A very unusual Howells prelude from St. Thomas this week. Various clergy voices are heard every time someone's microphone pops on. 11:00 Choral Mattins and Choral Eucharist
The author of Sinden.org kisses Howells's grave
in Westminster Abbey
"If you’re a Howells nut, you’re really a nut," Mr. [Bruce] Neswick said.Wakin, Daniel J. Little Known in America, an English Composer Finds a Bit of Spotlight. New York Times 31 October 2009.
I confess to being a genuine nut, and one who was pleasantly surprised to see an article about Herbert Howells in Saturday's New York Times.
The occasion for the press is the somewhat coincidental performance of his work at three separate churches. I say somewhat coincidental because Howells Requiem performances this time of year are not entirely unexpected.
(Thanks to S. C. for alerting me to this!)
Labels: Howells
Howells is perhaps the quintessential Anglican Church music composer, having composed some twenty-odd settings of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis.
Interestingly, he wrote only one set of Preces and Responses. And I've never heard them sung.
Howells Preces and Responses were written in 1967, the same year he wrote Evening Services for Winchester, Chichester and St. Augustine, Birmingham.
They are included on the evensong webcast from St. John's College, Cambridge this week.
From the St. John's Choir, Decani Bass III writes:
Although we vary the canticles and anthem every day, there are, I suppose, about 6 or 7 settings of the Preces and Responses that get used in rotation. It is therefore always pretty refreshing to sing a new setting, and I had long wanted to sing this setting by Herbert Howells. We sing so much of his music and it had always seemed an omission that we had not tackled them before. Howells integrates the cantoring with the choral parts and they seem more organic and cohesive than many of the more conventional sets.
Check it out, especially that concluding Amen.
Labels: church music, Howells, St John's (Cambridge)
After a couple good years of early PDF release online, the King's College site has not delivered the goods we were hoping for this year . . . yet.
That being said, there's no time like the present for idle speculation.
We at Sinden.org predict the following:
The service will begin with "Once in Royal David's City", just as it has since 1918. (odds: 4,328,752 to 1)
The Peter Warlock setting of "Adam lay ybounden" will be the second carol after the First Lesson. A setting of this text has occupied this position every year since 1998. Since 2001, the settings have alternated between Warlock and Boris Ord. If the pattern holds, 2008 would appear to be a Warlock year.
Pearsall's "In dulci jubilo" will follow the Second Lesson most likely as the second carol. We could be wrong on this, but a setting of this text has been sung after the Second Lesson in seven out of the past eleven services (63.6% of the time). Six of those (85.7%) been composed by R. L. de Pearsall; the remaining setting was by Michael Praetorius.
Other possible locations for "In dulci jubilo" would be after Eric Milner-White's bidding prayer, the Third Lesson, or the Sixth Lesson.
After the third lesson will be sung the hymn "Unto us is born a Son". Starting in 1999 Stephen Cleobury seems to have begun a three-year pattern of hymns at this point, the other two hymns being "It came upon a midnight clear" and "O little town of Bethlehem". This year, the cycle begins again at the beginning. Or, if this trend was a coincidence, we may have no idea what we're talking about.
There's a good bet that Howells's "A spotless Rose" will make an appearance after the Fourth Lesson. The piece last appeared in 2005. Although a three-year "spotlessless" interval would not be unheard of as one occurred from 2002-2004.
A carol mentioning "rose" in the first line has been included at this point in the service at every service in recent memory, including an "A spotless Rose" setting by Philip Ledger, a former Director of Music at King's.
Notably, this Howells carol-anthem is the only one his his to appear in the service recently. The other two Howells has composed are "Here is the little Door" and "Sing lullaby".
The commissioned carol, by Dominic Muldowney, will likely follow the Fifth Lesson, as we have previously reported.
The carols after the Sixth Lesson seem to have the most variability. In the past eleven years, only one carol has been repeated, Roxanna Panufnik's "Sleep little Jesus".
