, then, marking the 300th anniversary of his appointment in Gotha may signal the start of a much-deserved renaissance of Stölzel’s reputation as a leading figure of German music in the 18th century.

Warwick Cole’s edition of the 1720 Passion Die leidende und am Creutz sterbende Liebe Jesu is to be published by A R Editions (Madison, Wisconsin) later this year.

Stölzel’s poetic skill is matched by a fertile melodic fluency that makes his music extremely approachable. Much of his liturgical music is well within the scope of amateur singers and instrumentalists

GOTTFRIED HEINRICH STÖLZEL

RSCM NEWS


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MUSIC SUNDAY 2020 GOING AHEADWe are uncertain what Music Sunday will look like this year, but inevitably it will be different. There is a chance that we will have returned to gathering in our churches, but with the likelihood of social distancing measures remaining – even if other restrictions are eased – we may still be joining together remotely. Either way, the current experience shows more than ever how we must value our church musicians and the role they play in the church. Many are suffering financial hardship and isolation at this time. Many are grappling with new digital technologies to help choirs and congregations keep some sense of togetherness, all the while wondering what will happen when these days have passed.

The RSCM will be putting together a special service for Music Sunday featuring this year’s Music Sunday anthem Hymns and psalms and sacred songs by Thomas Hewitt Jones, which you can download from the RSCM’s webshop and learn in advance of the day. We hope that many of our individual and friend members, as well as affiliate members in their homes or churches, will join us on Sunday 14 June to celebrate and support church musicians. For more information see www.rscm.org.uk/music-sunday/.

STAFF NEWS

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE UK

PROVIDING FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF ORGANISTSChurches across Wrexham have joined forces to provide a scholarship for a teenager from the town to learn to play the organ. Cerys Owen, who is 17 and from Coedpoeth, is studying weekly at St Giles’s Church alongside her A-level courses at Coleg Cambria.

Cerys is already an accomplished musician, playing both the piano and the violin, and was selected from a number of applicants for the scholarship. Her tutor, Chris Pilsbury, the organist at St Giles, said:

The number of organists is declining, yet the repertoire of organ music is probably the largest for any instrument. This scholarship will enable us to develop the next generation of organists and ensure the instrument continues to be played in churches and cathedrals across the country.

Historically organists were often men and it is only in recent years that has changed, and we’ve begun to see women take up positions as cathedral organists. We’re delighted that Cerys was selected for the scholarship. She’s already showing huge potential.

Above: Cerys Owen at the organ alongside her tutor Chris Pilsbury.


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Opposite: Instrumentalists and singers at evensong in St Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham.

RSCM NEWS

Above: A Candlemas Eucharist in Warwickshire.

RSCM CHORAL EVENSONG AT BIRMINGHAM CATHEDRALAn annual fixture in the Birmingham RSCM calendar is the Come and Sing choral evensong held in St Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham on the last Sunday of January. Every year, Simon Palmer directs a massed choir made up of RSCM-affiliated churches and schools, accompanied by the very proficient concert orchestra of the King Edward VI Camp Hill Schools (girls and boys) which he directs, with Darren Hogg playing the organ.

On 26 January, a fine turnout sang some favourites that many of the choirs may not be able to resource at home. The service included Stanford in C and Rutter’s For the Beauty of the Earth, along with hymns, a responsorial psalm and ferial responses. The climax was Parry’s I was Glad. As director of an RSCM-affiliated boys’ prep school chamber choir, I was pleased to give my singers the opportunity to sing in an SATB+ choir.

The choice of music when singing with orchestra is somewhat governed by the availability of the parts. Stanford and Rutter both provide interesting orchestrations that enhance the music over their standard organ accompaniments. (Parry’s coronation opus is an orchestral piece from the outset in any case.)

The rehearsal took 90 minutes and was followed by a short break for refreshment and robing. The service began at 15.30, during which we were supported by a full congregation of families and supporters. The congregation agreed that it was an inspiring and worthwhile service. Many thanks to cathedral precentor, the Revd Canon Dr Josephine Houghton, for leading the service and to Simon Palmer for organizing and conducting.Mark Lawrence

A SPLENDID EUCHARIST It was once again a delight to have David Noble direct a singing afternoon (1 February) for RSCM Coventry and Warwickshire, at the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Lower Tysoe, in the Warwickshire Cotswolds. Over 40 singers from across the diocese of Coventry prepared music for a Candlemas Eucharist and made a splendid sound. The service ran as follows: Introit: Hail! gladdening light (Paul Ritchie); gathering hymn: ‘When candles are lighted’ (Lourdes); Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei: St George’s Service (Paul Ritchie); Celtic alleluia (O’Carroll/Walker); offertory hymn: ‘Thou whose almighty Word’ (to Bowen by Bob Chilcott); post-communion hymn: ‘A great and mighty wonder’ (to Partington by Bob Chilcott); Nunc Dimittis: Stanford in B flat. The Chilcott tunes are wonderful and from his recently written Christmas Oratorio. The singers really enjoyed them!Jill Tucker

DUNBLANE SUMMER SCHOOL The Dunblane summer school was due to take place Monday 13 to Thursday 16 July 2020, but sadly has been cancelled. The school, which has been running for 23 years, consists of four enjoyable days of music-making, learning, reflection and worship based in the beautiful medieval cathedral, directed by Matthew Beetschen alongside Frances McCafferty (vocal coach) and Kevin Duggan (organ). There are vocal masterclasses and optional skills workshops given by distinguished tutors.

Around 50 singers attend this course each year. They appreciate the opportunity to learn new repertoire and to improve their music skills, and they value the fellowship and worship.

Services follow the traditions of both the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church, and are led by clergy of different denominations. Much of the music used will be suitable for small choirs but there will also be works to challenge.

We welcome singers from across the British Isles and beyond. The sharing of experiences from church choirs all over the world is particularly valued by the participants. See www.rscm.scot for further details.

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE UK CONTINUED


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Right: A rewarding meeting for RSCM Cape Town.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

CHALLENGES AND REWARDS A lovely afternoon was spent in the comfort of RSCM chairperson Dr Ashley Petersen’s residence on 22 February, when a group of like-minded people discussed the challenges and rewards of choir leading. Areas covered included how to cope with clergy changing music at the last minute, and helping choristers improve their music-reading skill. Colleen Hart shared how valuable the RSCM Voice for Life programme is and how easy it is to teach music using the system (which includes an instruction manual). We also discussed the practicalities of teaching children a musical instrument as a way of improving musical literacy and encouraging involvement in the choir.

The committee of RSCM Cape Town identified the need to contact every member of every affiliated choir to maximize publicity for forthcoming events. Transport cost was identified as prohibitive and fundraising ideas were discussed. Finally, a request for more day festivals and concerts was made. Colleen Hart

COME AND SING IN SOUTH EAST WALESThe first of this year’s South East Wales Area events got off to flying start at All Saints, Barry. The event, held on 7 March, was a Come and Sing rehearsal and performance of The Crucifixion by John Stainer. Despite the weather and the conflicting priorities of a certain rugby match, we were pleased to welcome over 80 people to the choir and congregation, which resulted in a rousing and memorable performance of the work. This was also due in no small part to our excellent conductor Lindsay Gray, former Director of the RSCM, and to the inspirational performances of our two soloists and organist, Thomas Mottershead, Will Stevens and Philip Aspden respectively. We now look forward to our annual summer festival to be held in St German, Cardiff in June.Richard Rees

Above top: Lindsay Gray (director), Thomas Mottershead (tenor), Will Stevens (bass-baritone), Philip Aspden (organist) at All Saints, Barry.

Above below: Singers at All Saints, Barry.


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RSCM NEWS

NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

RESONATOR WORKSHOP AT ST MICHAEL, PARISOur first venture of its kind, the teaching workshop dedicated to ‘Discovering and using your Resonators’, attracted almost 20 people to St Michael’s English Church in central Paris on a winter’s afternoon.

Conducted by RSCM France vice-chair Joan Marie Bauman (who has given such courses to singers and instrumentalists across the United States), the afternoon proved to be a hands-on experience for the participants, all of them choir directors, singers in choirs or wind instrumentalists. For some it was their first contact with the RSCM.

We all quickly set about learning how the human head produces sounds and how these can be controlled to best advantage when singing. As a flautist and lyric soprano who is professor at regional conservatoires in the Paris area, Joan used some well-tested techniques to enable the students to discover how breath control can make a considerable difference to the final result.

A dramatic illustration of the technique of Tibetan ‘chant diphonique’ was given by Eric Arnal, Joan’s husband and a professional musician, while Joan herself introduced the notion of the ‘Pavarotti stretch’, a technique that can make all the difference to warming up voices for performance, either as choir members or soloists.

Participants went away having experienced how to breathe more effectively when singing, how to acquire better posture, how to produce a more beautiful tone and how to blend with others more satisfactorily. All in all, the thoroughly participative experience proved stimulating, and it is likely that we shall run another such course in the near future.John Crothers

Above left and right: Participants at a resonator workshop in Paris discover how the human head produces sound.

CONGRATULATIONS


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SINGING SHENGMIXING MUSICAL LANGUAGES IN NAIROBI

H A N N A H E M M R I C HThese results are listed alphabetically under RSCM Regions, Areas and Countries. (F) = RSCM Friend, (IM) = Individual Member, (S) = Student member, if candidate’s choir not affiliated.

Honours 90%+ (Gold) Highly commended 85%+ and

Commended 75%+ (Bronze/Silver)

GOLD AWARDUSA: Abigail Akers, Don Pettengill (Burlingame, CA, St Paul), Carol Anne Taylor (Dallas, TX, Cathedral Guadalupe), Andy Hubbard (Evansville, IN, First Presbyterian Church).

SILVER STANDARDBerkshire: Vicki Sperrey (Caversham, St Peter), Matthew Bell (Earley, St Peter). Birmingham: Rosie Stubbs , Maisie May Werrin (Harborne, St Peter). Canada: Mark Matterson (Erindale, ON, St Peter). Canterbury: Steve Ringer (Hawkhurst, St Laurence). Ely: Nicole Pawellek , Harriet Richards (Cambridge, St John Evangelist). Essex & E London: Priya Banerjee, Amelie See, Daniel Shaw, James Shaw, Elijah Summers , Esther Summers, Ewan Woodhouse, Orry Woodhouse (Chingford PC), Oliver Waller (Epping, St John), Catherine Hobday , Jennifer Hobday , Lalita Jackman (Romford, St Edward Confessor). Ireland: Cliona Barrett, Blathnaid Doyle-Fox, Conor Gahan , Cormac Gilligan , Saoirse McSharry , Laura Murphy, Sean Murphy, Jack O’Flaherty , J.J. Orange , Ava Richards (Dublin, St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral). Norfolk: Carole Broadhead , Sylvi Sutton (Sheringham, St Peter).

Northumbria: Eliza Nicholson (Hexham Abbey). Oxford: Maria Teresa Maddison (Frideswide Voices). Southwark & E Surrey: Chloe Ellam , Victoria McDade , Ellie Roberts (Merton, St Mary), Arvind Benedict , Alexander Golder , Arvin Kinigama , Deyan Patel (Wimbledon, Kings College School). Sussex: Isabella Barton (East Grinstead, St Swithun), Joshua Crabb (Horsham, St Mary Virgin), Marianne Barratt , Sally Bowles , Angela Howitt , Jane Pentecost- Wild , Jacqueline Ward (Ticehurst, St Mary). USA: Natalie Dias (Burlingame, CA, St Paul), Surya Dinesh , Akash Manickam , Ethan Yao (Dallas, TX, St Mark’s School), Nell Clay , Abby Greenwell , Lynne Thissen (Evansville, IN, First Presbyterian Church). Wessex: Fleur Taylor (Devizes, St Peter).

BRONZE STANDARDBerkshire: Malcolm Moye (Caversham, St Peter), Thomas Leviss (Sonning, St Andrew). Birmingham: Carol Andrews (Olton, St Margaret). Canada: Penelope Gampel, Thomas Wigle (Erindale, ON, St Peter). Canterbury: Deanna Pogson (Hawkhurst, St Laurence). Cornwall: Pippi Harris (Launceston, St Joseph’s School). Guildford: Sacha Dow , Harry Hollis (Farnham, St Thomas-on-the-Bourne). Ireland: Clodagh Barrett , Niamh Burke, Max Boylan , Joseph Dwyer , Emma Harding , Anna MacManus , Simon Maughan, Maria Motsonelidze , Aoife Murphy, Charles Vincent Nunala, Karl O’Connor , Blossom Pednekar , Rebecca Pierce, Lucia Ryan ,

Anna Shiel, Conor Smith , Oscar Sugre-Lynch (Dublin, St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral). Lichfield: Reece Crocker , Otto Homer , Sophie Oakley , Lydia Osborne , Aaliyah Smith , Millie White (Lichfield Cathedral). Norfolk: Laila Barini (Norwich, St Peter Mancroft), Barry Tomlinson, Felicity Tomlinson (Sheringham, St Peter). Oxford: Nellie Lamond , Lizzie Lawrence , Elsa Rea (Frideswide Voices), Toby Best , Tom Cordle , Tom Scurr , Toby Weller , Anna Wincott (Goring, St Thomas of Canterbury). Rochester: Tabitha Masinde (Belvedere, All Saints), Jack Brown , Edward Leadbetter (Mereworth, St Lawrence). Southwark & E Surrey: Hannah Kamau , Joyce Wooff (Plumstead Common, SS Mark w Margaret), Xander Insall , George Macklin , Teager Middleton , Thomas Savege (Wimbledon, Kings College School). Sussex: Mary Howick (Whyke, St George). USA: Karl Breice (Burlingame, CA, St Paul), Abby Fairbanks , Cian Ferrell, Tristan Poulosky , Kalah Weber (Champaign, IL, St John the Divine), Benedict Barrington (Chicago, IL, St James Cathedral), Peter Clark , Cooper Guiler , Nathaniel Hochman , Andy Li , Adrian Lutgen , Matten Mostafavipour , Lukas Payls (Dallas, TX, St Mark’s School), Nancy Erwin , Greta Griffin , Amelie Hubbard , Kathleen Weston (Evansville, IN, First Presbyterian Church). Wessex: Ruth Davies (Amesbury Abbey), Katherine Channing , Jasmine Hughes , Karen Murrell , Sally Westwood , Haydn Williams , Lisa Williams (Royal Wootton Bassett, St Bartholomew), Elara Jacobs (Salisbury, St Thomas).

RSCM VALIDATED SINGING AWARDSVOICE FOR LIFE SINGING AWARDS


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A Kenyan friend once said to me that people who grow up in Nairobi don’t learn to speak any language well. They don’t speak their

mother tongue properly (the language of their ethnic community, still the first language for the majority of Kenyans) and, in his opinion, they don’t speak proper English or Swahili either. In fact, the language spoken most widely between Nairobians is Sheng, a fast-evolving mash-up of Swahili grammar and English vocabulary that finds its way even into popular songs and advertising. A billboard at the bottom of our road

in last July’s cold snap (it fell below 15°C) advertised electric heaters and blankets with the tagline ‘#Usifreeze’ (‘Don’t freeze’). To linguists, Sheng is a fascinating phenomenon and an ingenious solution to the difficulties of communication in a city with a multitude of different first languages. Yet many Kenyans seem to speak about it rather ruefully, as a corruption of both Swahili and English.

It struck me that the development of Sheng has a relevance to the worship at All Saints’ Cathedral, Nairobi. All Saints’ was founded in 1917 and served

SINGING SHENG

SINGING SHENGMIXING MUSICAL LANGUAGES IN NAIROBI

H A N N A H E M M R I C H

Below: Joe Kabuba, one of the young organists at All Saints’ Cathedral.


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a colonial congregation in a relatively High Church tradition rather separate from the predominantly Church Mission Society-led operations in the rest of the country. This history remains visible: the lectern still bears a King’s African Rifles logo, and an intriguing plaque on the gate commemorates a colonial officer killed by a lion. Some of our choristers today were among the first Kenyan singers in the

cathedral choir, and the annual choir photographs testify to the slow transformation of an exclusively white congregation to an almost entirely Kenyan one. What interests me about these photographs is that there is no sudden shift: rather new singers joined steadily and became part of a tradition that continues

to evolve. Those first Kenyans who started worshipping at All Saints came because they were drawn to its musical and liturgical traditions, and the cathedral continues to be valued for the same reasons.

Meanwhile, Nairobi has mushroomed to a city of about 6 million people and the cathedral has grown to a congregation of around 5,000 on the average Sunday, with different services from widely varying traditions. The original cathedral choir is now one of eight, each like its own parish choir with a particular congregation and repertoire. All are non-auditioned and most choristers learn music-reading as they go along, yet they are demanding in terms of rehearsal time and musical ambition. Alongside the core Anglican tradition have come different styles: beautiful Catholic Swahili sung liturgy; traditional music from different Kenyan communities; gospel and spirituals; accessible hymn-anthems from American composers such as Mark Hayes; and contemporary worship music. At choir concerts, these styles mix with no particular distinction. In a recent programme ‘How lovely are thy dwellings’ from the Brahms Requiem was followed by a Maasai tune and then a chorale from Bach’s St John Passion.

With eight different choirs comes the usual jostling between musical tastes and generations, as well as

Alongside the core Anglican tradition have come different styles: beautiful Catholic Swahili sung liturgy; traditional music from Kenyan communities; gospel and spirituals; accessible hymn-anthems from America


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bickering over major feasts. But I’m often struck by the areas of consensus, the places where a confusion of different musical languages gives way to a distinctive fusion, an All Saints house style – a Sheng, if you like.