After the the Seventh Lesson, the hymn will likely be "God rest ye merry, Gentlemen", but it could also be "While shepherds watched their flocks by night". We find the latter choir unlikely since it would mark the fourth year in a row this hymn would be sung. These two hymns seem to be the only two possibilities at this point.
Labels: Christmas, Howells, King's College (Cambridge)
The Tompmost Apple asserts that Psalm 151 is appropriate for Sunday next, also known as "Christ the King".
Online at the BBC this week, don't miss the choir of Hereford Cathedral singing the evening service Herbert Howells composed for them.
It is a lush, beautiful service which is rarely heard.
Howells, like a fine wine only got better with age (but was able to get you drunk all along). His later works are always intoxicating.
In Howells's extensive catalog or services it is the fourth to last service he composed. Written in 1969, it is succeeded only by settings written for Magdalene College, York and Dallas, Texas.
The Hereford service is authored by a fully mature Howells, and one who writes with increasing density. Standing in opposition to the harmonic activity is the opening of the Magnificat. The movement, like several other evening services by Howells, begins with a lyrical treble line. The full choir enters at the words "for he that is mighty".
Upon first hearing, one might be tempted to say that the Magnificat delves into the richness of Howells fully-developed harmonic language of complex flexibility and surprise. Certain moments sound as if they are poised spin out of control harmonically, but this is only an illusion. Howells has provided a sure foundation for these passages, and their resolution is powerfully satisfying.
The Nunc Dimittis seems to be a summary of the same ideas, but without all the arcane tangents -- just a hint at where they might have gone. It is much more innocent, but pleasingly so.
Cheat sheet: In the audio file at the BBC, the Magnificat starts at 20:50; Nunc dimittis at 29:37
Also noteworthy: the particularly lovely introit, "View me Lord" by Richard H. Lloyd.
Many astute organists (Stephen Cleobury and his minions at King's College, Cambridge, England; John Scott and his assistants at St. Thomas, New York; and Rob Lehman at St. Michael and St. George, St. Louis . . . surely there are others . . .) have remembered to play Howells's marvelous "Sarabande for the Twelfth of any October" today.
Howells included this movement in his Partita for organ as a tribute to Ralph Vaughan Williams, who was born on this day.
Alas, alack, I do not play this piece as of yet, though it is my life's goal to perform all of the organ music of Howells.
Sunday, October 12, 2014 here I come.
Update 14 Oct 2008: Osbert Parsley does the math and finds that 2183 is the next Vaughan Williams anniversary year where the Twelfth of October falls on a Sunday
Labels: Howells, King's College (Cambridge), St Thomas (New York)
Evensong from Derby Cathedral last Sunday (as broadcast from the BBC) concluded with "Quasi Lento (Sonata) (Howells)".
I had to listen to be sure, but yes, this is from the Howells Organ Sonata of 1933.
The Sonata is so rarely performed, that I take notice of any mention of a performance I run across, let alone a performance was broadcast on the BBC.
"Quasi Lento", the second movement of the Sonata, has a lot in common with the arch-form of the Psalm-Preludes, but has a bit more of an active personality. The central climax is crowned by a noble Tuba dialogue.
It's also interesting to note its use as a concluding voluntary to evensong. Personally, I've used it as a prelude.
Labels: Howells
Jeffrey D. Lee was elected the 12th Bishop of Chicago on Saturday. Lee wrote a letter to his parish in Medina, Washington which included the following:
The first verse of one of my favorite hymns goes like this:All my hope on God is founded;
He doth still my trust renew,
Me through change and chance he guideth,
Only good and only true.
God unknown, he alone
Calls my heart to be his own. (The Hymnal 1982, 665)
A hymn-loving bishop! And a Howellsian-hymn-loving bishop at that!
This can only bode well for Chicago.
Labels: Howells
Program of a Hypothetical Arbitrary Concert Theme (PHACT)
Neopolitan ice cream "church" music
An English Mass
Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
The French Suites
J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
A German Requiem
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Hypothetical Organ Recital Program (HORP)
"Keep your eye on the fugue!"