Take, for instance, the organ. All Saints has a lovely, if now desperately in need of repair, three-manual Walker organ – the largest in East Africa – which is still played in all services by a committed team of organists. All the choirs seem to agree that it is the best instrument for almost any given music, whether paired with the congas for Swahili songs, with orchestra for the regular choir concerts, or for contemporary American choral music with accompaniments obviously imagined for the piano. In the latter case, I think it’s simply because the piano isn’t grand or loud enough. The organ plays into something very bombastic about the All Saints tradition: a style of hymn singing that sees no service as complete if the recessional hymn hasn’t ended with a big key change and roaring descant on the last verse. In the last year, as we lost the use of several crucial stops on the Great, we thankfully gained two trumpeters who have temporarily helped us make up for lost oomph. Sitting in the corner of the organ loft, there is a second-hand set of festival trumpet pipes to be

installed when the organ is restored, which I’m sure will be well used. As we raise funds to save this wonderful instrument for future generations, it is encouraging to me that the organ is embedded in the musical life of the cathedral as a whole, rather than seen as tied to one particular musical style.

And, of course, there is a distinctiveness to the selection of music from different traditions. ‘You’ll probably have realized’, said one of the organists to me a few months ago, ‘that Africans really love Handel.’ This certainly goes beyond Kenya. An East African choirs’ festival in Dar es Salaam in 2018 featured Tanzanian choirs singing the Hallelujah Chorus in Swahili translation and a version of Zadok the Priest where the conductor did a twirl at the end. I think there’s something about the drama and word painting in Handel that resonates for people, more perhaps than the harmonies of later western composers. We often sing songs by the music of professor and composer Arthur Kemoli (1945–2012), who brought complex counterpoint into his arrangements of Kenyan traditional music. I always wonder if there is a conversation going on here with Handel in particular, as the most recognizable and well loved of western classical composers.

In many ways, it is the internet that makes this possible. Kenyan musicians can, for the first time, listen to a wide range of music online and develop their own specific tastes; scores can be bought and downloaded instantly, rather than waiting weeks for paper copies to (hopefully) make their way through customs. And as with Sheng, this exposure to different musical languages can make us feel inadequate, as if we will never sing a particular style as well as the people who really ‘own’ it. Yet it can also give rise to something genuinely new. As we go into lockdown for coronavirus, and churches across the world move online, I’m intrigued to see whether we can learn a little more from each other as the global church, and have the courage to make different musical languages part of our own.

SINGING SHENG

Sheng, a fast-evolving mash-up of Swahili grammar and English vocabulary, has found its way into popular songs

Readers of CMQ may be interested to know that the All Saints’ Cathedral Organ Restoration project is planned to start in early 2021. You can find out more about it and donate here: gogetfunding.com/allsaintsnairobiorgan

Left: Professor and composer Arthur Kemoli (1945–2012), who brought complex counterpoint into his arrangements of Kenyan traditional music.

HYMN MEDITATION

THE HEAD THAT ONCE WAS CROWNED WITH THORNS

G O R D O N G I L E S


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The head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now:a royal diadem adorns the mighty victor’s brow.

The highest place that heaven affords is his, is his by right,the King of kings and Lord of lords, and heaven’s eternal light;

The joy of all who dwell above, the joy of all below,to whom he manifests his love, and grants his name to know.

To them the cross, with all its shame. with all its grace is given:their name an everlasting name, their joy the joy of heaven.

They suffer with their Lord below, they reign with him above,their profit and their joy to know the mystery of his love.

The cross he bore is life and health, though shame and death to him;His people’s hope, his people’s wealth, their everlasting theme.

Above: ‘St Magnus’ first appeared in Henry Playford’s The Divine Companion (1707) as an anonymous tune.

Words: Thomas Kelly (1769–1855) Tune: St Magnus Jeremiah Clarke (c.1673–1707)

HYMN MEDITATION

There is a natural order to our observances and celebrations of Lent, Holy Week, Easter,

Ascensiontide and Pentecost that creates a great arc of spiritual journey that we trace and travel upon from year to year. Every year it is the same, and every year it is different. The narrative doesn’t change, but we do: the content remains, but the context varies. Our lives have changed, so the rhythm of the pascal mysteries reach parts of us hitherto unknown. This year, like any year, is no different in that it has been different. Yet it has been unique in living memory. Holy Week and Easter services have been cancelled; most people have been confined, the weak and vulnerable especially so. There has been darkness and light, soul searching and heavenward gazing. We have suffered with our Lord below, and looked above to fathom the mystery of God’s love, and hope has been our everlasting theme.

The emotional upheaval to which ‘The head that once was crowned with thorns’ alludes, and which the disciples must have felt, can also be seen in the lives of both the composer of the tune and the author of the words of the hymn. Jeremiah Clarke, who composed the fine tune St Magnus, knew the ups and downs of despair, depression and doubt in trying times. He eventually committed suicide. He was an accomplished organist, whose Prince of Denmark’s March is widely used at weddings today, not least in St Paul’s Cathedral, where he served from 1699 until, unrequited in love, having ‘a violent and hopeless passion for a very beautiful lady of a rank superior to his own’ he shot himself in St Paul’s Churchyard in 1707. He lies buried in the crypt. This is the most famous fact about him, for there is much we do not know. It is not

clear when or where he was born: he was a chorister of the Chapel Royal at James II’s coronation in 1685 and had left by 1691, his voice presumably having broken. He is listed in Winchester College’s records as being organist there, 1692–95, and then he disappears until appointed a vicar choral (lay clerk) of St Paul’s Cathedral in 1699. In November 1703 he was appointed successor as almoner and master of the choristers to John Blow (who became composer to the Chapel Royal in 1700). Blow had been his former teacher and mentor at the Chapel Royal. In 1700 Clarke and his friend William Croft became joint organists and ‘gentlemen extraordinary’ at the Chapel Royal, and it was Croft who succeeded Clarke as ‘Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal’ after his suicide, about which there is some debate

as to the exact date. Most likely it was 1 December 1707, as described in a broadsheet entitled: ‘A Sad and Dismal Account of the Sudden and Untimely Death of Mr. Jeremiah Clark, one of the Queen’s Organists, who Shot himself in the Head with a Screw Pistol, at the Golden Cup in St. Paul’s-Church-Yard, on Monday Morning last, for the supposed Love of a Young Woman, near Pater-noster-Row’.

This tragic end seems far removed from the joyfulness of his tune St Magnus, which fits Kelly’s words so well and which emphasizes the

joy of all those disciples of today who celebrate the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ in the light of the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Yet we often find, not least in the life of Christ, that where there is such light and joy there is often a poignant tinge of pain or suffering. So it was for the disciples at Ascensiontide, and so it is for so many since then and today.

Thomas Kelly was a Church of Ireland priest who must surely be ranked as one of Ireland’s finest hymn writers. Born in Kellyville, his father was a judge, and he studied for a legal career but gave up the law to be ordained in 1792. His preaching emphasized God’s grace, but he came to the attention of the Archbishop of Dublin, Robert Fowler, who believed him to be too much like a Methodist and banned him from preaching in 1794. Undaunted, Kelly continued to

preach in chapels and churches and in 1802 he formed his followers into an independent sect, the Kellyites. He continued to be a prolific writer of around 765 hymns, among them ‘We sing the praise of him who died’, and ‘The Lord is risen indeed’. His most famous is probably ‘The head that once was crowned with thorns’.

It is a hymn about the disciples, not simply those of Jesus’ time, but about ourselves. We sing of them in the third person, knowing that they are us. Jesus’ disciples lived through the rollercoaster of Jesus’ final days, Last Supper, arrest, trial, torture and


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The emotional upheaval to which the hymn alludes can be seen in the lives of both composer and the author of the words: Jeremiah Clarke committed suicide; Thomas Kelly was banned from preaching

execution. They ate and drank, doubted, denied, fled and betrayed him, yet he returned, risen from the tomb and then met with them before being taken into heaven. Emotionally they scaled heights and depths of high to low, from depression to elation. This hymn reveals that range and sews together those heights and depths seamlessly. In the first verse, the crown of thorns is contrasted with the crown of glory, thereby balancing humiliation against exultation, the royal diamond replacing the skin-piercing thorn. The joys above and below are compared. The joy of salvation won, experienced differently, but of the same cause: above is achievement, below it is hope. The shame of the

cross gives grace; Christ’s suffering yields the knowledge of the mystery of God’s love.

These contrasting parallels remind us that it has to be both/and. There is cross and resurrection, suffering and glory, height and depth, humans on earth and saints in heaven. There is suffering below and joy above, all of which hinge on the topsy-turvy goodness of that black Friday, when a cruel act became the salvation of the world and made something bad, good. This parallelism is carried throughout the hymn and climaxes with the idea that the cross – a deeply wounding and damaging device of torturous death – is actually something that brings ‘life and health’ to the faithful. This profound

and elevated theological thought is the very meaning of Easter, that ‘being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord’ (Philippians 2.7–11). This is our everlasting theme as we look back on our strangely isolated Holy Week and Easter, look upwards on Ascension Day, and look forward to the renewing grace of Pentecost.

HYMN MEDITATION


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Left: Photograph of a man thought to be Thomas Kelly (1769–1855). Date unknown.

It is a hymn about the disciples, not simply those of Jesus’ time, but about ourselves. We sing of them in the third person, knowing that they are us

O Father in heaven, who reigns in glory with the Son and the Spirit, grant to all your people the comforting touch of your healing hands, so that those who suffer here below may be joined to those who raise a shout of triumph at the victory over death won by your Son. This we ask for the sake of the same, Jesus Christ, our risen, ascended Lord. Amen.

compositions under her own name. Despite their isolation, they persisted to compose and to perform, to share their music without leaving their homes. I ordered some recording equipment, created a YouTube channel (details below), studied, practised and recorded with intense focus, and began to post stay-at-home videos of piano music by women composers, beginning with some favourites by Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979) and Fanny Hensel.

Throughout the Bible, one reads the poetry of women singing in response to good things: Miriam and her companions at the parting of the Red Sea

Celebrations of Women’s History Month at St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Burlingame, California drew their theme from Psalm

68.11b: ‘A great host of women bring the glad tidings’. On International Women’s Day (Sunday, 8 March), the choir premiered A Great Host by composer-in-virtual-residence, Patricia Van Ness, a mesmerizing aural depiction of a far-flung company of women joining together to sing for the world.

As I sheltered in San Francisco at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in the United States, I felt uniquely held and strengthened by the music of this great host of women. I thought of Chiara Cozzolani (1602–76/78), cloistered at the Milanese convent of Santa Radegonda during the outbreaks of bubonic plague in northern Italy (1629 to 1631), and of Fanny Hensel (1805–47), strictly counselled by her father and brother not to perform publicly or publish her


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BRING THE

GLAD TIDINGSA GREAT HOST

OF WOMEN COMPOSERS

S U S A N J A N E M AT T H E W S

Above: Collage of women musicians (including Sarah MacDonald and Fanny Hensel) and clergy created as part of celebrations of Women’s History Month 2020 at St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Burlingame, California. Some portraits by Peter Garrison. Graphic design by Alejandro Magyaroff. Used by permission. All rights reserved.


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In 2018, a kind and talented choir member of St Paul, Burlingame, musicologist Jim Steichen, introduced me to the wedding organ music of Fanny Hensel. I was captivated by her music, which revealed to me the truth of the composer of the organ processional at Fanny’s wedding. (Fanny’s younger brother Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy never completed the promised processional in time for her 1829 wedding, due to a cabriolet accident, though in 1845 he reused memories of a sketch for the opening march of Sonata III.) In Fanny Hensel’s Das Jahr for piano, again I found the musical voice of a woman that gave me life, learning a movement each month, through a challenging year as my mother’s health suddenly declined. Though Fanny’s extensive formal musical training did not include preparations to be a church organist, she incorporated chorales into the months of March and December and a Postlude, chorales that represent respectively Easter, Christmas, and the presence of the divine through the passing of each year. Fanny’s final version of Das Jahr was not published until 2000, some 158 years after its composition. This musical calendar was very nearly lost to the world, since Fanny was counselled by her brother and father to remain invisible, to neither publish nor perform publicly – as appropriate for a woman of her upper-class standing, for whom music could only be an ornament, never a vocation. This counsel she followed, despite the urging of her supportive husband, the artist Wilhelm Hensel, until the last year of her short life when she began to publish her music. Meanwhile, several of her compositions had been published under Felix’s name; according to an anecdote recorded in Queen Victoria’s journal, Felix had to confess to the queen that her favourite Lied (Italien – ‘Schöner und schöner schmückt’) published under his name had been composed by his sister. Fanny funnelled her passion for music into private

A GREAT HOST OF WOMEN COMPOSERS

Above: Jeanne Demessieux at Salle Pleyel concert hall, Paris (c.1946).

Above: The Music Room of Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn) by Julius Eduard Wilhelm Helfft (1849). Thaw Collection, Gift of Eugene Victor Thaw Art Foundation.

(Exodus 15.20); Deborah, Judge of Israel, following a victory for her people (Judges 5.1–31); Hannah at the birth of her first son (1 Samuel 2.1–10); Israelite women after David’s defeat of the mighty Goliath (1 Samuel 18.6); and Mary at Gabriel’s message (Luke 1.46–55). From a millennium after Luke’s recording of Mary’s Magnificat, beginning with the 12th-century chant of Hildegard of Bingen (CMQ June 2019), one may look at music manuscripts composed by women and hear their music. From the 17th-century Baroque masses and motets of Milanese nun Chiara Cozzolani, to the 19th-century German Romantic vocal and chamber music of Fanny Hensel, to the 20th-century French organ music of Jeanne Demessieux (1921–68), to creations of countless contemporary women composers, a great host of women have offered music to the world. Have you listened to their song?

As a young graduate student, I heard a performance of the Te Deum for organ of Jeanne Demessieux, exquisitely played in concert by Christopher Young at the Fisk organ of Downtown United Presbyterian Church, Rochester, New York. I was entranced by this music that unexpectedly awoke my soul. In discovering a picture of this legendary French women organist in a 1992 article by Karrin Ford in The American Organist magazine, I glimpsed dimly an image of my own self, for Demessieux was another young woman who was passionate about the organ, whose working-class family had selflessly supported the best musical training available, and who had died the very year I was born. Demessieux’s music, and the story of her life inspired and sustained me through the vocational vacillations of the next 20 years of my life, including a pilgrimage to the 12th arrondissement of Paris to see the modest two-manual organ Demessieux played, hidden from sight in the balcony of the Église du Saint-Esprit.


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Sunday concerts (‘Sonntagsmusiken’) at the Hensel home in Berlin, concerts to which prominent European musicians came to hear the music of both siblings, and to be inspired by Fanny’s performances as a pianist and as director of her own choral ensemble, the latter performing such works as her cantata Lobgesang (‘Song of Praise’). Composed in 1831 for chorus, soprano and alto soloists and orchestra, the cantata Lobgesang was published for the first time in 2002. While Felix’s later Lobgesang of 1840 is still frequently performed; Fanny’s is not well known.

It has been a heartfelt joy to share the profound music of these two composers, to allow the musical voice of these women from 20th-century France and 19th-century Germany to be heard in the 21st century. Their life stories form a continuum with those of women musicians today seeking vocations in the church, performance opportunities and publication. In the past year, I began more extensive research, to commission, to study, to practise, and to share more amazing music of women who have been overlooked by the canon of classical music, both in the church and in the world. I have found it increasingly surreal to just be discovering in 2020 exquisite music written by women in centuries past for the first time. As Jeanne Demessieux and Fanny Hensel first appeared to me, then followed Hildegard of Bingen, Chiara Cozzolani, Undine Smith Moore, Patricia Van Ness, Cecilia McDowall, Judith Weir, Eleanor Daley, Sarah MacDonald, Melissa Dunphy and Elizabeth Kimble. In Patricia Van Ness’s evocative paraphrase of Psalm 68 for her anthem A Great Host, I am empowered to now see these women surround me as a ‘mighty throng; a vast and jubilant chorus, a multitude: a thousand, and ten thousand more; a glorious flock; a far-flung company; a vast and jubilant chorus of women [who] bring the glad tidings!’

This article is based on ‘Girl Choristers, Invisible Women, and Breaking Through the Inertia in the Music of the Episcopal Church’, an article that was published in the Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians, Volume 28, Nos. 7 and 8, September and October 2019 and portions are reproduced with the permission of the Association.

Visit www.susanjanematthews.com for links to her YouTube channel

Far left: Fanny Mendelssohn in the guise of St Cecilia. Pencil drawing by William Hensel, 1829. © Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Nationalgalerie.

Left: Portrait of Susan Jane Matthews (the author) by Peter Garrison, inspired by Wilhelm Hensel’s portrait of Fanny Hensel (2020). Used by permission.

In A Room of One’s Own (1929), Virginia Woolf opined that ‘a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction’. While in 1918 and 2020 we celebrate a centennial of women’s suffrage respectively in England and the United States, women had held the right to vote for only a decade as Woolf wrote from her room in Sussex. She reflected that by walking together with women of the past, later generations of women in some way could bring to life the fiction that had been silenced – hidden, ignored, lost, even never written. While the work of bringing to light music by women composers once invisible has just begun, I see a change in heart percolating in publications and programming, and in turn improved circumstances to inspire composition of music by current and future generations of women. Is the music of the great host of women truly heard through the choral music lists you create, the music you teach your choristers, the music you offer in concerts and weekly to your parish? May choristers see role models of women in music leadership in the church, including the most prestigious posts, as vocations open to both men and women, vocations to which each of them might aspire? Does your church welcome girl and women choristers to the choir stalls?

Dear musicians of this world, the music of the great host of women composers may live through you. Pause and listen to the new song of glad tidings this glorious flock may bring, the song this vast and jubilant chorus of women sings for you.