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564
J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne [sic] in C Major, BuxWV 137
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Fugue, Chorale and Epilogue
Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
Prelude, Fugue and Variation
Cesar Franck (1822-1890)
Canon, Chacony and Fugue (1948)
Leo Sowerby (1895-1968)
We've had a great year on Sinden.org (maybe even our best yet?) and here's some of the best we've found:
Best CD
We didn't even know what a lautenwerck was before hearing this disc (and heck, we still wouldn't recognize a lautenwerck if it bumped into us on the street), but we love the way it sounds. And in the hands of a non-ecclesiastical John Paul, a collection of underperformed music of Herbert Howells comes to life in a spectacular way. (Howells, Herbert (1892-1983) - recorded on lautenwerck)
Best Criticism from a Pulitzer Prize Winning Composer
You look like God
Best Esoteric Pun
Dirty Tudor singers? Tallis Squalors.Best Exposé of the Homophobia and Illiteracy of a Republican Student Organization President at a Large State School
You'd have to be a frat boy named Shane Kennedy to say:
If you are going to talk like you are gay, then Ann Coulter is going to call you gay.
Shane "doesn't take life to serious [sic]", but he sure didn't like my article. gay - talking like you are
Second place in the dumb Republican category: Best Exposé of the Musical Illiteracy of a Republican President: In this episode shrub pretends that a commercially released recording somehow impinges on the integrity of a legislated piece of music. Damn those activist record labels! (banner - Spanish spangled
Best Firing of Small Artillery
Boom. Capt. Sinden fires the cannon at Lake Delaware Boys Camp, July 2006. (Photo: Anna Gray)
Best Photos of Non-Christian Organs in Cincinnati
Best Musicological Mystery
A unknown Moravian composer extends an unexpectedly long reach.
Krommer, Franz (1759-1831) - connection to Schübler Chorales, barbershop
Best Religious Rambling
It's an interesting concept, and we're still thinking a lot about it and applying it to other stuff.
Trinity - as perpetual birthing
Best Yet
Maybe this year was the best so far, but we at Sinden.org are confident that the best is yet to come.
Although figured bass - how to realize was definitely one of our favorites.
Labels: Best of Sinden.org, Howells
Today the Episcopal Church celebrated the Feast of C.S. Lewis. He's a great author, and I'm not just talking about The Chronicles of Narnia. That's fun stuff, but it's mostly for kids, now isn't it? Us grown-ups should really be familiar with stuff like the Space Trilogy.
Lewis's "sanctified imagination" had trouble with belief in God, until one day he came back from the Zoo believing that Jesus was the son of God.
Lewis was a Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Composer Benjamin Britten was made an honorary Fellow there, and he is the composer of Ode to St. Cecilia. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that today is also the Feast of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music.
What happens when an internationally loved United States President is murdered on the Feast of St. Cecilia? Another English composer, Herbert Howells, writes a beautiful ode to John F. Kennedy: Take him earth for cherishing. An excerpt:
Take, O take him, mighty Leader,
Take again thy servant's soul.
Grave his name, and pour the fragrant
Balm upon the icy stone.Take him, Earth, for cherishing,
To they tender breast receive him.
Body of a man I bring thee,
Noble in its ruin.By the breath of God created.
Christ the prince of all its living.Take him earth, for cherishing.
Prudentius (348-413), from Humnus circa Exsequias Defuncti, trans. Helen Waddell
Labels: Howells
You know how movies on DVD are really cool because they have special features? You know, like deleted scenes and alternative endings and actor/director commentaries? Well Anglican church music also has special features. Here's one of them:
In the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (Collegium Sancti Johannis Cantabrigiense), AKA "the St. John's service", Herbert Howells (1892-1983) includes a nifty little back page for an Alternative Ending to the Nunc.
The alternative ending is marked with an asterisk by Novello, Howells's publisher.
* The alternative ending may be used if desired.
for [sic] alternative ending, see overleaf.