The Canadian branch of the RSCM has been active in one form or another since the RSCM’s formation in 1927. Originally, Canadian

churches would join the RSCM (in the UK) directly, but since 2007 RSCM Canada has been a separate entity with a close association to the RSCM and its activities.

Today, the National Board of Directors oversees four regional chapters: British Columbia/Alberta/Prairies; Toronto/Ontario; Niagara/Huron, also in Ontario; and Eastern Ontario/Quebec/Maritimes.

Canada is vast. There are over 5,000 kilometres from Vancouver Island on the west coast to St John’s, Newfoundland on the east. For perspective, all of the UK would fit inside British Columbia, just one of our 10 provinces, with room to spare! Meanwhile, our relatively small population (approximately 37 million) live mostly across the southern border, concentrated in cities including Vancouver, the Greater Toronto Area (where approximately 10 million people reside), and Montréal, Quebec.

All this is to say that, far-flung as our members are, there are vibrant church music communities, clustered in both the large centres, as well as smaller communities such as Victoria, Haifax, Edmonton, St. John’s, Winnipeg, Ottawa and London. Church communities within a geographical area often collaborate, but the distances across the country make national (or even inter-provincial) collaborations challenging.

The RSCM Canada board meets quarterly in Toronto. Some of the board’s recent projects include:

�Cantabile, an online newsletter for members�RSCM Canada handbook (in final stages of

editing) to be made available to chapters �Accreditation for new examiners for the

singing awards

New projects for the future include:

�Creation of a programme director to assist our members with content and resources to facilitate workshops, events, and other programmes in their area

�Plans to establish an ‘experts bureau’, which will mean that professionals located in different regions will be available to help facilitate workshops and other events

Many member choirs use Voice for Life. Across the country VFL has been adopted as a tool for children and for adult choristers who may not have had formal musical training.

Psallam spiritu et mente: as we embrace the dawn of a new decade, RSCM Canada looks forward to new opportunities to share the joy of music, as it connects us to the heart of Christian worship, with our members across the country and the communities in which we serve. Below are some examples of the robust activity within our members’ choirs:


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BRANCHING OUTRSCM CANADA

G I N N Y A R N O T T-W O O D

The Chancel Choir of Marshall Memorial United Church, Ancaster, Ontario is an integral part of the Marshall community and has helped the church maintain an active congregation. Comprising 32 versatile and dedicated singers, they manage a repertoire ranging from Handel coronation anthems, Mozart and Brahms Masses, and traditional Nine Lessons and Carols, to popular contemporary cantatas. As a member of the Niagara-Huron chapter, director of music Frank Pierce uses the many resources and service outlines provided by the RSCM. In August 2019 nine members of the choir attended the International Summer School in Norwich, England. The experience inspired the choir to sing vespers based on that sung at St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Cathedral in Norwich.

BRANCHING OUT


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Christ Church Anglican Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia, director of music Donald Hunt, plays a valuable role in the musical life of Canada’s west coast. The walls resonate with the sound of choirs and organs, a long-running concert series, as well as collaborations with artists and groups from around the world. Like the Metropolitan United Church, Christ Church Cathedral also has a burgeoning young Chorister Program that offers scholarships to children aged eight to thirteen who rehearse before class in the morning and sing at regular evensongs. Above: Choristers singing in Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria. Photo courtesy of Donald Hunt.

The Metropolitan United Church in London, Ontario has a unique liturgical children’s choir school. Led by director of music Dr Gregg Redner, 30 auditioned students aged 8–16 receive weekly lessons in sight-singing, ear-training and music theory. They participate in weekly services at the church as well as regular choral evensongs.

The picturesque city of Kingston, Ontario, is home to St George’s Anglican Cathedral and its three active choirs. Director of music, Michael Capon, oversees the children’s choir (ages 7–13), which rehearses weekly but sings one Sunday per month. The youth choir (ages 13–18) is an informal group that meets weekly and sings on occasional Sundays. The adult choir rehearses and sings services weekly on Sundays, as well as monthly choral evensongs and special festal services. Left: The choir of St George’s Cathedral, Ontario.

From Ontario’s north, the Choir of St Luke’s Cathedral, Sault Ste. Marie made a pilgrimage to sing at Westminster Abbey in 2019.

Trinity College School, Port Hope, Ontario has a long history of connection with the RSCM. A watercolour by the school’s founder shows the school’s first chapel choir, established in 1865. Affiliated with the RSCM in 1970, the choir lapsed for a time until it was revived in 1993. Now numbering 46 singers (including three faculty members), the choir benefits each year from new recruits as well as students who sing for their full eight years at the school. A motet is performed weekly at Monday matins, and daily chapel is still the norm. A handful of singers also join the choir of adults and children at St Mark’s Anglican Church for Sunday Eucharists. Director of music Randy Mills finds that the Voice for Life program is an effective training tool for his choristers. A smaller choir of 17, some of St Mark’s young singers have achieved Bronze and Silver Awards and are an energetic team outside of the choir stalls. Above: Trinity College School Choir, Port Hope, Ontario. Courtesy of Randy Mills.

speaking and church music. He also took on responsibility for the newsletter. David will be sadly missed.Pat Lynch, chair of RSCM Scotland

NICHOLAS TEMPERLEY

Professor Nicholas Temperley has died at the age of 87. A British musicologist, he joined the University of Illinois musicology faculty in 1967 and became a US citizen in 1976. Never afraid to pursue unfashionable paths, he caused a stir with his Cambridge 1966 performance and edition of Loder’s Raymond and Agnes at a time when Victorian opera was ridiculed in the UK. Equally unfashionable at the time was his scholarly interest in parish (as opposed to cathedral) church music. His 1979 The Music of the English Parish Church was a pioneering volume. A theme throughout the book is the incompatibility of ideals of artistic performance and popular expression – a conflict from the Reformation to the present day. That book was the start of much valuable research in church music and especially hymnology. He was general editor of Oxford Studies in British Church Music (1986–2002). From 1982 onwards, he directed a project that resulted in The Hymn Tune Index: A Census of English-Language Hymn Tunes in Printed Sources from 1537 to 1820, published in 1998 in four large hardback volumes and subsequently online. Editions of Haydn’s Creation, of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and 20 volumes of The London Pianoforte School are among the many areas where his work lives on in performance. His final published article, ‘Men and women all do sing’, surveying the origins of the English hymn tune, was published in CMQ December 2019.Julian Elloway

editorial board of the New Zealand Hymnbook Trust, producing resources such as Alleluia Aotearoa (1993). Canadian musician Ron Klusmeier has described her hymns as ‘a breath of fresh air for contemporary church music composers … seeking meticulously crafted and gospel-grounded expressions of faith reflecting the realities of our here and now’. Her themes include social justice, peace, human rights, the church year, concern for the environment, and the voice of women.Anne Harrison

DAVID SUTHERLAND

David had a background in dentistry – but those of us who knew him through his involvement in the RSCM did not know about the day job. To us, he was a dedicated church musician who shared his passion for the subject with his colleagues. He was a very competent organist and a useful tenor. He loved liturgy and had a deep understanding of and feel for it.

I first met David at Bangor University where a group of us had come for a summer school in Sacred Music Studies. We introduced ourselves and I realized that I had heard of David before I ever met him. He had embarked on a sponsored tour of Scotland to raise money for the National Association for Colitis & Crohn’s Disease (UK) and for RSCM Scotland.

David continued his studies in sacred music and was proud to be awarded an RSCM Diploma for his hard work. After he finished, he became more involved with the RSCM – he saw it as payback for all that he had learnt from the SMS study course – and so became a valued member of the RSCM Scotland committee. He served as membership officer, then our publicity offer – combining his love of publishing, public

OBITUARIES


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MICHAEL EWART CURRAH The Revd Michael Currah died on 9 February 2020 aged 88. He trained for the ministry at Sarum Theological College and was ordained priest in Salisbury Cathedral in 1957. He served a curacy at St Mary, Calne, and was appointed vicar of Southbroom, Devizes, where he served until 1969. He then moved to Bridport, Dorset, and retrained as a teacher in religious education. From 1969 until 1988 he was ( jointly with his late wife) organist and choirmaster at St Mary, Bridport. Later, they occupied similar positions in Taunton, Somerset.

Michael was an active supporter of the RSCM and regularly despatched choristers to the excellent residential courses, including his three sons. His hymn tune Brushnorth (a ‘play’ on Southbroom, Devizes) appeared as number 471 in Hymns and Psalms: A Methodist and ecumenical hymn book.Andrew Currah

SHIRLEY ERENA MURRAY

New Zealand hymn writer Shirley Erena Murray (b.1931) died peacefully in January 2020 at the age of 88, after a long illness. She was a distinguished wordsmith, recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Otago in 2009, and her hymn texts have found their way into several British hymnals, as well as being published and sung all around the world. Honoured by the Queen in 2001 for services as a hymn writer, she was admitted to membership of the New Zealand Order of Merit. She became a Fellow of the RSCM in 2006 and of the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada in 2009.