The two endings diverge at the words "world without end." In what I will call the original version, this unison line begins on an E-flat; in the alternative ending, it begins on F, a whole step higher than the original. Both of these lines travel the octave, meaning that the trebles then sustain a high E-flat in the original; F in the alternative.
Two endings diverged on yellowing parchment, and I took the one the choir did.
In the original the E-flat divides to become C and F (part of an F Major sonority) and then reconvenes to crown a D Major chord. In the alternate, however, the F triumphantly divides, first leaping up to F and A, then triumphantly resting with D and F-sharp.
The two endings still manage to end in D Major, but voicing of the alternative ending is much higher.
Interestingly, the choral crescendo is absent from the alternate ending. This is sort of par for the course with my experience with Howells, but it does make me wonder if it means anything.
There's something delightfully revealing about Howells's craftsmanship here. He can start with two very different places for his melodic line (a whole step is, after all, a big amount of step), and still weasel his way back to D Major.
These endings aren't drastically different from each other, and after the lay clerks have a couple drinks in the pub after evensong, they probably won't even remember which version they perfomred.
So why then did Howells take the trouble to include the alternative ending in the published version? Maybe he couldn't make up his mind? Or maybe he thought that St. John's could use the alternative ending for feast days? It does have a little more oomph (that's a technical term when it comes to the Anglican tradition), but not a whole lot.
Written in March, 1957, the alternate ending of the St. John's service predated the introduction of the DVD by about 40 years. Tune in next time for a "deleted scene" in Charles Hubert Hastings Parry's I Was Glad.
Word choice tangent 1957: alternative; 2006: alternate. Synonymous?
Recording tangent: I can't understand why St. John's didn't record their own service on the excellend Howells disc they have recorded for Naxos. What gives? Does anyone own/reccomend a recording of the St. John's service?
Capt. David Sinden, LDBC
(Photo: camper Brandon Applegate)
I just got back a couple days ago. I had a long drive.
Here are some things I learned on my drive home:
- Ohio feels like home
- One can always find a Christian radio station in this country
- The Strauss second horn concerto is nice
- One cannot find any Strauss horn concerti on Christian stations
- McDonald's Restaurants in New York state serve iced coffee. Those in Indiana? Not so much.
- Chocolate milk is a poor substitute for motor oil.
Early this week, I was living in a canvas Civil-War-style tent in Delaware County, New York. I had served for a little over a month as a Tactical Officer at Lake Delaware Boys' Camp.
Here are some things I learned at camp this year:
- Small town fireworks displays are beautiful.
- Camp feels like home
- There's an American-style football league in Wales.
- Welsh people are cool, and they know about hymn tunes.
- Thumbing down on an 1877 Roosevelt is next to impossible (sorry Herbert Howells).
- Whitewater tubing can be fun/scary.
- There's only one hymn that mentions Mary Magdalene? (1940 hymn 585)
- If you wear a shirt that says "sinden.org" on it, kids will ask you questions like
- is that a real website?
- is that your website?
- how much did that shirt cost?
- and then they threaten:
- "I'm going to visit that website as soon as camp is over."
- I don't think they will, but if they do, I hope they email me.
- Motor oil is a poor substitute for chocolate milk. (But with a little persuasion you can get kids to drink it.)
One camper did visit Sinden.org before camp this year, and he called me out for terming the place a "cult." I've rethought my label for the place, and the one I've come up with is this:
A hyperactive monastic community.
One of the things about being gone for so long is that the internet moves mercilessly foward.
Two things that happened while I was gone:
- Sluggy has been delightfully non-linear (try early July; it's not so interesting now).
- Dylan is moving to the RCL in Advent for another three-year cylcle of splendiferous lectionary blogging! Hooray!
I'm working on getting caught up, and I'm moving.
Sinden.org, however, is staying right where it is, with one major change to come on August 28.
Clothing tangent: Take a look at the shirt that I'm wearing in the photo above. Now take a look at the shirt I'm wearing at (the pre-iced-coffee) McDonald's last year. Apparently, I only take one shirt to camp.