Numerous composers set her texts to music, notably Professor Colin Gibson, who also served with Shirley on the

in Westminster Cathedral and subsequently recorded it under the composer’s direction. Many other composers wrote for her during her long career. Her repertoire ranged from early English organ music to the present day and her recordings include the complete works of Peter Dickinson, Messiaen, Franck and Mendelssohn. She also founded the Jennifer Bate Organ Academy to develop girls’ organ performance skills.

JENNIFER BATE

We report the death on 25 March of the concert organist Jennifer Bate, who became Messiaen’s organist of choice. She premiered his Livre du Saint-Sacrament in 1986

NICHOLAS TEMPERLEY

I was taught by Nicholas while an undergraduate at Clare College, Cambridge, in the mid-1960s. He was, of course, a scholar of formidable gifts and wide-ranging interests: the quintessential English gentleman, he was a kind, extremely patient and encouraging tutor from whom I learnt an enormous amount. He greatly extended my existing interest in English sacred music, and also introduced me to a wide range of English 19th-century music – something for which I remain very grateful. His lasting friendship has meant much to me. May he rest in peace.Roger Wilkes

Organist & Choir Master, St Michael’s Bishop’s Cleeve, Glos. (See: www.stmichaelsbishopscleeve.co.uk.) Following a retirement, we seek an Organist & Choir Master who will play their part in enriching the worshipping life of our church. 9.30am Sung Eucharist, monthly Evensong plus festival dates. Mix of traditional and contemporary hymns, sung service settings, responsorial Psalms and choir pieces. Small Choir, seeking development and expansion, are of mixed ability & meet weekly. £5kpa, 6 weeks paid leave pa. Optional extra income from C18 weddings and 40 funerals pa. Submit CV to [email protected] with covering email outlining what attracts you to this position with us.

Director of Music, St Michael and All Angels, Bassett, Southampton. We are looking for a choir director and organist to help enhance the church’s worship through the quality of singing and the breadth of repertoire. With both junior and senior choristers, we sing at Sunday morning services and two evensongs per month. We are committed to developing all our singers, through the RCSM Voice for Life scheme as well as providing opportunities for cathedral visits during the year. If you have the qualities we need to maintain and develop our passion for choral-led worship, we would love to hear from you. Salary is commensurate with RSCM Main Town fee range (family accommodation may be available as part of a package). Meet our choir at www.nsab.org.uk/choirvid. For a role description, details of how to apply, closing dates and interview arrangements or for more information, please see our website www.nsab.org.uk/dom

CLASSIFIED ADSThe price for Affiliates and Individual Members is 50p (excluding VAT) per word (or abbreviated word) and number, in both announcement and address. This includes a listing on the RSCM website for up to three months. The price for Friends and non-members is double the above. There is an additional optional charge of £15 for a highlighted advert and a premium position (including a photograph) on the RSCM website. Closing date two months before publication. Send to [email protected]

St Luke’s Church, Maidenhead, Berkshire is looking to appoint an Assistant Organist to support our Director of Music in enhancing our worship, which consists of a mixture of traditional and modern styles. Duties will include playing for 2 services per month and being an active member within our music team. Salary dependent upon experience. Additional fees for weddings and funerals. For an informal chat, please contact Adam Went, Director of Music, on 01753 643974 or [email protected].

VACANCIES


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FOR SALEusedorganmusic.co.uk – Specialists in second–hand classical sheet music for organ. We stock thousands of pieces which are in print but cost less that buying brand new. View the current catalogue of items for sale on our website. Hundreds of pieces are listed at the bargain price of £1.50 each. Contact Roger Molyneux ([email protected] or 07902 176744).

ANNOUNCEMENTS Competent Singers & Organists Required – Poscimur – Small, Friendly, Robed, Adult, SATB Choir, RSCM affiliated – sings in Cathedrals – UK Wide Membership … Contact Catherine Thomas on 020 8857 9375; [email protected]; www.poscimur.co.uk


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Our interviewee this issue is Peter Gould, music teacher, concert organist, chair of the Portsmouth RSCM committee, president of the local Organists Association and cathedral organist for 40 years.

CMQ After retiring in 2015 you embarked upon a number of organ tours, first in Derby and then in the diocese of Portsmouth. Tell us a bit about these tours and the challenges you faced. Did you stick to a set repertoire?

PG I did the Derbyshire tour in 2013–14 when I was still Master of the Music in Derby Cathedral and found that touring the diocese was a great piece of outreach and, as in the Portsmouth pilgrimage, that I was able to talk to many local organists and advise on their instruments, particularly concerning registration.

Most days of my pilgrimage contained anything from three to thirteen different churches, dashing from one to the next. Each venue is

unique, so I took with me a range of music and didn’t choose the programme until I arrived. I then put together a short programme (usually of three contrasting pieces) that was appropriate to the instrument at hand. I never played the same piece more than once per day. The few organs without a full pedal board were challenging, meaning I occasionally had to resort to improvisation.

CMQ You founded the Derby Cathedral girls’ choir in 1997. What changes have you seen in the recruitment of girls into the world of church music over your career?

PG I introduced the girls’ choir, partly because I had a musical daughter and could see that she would benefit from having the unique musical education that such a position would provide; she is now a professional singer. However, my first task after being appointed in 1983 was to re-establish a boys’ top line, something Derby had not had for many years. This was not an easy task and

took a long time to raise to the standards expected in a cathedral. It was only after that that I began to think about starting a second treble line.

CMQ You have played recitals in many venues around the world. What are some of your favourite pieces of organ music? Do you have a favourite composer of organ music?

PG Bach features highly in my repertoire, and on both pilgrimages I almost always started recitals with a piece of Bach. I really enjoy the vast range of music available and try to include music from several countries and several centuries too. I’m very keen on 20th-century French music and throughout 2019 I learnt the whole of Louis Vierne’s (1870–1937) Symphonie No. 1 for organ, which I played in my final recital of the year at Portsmouth Cathedral.

CMQ What are some of your most treasured hymns, and why?

PG I’m afraid that I’m a traditionalist and almost always prefer hymns that can be found in The English Hymnal, or NEH as it has become. There are some good modern hymns, but I wish that new words would always be accompanied by new tunes - as the proverb says, do not put new wine in old wine skins! I would like ‘The day thou gavest’ as one of the hymns sung at my funeral, but not all my favourites are so old. I was brought up with The English Hymnal and it has been my book of choice in my small family church in Portsmouth, and all three places where I have been organist: St Margaret, Putney, Wakefield Cathedral and Derby Cathedral. The original editorship of Ralph Vaughan Williams had given us a treasury of tunes and harmonies that I don’t think can be improved.

An i n te r v i e w w i t h

PETER GOULD

MY FAVOURITE HYMN

FOOD FOR THOUGHTI received my copy of CMQ yesterday and was fascinated by your article on ‘The God of Abraham Praise’ and its associated tune Leoni. So much so, that I did indeed reach for the hymn book my church uses (Church of Scotland, so that’s CH4!) to compare the 12 verses in your article with the five in our hymn book. Well, I have absolutely no idea why the editorial panel chose those particular verses, but the article put an idea in my head around the symbolism of the number three – the three ‘sections’ of the original hymn, the three Abrahamic faiths, etc. This may well culminate in a short article for our church newsletter/magazine. Thank you for giving me food for thought.Fiona Bain, via email

THE GOD OF ABRAHAM PRAISE

breakneck speed and very full of vigour. Going back to the Stainer tune, Mr Mitchell altered what’s in The Hymnal 1940 by having us trebles swap the last four notes with the altos, thus giving us a nice high ending for each verse. Give it a try and set the heather on fire!

On becoming familiar with both, I’ve wondered if Covenant was Stainer’s major reflexion of the minor Yigdal?

Some other hymns used for starting the morning service included: ‘I heard the sound of voices around the great white throne’ to Patmos; ‘Ten thousand times ten thousand’ to Alford, ‘Rejoice, ye pure in heart!’ to Marion by A.H. Messiter; ‘Onward, Christian soldiers’ to Sullivan’s St Gertrude. What one notices of them all are their rousing nature. Perhaps the church could do with reminding of that effect on a congregation?Tom Emlyn Williams, via email

In the 1950s, I was a choirboy at Grace Church, Manhattan, New York. The organist was Ernest Mitchell who had been there for about 30 years when I started. Our services started with the choir processing in from the Honor Room in the south transept and processing down the side aisle to the west end and then up the central aisle. We had a collection of hymns that were used, all good rousing ones The desire was to have us little ones sing our hearts out as we marched around the building.

The Stainer tune, Covenant, suited that purpose to a tee along with others I suspect are now less familiar – consider Patmos by Henry Storer for ‘I heard a sound of voices’. It was only a lot later on, when singing in the West London Synagogue, that Yigdal would return to my sight and then in a way that I had not expected: taken at what most Anglicans would think of as

READERS’ LETTERS

LETTER OF THE MONTH

WEST GALLERYI was interested to see Francis Roads’s article on West Gallery music, which included a reproduction of the tune Otford. I am organist and choirmaster at Otford parish church in Kent, the church after which this tune was almost certainly named, and we have used the tune (among many other WG tunes) for ‘While shepherds watched’. This was the only Christmas hymn authorized to be sung in church for most of the 18th century; there are of course well over 100 tunes for these words.