The following are George Thalben-Ball's divisional pistons at the Temple Church, London in 1978.
Great (progressive addition)
- 8' Stopped Diapason
- 8' Geigen [Diapason]
- 8' Small Open Diapason
- 4' Octave
- 2' Super Octave
- 8' Hohl Flute
harmonics 18.20.22.23 - 2 2/3' Octave Quint
- 8' Tromba (Harmonic)*
4' Octave Tromba (Harmonic)*
not included on the pistons are
- 16' Double Geigen
- 16' Bourdon
- 8' Large Open Diapason
- 4' Wald Flute
*These ranks are in a solo swell box.
N.B. The source material lists the length of the Octave Quint as 2'8", a very pretentious way of notating 2 2/3'.
Swell (progressive addition)
- 8' Echo Salicional
8' Vox Angelica
Octave coupler - 8' Stopped Diapason [without Vox Angelica and Octave coupler]
- 8' Open Diapason
- 4' Principal [without Echo Salicional]
- 2' Fifteenth
- Mixture 12.19.22.26.29
- 8' Oboe [without Mixture]
16' Double Trumpet
Octave coupler - Mixture [without Octave coupler]
8' Trumpet (Harmonic trebles)
4' Clarion (Harmonic trebles)
not included on the pistons is
- 16' Quintalön
Pedal (progressive addition)
- 16' Bourdon
16' Dulciana - [as No. 1 which will accomodate the use of Pedal Pistons to Great Pistons]
- 16' Violone
- 16' Geigen [Diapason] [without Violne 16' or Dulciana 16']
8' Flute - 32' Sub Bourdon
16' Open Wood - 32' Double Open Wood
- 16' Ophicleide*
16' Orchestral Trumpet
8' Posaune* - 32' Double Ophicleide
not included on the pistons are:
- 8' Open Wood
- 4' Octave Flute
- 16' Basoon
*These ranks are in a solo swell box
It should be noted that Thalben-Ball chose to create crescendi using these three divisions. The Choir and Solo divisions were not a part of this progressive registration scheme.
Choir
(enclosed)
- 8' Claribel Flute
8' Dulciana - 8' Claribel Flute
4' Flute Traverso - 8' Claribel Flute
8' Lieblich Gedeckt
4' Flute Traverso
2' Harmonic Piccolo - 8' Claribel Flute
8' Lieblich Gedeckt
8' Dulciana
4' Salicet
4' Flute Traverso - 4' Flute Traverso
(Dulciana Muxture 15.19.22 is sometimes included)
16' Cor Anglais - 16' Contra Dulciana
4' Flauto Traverso
Dulciana Mixture - 16' Contra Dulciana
8' Claribel Flute
2' Harmonic Piccolo - 8' Lieblich Gedeckt 8' Clarinet
(enclosed)
- 8' Viole d'Orchestre 8' Voix Céeleste 8' Harmonic Flute
- 8' Harmonic Flute
- 8' Harmonic Flute
4' Concert Flute - 8' Harmonic Flute
4' Concert Flute
Octave coupler - 16' Contra Viola
4' Concert Flute - 8' Horn (harmonic)
- 16' Double Orchestral Trumpet (Harmonic trebles)
Octave coupler
Unison off - 8' Tuba (Harmonic)
not included on the pistons are
- 8' Orchestral Hautboy
- Sub-octave coupler
This material was taken from The Organ Works of Herbert Howells (1892-1983) by John Nixon McMillan, his doctoral thesis for the University of Iowa, May 1997.
McMillan cites Jonathan Rennert, George Thalben-Ball (London: David & Charles, 1979), 159-61.
Labels: Howells
Howells considered himself "a reincarnation of one of the lesser Tudor luminaries." Many organists are familiar with his Master Tallis's Testament (1940) from the Six Pieces, but he also wrote two collections of neo-Tudor pieces (not for the organ): Lambert's Clavichord (1926-7) and Howells' Clavichord (1941-1961).
Each one of these pieces is a little jewel.