My interest in WG music stems from my time singing in the Thomas Clark Quire. I note that Mr Roads refers to the difficulty of editing such music and deciding whether idiosyncratic harmony is just that, or whether it is a miscopying. The alto crotchet E three bars from the end of Otford is one such instance, as it appears as a D in my source, which I prefer because it sounds characteristically rustic!Kevin Grafton, Sevenoaks, Kent


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Above: St Bartholomew, Otford. © A. Barber

WHO READS YOUR COPY OF CMQ?Do share your copy among the other musicians in your church, pass it round the vestry or staff room – and encourage others to become Friends or Members of the RSCM and receive their own copy.


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range. MacDonald allows the music space to breathe and wash over the listener. Consisting mainly of anthems and motets, plus a set of evening canticles, a Mass and a couple of solo organ pieces, this CD is a well-thought-out retrospective of Iain Quinn’s compositional output. His music is accessible, tonal, and sublimely relaxing to listen to; it is deeply spiritual. My only quibble is the inclusion of the final Toccata on ‘Victimae Paschali Laudes’: I can’t fault the piece or performance but it is the antithesis to the rest of the music on this brilliant disc.Ian Munro

MIXED CHORAL CDSPRIÈRES POUR NOTRE DAME: DUPRÉ, BOULANGER, DEMESSIEUX, POULENCRomsey Abbey Choir, Colin Walsh – Cavaillé-Coll organ of St Ouen, Rouen / George Richford Regent REGCD538Credit must be given to the anonymous recording engineers and organ tuner Denis Lacorre for their sterling work making this recording a richly rewarding listen. The Senior Girls of Romsey Abbey Choir under George Richford are accompanied on the mighty Cavaillé-Coll organ by Colin Walsh. This CD is more of a showcase for the organ than it is for choir: Colin Walsh is obviously having the time of his life exploring the different colours and registrations. The choir responds to the technical demands of Poulenc’s Litanies à la Vierge noire and Lili Boulanger’s Pie Jesu effortlessly. Perhaps some of the faster tempi are slightly too much for this acoustic. The ethereal final phrase of the Litanies evaporates into the vast church beautifully: it is a real delight.Ian Munro

MUSIC FOR MILAN CATHEDRALSiglo de Oro / Patrick Allies Delphian DCD34224

REVIEWS OF CDs, DVD and BOOKS

CDs & DVDWorth hearingRecommendedEssential listening

SINGLE COMPOSER CHORAL CDSHENRY ALDRICH: SACRED CHORAL MUSIC The Cathedral Singers of Christ Church, Oxford / The Restoration Consort / David Bannister (organ) / James Morley Potter Convivium CR052Although Henry Aldrich (1647–1710) isn’t a familiar name, this attractive release celebrates an important figure in 17th-century Oxford. James Morley Potter directs spirited performances by the Cathedral Singers of Christ Church, Oxford (where Aldrich was Dean from 1689 until his death), with sensitive organ accompaniment by David Bannister. Some of the tempi may be a bit on the stodgy side, and diction at times can be lost in the complex polyphonic textures. The soloists (credited in the accompanying booklet) are choir members and make significant contributions. However, the voices don’t always blend well together, and intonation isn’t always accurate. Nonetheless, despite occasionally lacking in finesse, this is a valuable addition to the catalogue and a fitting and vital tribute to Henry Aldrich.

THE GARMENT OF HOLINESS: CHORAL AND ORGAN MUSIC BY IAIN QUINNChapel choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge / Shanna Hart, Alexander Goodwin (organ) / Sarah MacDonald Regent REGCD503The opening Regina caeli and Christus est stella matutina set up the listener for 76 minutes of music-making of the highest quality. The choir is in good health with brilliant intonation, excellent sense of ensemble, wonderful vocal blend and a remarkable dynamic

For their latest offering, Siglo de Oro focuses on early Renaissance music from Milan Cathedral. In particular, the choir explores the sacred music of Hermann Matthias Werrecore and his predecessors and contemporaries. Of Flemish origin, Werrecore was the cathedral’s Maestro di cappella for more than 30 years from 1522. He composed 30 motets, six of which are recorded here. The excellent programme notes argue that Werrecore’s output has been unfairly eclipsed by other composers. Judging by this CD, and two large-scale motets Ave maris stella and Popule meus in particular, Werrecore was indeed a master of his craft. Josquin des Prez is among other composers represented; earlier he too had made the trek over the Alps to Milan. There’s confident, lyrical singing from this small yet beautifully formed group directed by Patrick Allies: an overdue fresh airing of fine music.

REQUIEM: MUSIQUES POUR LES FUNÉRAILLES ROYALES ESPAGNOLESLa Maîtrise de Toulouse / Les Sacqueboutiers / Mark Opstad Regent REGCD551Musicians based in Toulouse are well represented in this CMQ. As well as the organ CD reviewed later, here is a collaboration between a French choir school and an ensemble of early brass instruments. Founded in 2006, the Maîtrise de Toulouse is a children’s vocal ensemble from the city’s conservatoire, augmented by adults singing the lower parts. They wind the clock back 400 years not to France but to regal Spain with, as a centrepiece, Victoria’s Requiem of 1603. At the time, this was performed in royal circles by niños cantorcicos (as young Spanish choristers were known) and the ministriles (wind players attached to church foundations). The CD notes include a contemporary account of mourners who ‘maintain their gravity while the musicians play on furiously’. There is fine, clean and sustained singing here – the brass instruments bring a refreshing perspective to Victoria’s music which we more often hear unaccompanied. Stuart Robinson

Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique Op. 56, there’s the beautifully mesmerizing Pentecost Communion followed by the exceedingly difficult Fantaisie-choral. Like several pieces on this CD, these are based on Gregorian themes. De Miguel can play with both élan and tendresse. The organ also performs well: a comprehensive instrument with beautifully voiced softer stops and unmistakeably fiery French reeds. What’s more – this organ is in tune! En fin we’re treated to Grunenwald’s Jubilate Deo – complete with large and loud, added sixth chord. Magnifique! Stuart Robinson

ST ASAPH EXPERIENCEJohn Hosking plays the organ of St Asaph Cathedral / Olivia Hunt (soprano) / Bethan Griffiths (harp) / Xander Croft (violin) Willowhayne WHR058On the evidence of this CD, especially his performances of J.S. Bach’s C major Prelude and Fugue BWV 547 and C.S. Lang’s Introduction and Passacaglia, John Hosking is a formidable player. The biggest piece is Sigfrid Karg-Elert’s Symphonic Chorale ‘Nun ruhen alle Wälder’ for organ, violin and soprano – rather thick and turgid for my taste, although halfway through, the first time the violin enters pianissimo above organ marked ‘visionär’, there is a welcome moment of light. Other vocal music is by Boellmann, Lili Boulanger and John Hosking himself. A harp toccata by Guillaume Connesson and organ Variations sur un Noël Bourguignon by André Fleury are also part of this very mixed CD. The finale is Dupré’s Toccata from his Symphony No. 2, excitingly played with drive and technical assurance.Judith Markwith

ROULADESimon Earl plays the Nicholson organ of Christchurch Priory Priory PRCD1209In this recording from Christchurch Priory, Simon Earl offers a programme designed to show off the many different colours and characteristics of the Priory organ. More serious compositions, such as C.V. Stanford’s Fantasia and Toccata and the Danse macabre by Saint-Saëns are pitted against more light-hearted works, such as Nigel Ogden’s Penguins’ Playtime, and Seth Bingham’s Roulade, after

in F minor (K 594), again arranged by Holder, complete the disc. While other organist-composers could lay a stronger claim to carrying on Bach’s organ-playing legacy, this recording is nonetheless a satisfying programme. But the real star is the 1797 Holzhay organ. One gains a vivid sense of the instrument in the abbey, and the whole is set off by the intelligence and vigour of the performances.Warwick Cole

EUROPEAN ORGAN MUSICColin Walsh plays the organ of Lincoln Cathedral Priory PRCD1223 Much of the music here is Francophone in origin – Jongen, Franck, Duruflé, Mulet and Langlais, but there’s also a fair proportion of time given to the works of Enrico Bossi. Colin Walsh opens with a fine display of grandeur with Bossi’s Entrée pontificale. The CD notes quote Felix Aprahamian’s description, apropos of a 1966 recording, of ‘rolling diapasons, roaring reeds, and prelates rolling up and roaring down the aisle’. It’s easy to imagine the same here. There are changes of mood, however. Franck’s Prélude, Fugue et Variation shows off the organ’s more intimate colours. Walsh doesn’t hang about, though this is a beautifully phrased interpretation. There are some fine choices here: Duruflé’s splendid ‘Soissons’ Fugue, Dupré’s Cortège et Litanie and the Langlais Te Deum to close – Colin Walsh studied with the latter and clearly French organ music is in his blood. The 1898 Father Willis instrument is given a good airing in this fine recording.

SYMPHONIC ACCLAMATIONS & GREGORIAN PARAPHRASESMatthieu de Miguel plays the Puget organ of Notre Dame de la Dalbade (Toulouse) Priory PRCD 1210If in these distracted times you’re clamouring for a fix of Very Loud French organ music, then look no further. Matthieu de Miguel has recorded, on the Puget organ in Toulouse where he is titulaire, works by Widor, Langlais and Tournemire – staple composers surely in any gastronomie musicale. In addition, there is a suitably entitled Vif et impétueux by André Fleury – an astonishing piece of virtuosity. By contrast, from

ORGAN CDSCÉSAR FRANCK John Challenger plays the 1876 Father Willis organ of Salisbury Cathedral www.salisburycathedral.org.ukThis recording of music by César Franck (1822–90) was the last to be made on the Father Willis organ of Salisbury Cathedral before its restoration. John Challenger certainly pulled out all the stops to give it a fitting farewell. Pièce héroïque is a gripping start and the full power of the organ is well demonstrated. The programme notes state that ‘some wind leakage and action noise may be audible at times’. The wind leakage is particularly noticeable in the quieter, more reflective passages of Prélude, Fugue et Variation and the second Choral. This isn’t a big irritation, nor does it detract from enjoyment of Challenger’s wizardry in a flawless performance. This disc is a fine testament to the instrument, with the range and scope of not just dynamics but the various couplings and timbres as impressive as Challenger’s playing.Ian Munro

BACH IST DER VATER, WIR SIND DIE BUBENPeter Holder plays the 1797 Johann Nepomuk Holzhay organ of Neresheim Abbey Fugue State Records FSRCD015 ‘Bach is the father, we are the children.’ As Peter Holder points out in his informative liner notes, Mozart wrote that referring to Emanuel Bach, not his father, but nevertheless it is ‘the immediate legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach’ that this recording ‘seeks to explore and celebrate’. The programme focuses on the Bach family with lively and spirited renditions of the Toccata and Fugue BWV 565, the D major Prelude and Fugue BWV 532 and the arrangement of the G major concerto of Prince Johann Ernst BWV 592. Bach’s sons Friedemann and Emanuel – curiously, since neither is particularly known for their contribution to organ repertoire – are represented in Holder’s arrangement of a trio sonata for flutes (Fk 48), and the Sonata in A minor (H 85). A set of variations by Rinck and the Mozart Adagio and Allegro


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developments) influenced builders – the whole package is a cultural history, seen and heard from a new perspective. The first DVD is a three-part documentary on ‘The Long Beginning c.1500–1855’, ‘The Victorian Boom 1855–1904’ and ‘Modernity and Nostalgia 1908–2017’. The other three DVDs and three CDs provide an abundance of further music and (on DVD) demonstrations of the organs. Daniel Mould presents the documentaries and plays with astonishing virtuosity (where suitable) and always with an appropriate sense of style over nearly 500 years of music. The 64-page booklet includes full stop lists and pictures of the 33 organs. The UK retail price of £68.50 is a bargain for all that it contains, but at the time of writing there is a discounted price. It is easy to drown in superlatives when describing this achievement of Fugue State Films.Judith Markwith

BOOKSMUSIC AND FAITH: CONVERSATIONS IN A POST-SECULAR AGEJonathan ArnoldBoydell & Brewer: 264pp. H/B 978-1-78327-260-0 £30.00Jonathan Arnold, formerly a professional singer in several of the top London chamber choirs, now ordained and Dean of Divinity at Magdalen College, Oxford, has interviewed 12 writers, artists, scientists and historians, some with faith, some unchurched, some agnostic and some atheist, mostly lay but some clergy (indeed one bishop). In the ‘conversations’ he explores how music and faith are intertwined in their experience and the effect that sacred music has on them, whether as believer or non-believer. It is not an easy read, partly because it covers such a wide area of experience, and the definition of ‘faith’ is broad, but readers who persevere will find much to agree and disagree with. Throughout there is an encouraging belief that music matters – indeed that what we sing is important, for as the Bishop of Leeds says, ‘If you sing rubbish, you believe rubbish.’Julian Elloway


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which the CD is named. Simon Earl is at one with the organ and repertoire throughout, exploiting the vast dynamic capabilities of the instrument. Matched with sensitive playing, he succeeds in offering a pleasant listening experience.

THE ENGLISH CATHEDRAL SERIES VOLUME XXTimothy Parsons plays the organ of Exeter Cathedral Regent REGCD523The 20th release in Regent’s English Cathedral series is the debut recording of Exeter Cathedral’s assistant organist, Timothy Parsons. It is also the first recording to showcase the Exeter organ since its major rebuild and restoration in 2014. As well as works by such well-known composers as Mendelssohn, Vierne, Brahms, Alain and Duruflé, the recording affords us the chance to hear two works by composers who have an association with the cathedral – Matthew Locke and Samuel Sebastian Wesley. Contemporary compositions by Mark Blatchly and Nico Muhly complete the varied programme. This is a well-crafted disc, brought to life by the excellent playing of Timothy Parsons. His enjoyment of the repertoire is evident from the outset, and his command of the Exeter instrument is impressive.

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION Martin Baker plays the Ruffatti organ of Buckfast Abbey Ad Fontes AF001Martin Baker’s recording consists of works selected from his inaugural concert on the organ of Buckfast Abbey. The instrument – the largest in the South West of England – was the first in the United Kingdom by the Italian builder Fratelli Ruffatti. The programme opens with music by Dom Sebastian Wolff, the abbey’s long-serving monk, composer and organist. Other works by Bach, de Grigny, Jongen and Widor explore the various tonal nuances of the instrument, which is located in both the quire and west gallery of the abbey church. The recital culminates in Martin Baker’s own transcription of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. While the instrument may not be to everybody’s taste, it is Martin Baker’s musical playing and highly imaginative transcription of the Mussorgsky that

brings this disc to life. The organ has been excellently captured by the sound engineer, and the disc and informative booklet are presented in an attractive collectors’ case.

ORGAN PARTY VOL. 5GREEN AND PLEASANT LAND VOL. 3Kevin Bowyer plays the organ of King’s Lynn Minster Priory PRCD 1201 and 1202In addition to playing and recording much of the standard organ repertoire, Kevin Bowyer is renowned for championing lesser-known works. These two releases by Priory are no exception. Many of the composers, and the majority of both playlists, are likely to be unknown to most listeners, but Kevin Bowyer excels at bringing these little-known gems to life. Some familiar names also feature among the extensive roster of composers, including Ernest Tomlinson whose seven-minute Triumphal Overture is the longest and Pachelbel with a chorale prelude that is the shortest track on the discs! See www.prioryrecords.co.uk for full listings. The organ of King’s Lynn Minster acts as the perfect vehicle, with all resources being used to good effect. These discs are fun and good-humoured; they would make a worthy addition to any collection. Richard Brasier

ORGAN DVDTHE ENGLISH ORGANA Will Fraser film with Daniel Moult as performer and presenter 4DVD and 3CD pack Fugue State Films FSFDVD012I wish I were allowed to award a fourth star to this set of three documentaries about the English organ, plus individual films about 33 organs and ten hours of specially recorded organ music (on DVD and CD, stereo and surround). The ‘English’ in the title refers to the nationality of the organ builders, with instruments filmed also in Scotland, USA, Australia and New Zealand. Much of the music is by English composers more or less contemporary with the instruments. But as well as the instruments and the music there are the connections between them and wider history, and the way changes in society (as well as technical

ALL THE LATEST REVIEWS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT WWW.RSCM.ORG.UK/OUR-RESOURCES/MAGAZINES

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Jenkins, KarlMiserere: Songs of Mercy and RedemptionCountertenor (Mezzo-Soprano), cello, mixed choir, strings, harp and percussionVocal/Piano Score BH 13677 · £ 15.99


A profound mediation on humanity and atonement by the composer of The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, Requiem, The Peacemakers and Stabat MaterThe Armed Man: A Mass for Peace

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For Sale: Continuo Organ Built by FH Browne & Sons

Built in 2015 for the St Albans Organ Festival by FH Browne & Sons, this beautiful continuo organ is exquisitely cased; it features a highly crafted vine design, and has standard pitch of A440 but can also be transposed to A415 for Baroque repertoire. The organ has a large tuning latitude, so that all temperaments can be catered for. The organ features a stopped Diapason 8, Flute 4 and Fifteenth 2. (Dimensions: 1.33m x 0.8m x 1.26m). In very good condition and fully mobile, this is a quality instrument for the specialist whether in a concert hall, college, church or chapel.

ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF THIS CONTINUO ORGAN WILL GO TO THE RESTORATION OF OUR WW1 HUNTER MEMORIAL ORGAN

Price: £20,000 ono Contact Kirsten on 07967 197385 or [email protected]

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