They're performed brilliantly by John Paul on a Centaur CD (CRC 2536). John Paul performs them on a lautenwerck:
Like many aficianados of the harpsichord, I intially acquired a score of Lambert's Clavichord as part of a search for twentieth century repertoire. I used small groups of these pieces in recitals for many years in addition to playing them on the organ as pre-service and recital music. Howells' Clavichord with its expansive and rich textures, became a great source of joy to play on the piano. In 1995 I acquired an Anden Houben single manual lautenwerck (a lute-harpsichord strung in natural gut) and Lambert's Clavichord took on a new richness. In 1998 Houben made a double manual lautenwerck for me which incorporated a peau de buffle, a set of jacks voiced in soft leather. the sound is delicate and flexible with the capacity of some dynamic change from finger touch, and also uses a shove coupler to progressively adjust the degree of tone decay through changes in the damper position. Here at last it seemed to me was the perfect instrument to produce effectively the wide range of texture, style, and mood called for in the pieces from both the 1928 and 1931 sets.from the liner notes
I would love to hear anyone, especially John Paul, play these on a lautenwerck live.
Read more: The LUTE HARPSICHORD: A Forgotten Instrument by Anden Houben
Labels: Howells
Recently, I was asked to name my top five favorite anthems. This is not an easy task.
The person who did the asking was Brett Maguire, Organist/Choirmaster at Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church, Danville, Virginia. Brett now writes a weekly "About the organ selections."
Among the works I considered were three anthems of Herbert Howells:
- Like as the Hart
- My Eyes for Beauty Pine
- O Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
I consider these to represent a sort of "Holy Trinity" within Howells's choral literature.
I assumed that the three I had named made up 75% of his Four Anthems, but this is not the case.
Howells's Four Anthems, SATB, org, 1941, consist of
- O Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
- We Have Heard with Our Ears1
- Like as the Hart
- Let God Arise; Great is the Lord
I'd never heard of We Have Heard with Our Ears or Let God Arise until I saw them listed in Grove's today
The anthem that I thought was one of the Four, My Eyes for Beauty Pine (text by Robert Bridges), was set in 1925, nearly 15 years prior to the Four.
As it turns out, there are a lot of Howells's anthems I don't know.
I Love All Beauteous Things, SATB, org, 1977, for instance, another text by Bridges, was set toward the end of Howells's life in 1977.
Does anyone want to loan me a copy? Or a CD?
Yes, it's official: I'm becoming obsessed.
What are your favorite anthems?
1 As if there's any other way to hear . . . I tried to hear with my eyes, but they only pined for beauty (homage a Mitch Hedberg)
Labels: Howells
I keep up with the relatively new "Canterbury Tales," an Anglican blog. Recently, it has propagated the idea that the Episcopal Church, nay, the Anglican Communion itself, isn't really worth saving. Anglicanism, however, has produced a few things worth saving: architecture, choral music, "lay appreciation for the Divine Office," "educated clergy and laity," and a good liturgical sensibility.
Personally, I think the Episcopal Church itself is worth "saving." Whatever that means.
Me: Are you saved?
Episcopal Church: Yes.
I was fascinated by the author's choral music list, which included the great (Britten, Byrd, Howells), the good (Gibbons, Purcell, Vaughan Williams), the obscure (Frederick Ouseley), and the very obscure (Osbert Parsley).
When I told Megan about Parsley she said: "His name sounds like a food."
Parsley is remembered as a "Singing-man" in the Norwich Cathedral Choir.
The "Non-singing men" just took up valuable space in the choir stalls. No one really knew why they were there.
Parsley: Do you sing often?
Non-singing man: Not Ouseley, no.
From a commemorative tablet1 in the cathedral:
Here lies the Man whose Name in Spight of Death.
Renowned lives by Blast of Golden Fame:
Whose Harmony survives his vital Breath.
Whose Skill no Pride did spot whose Life no Blame.
His Harmony has survived less than his commemorators may have hoped. Here at Indiana University, we have recordings of only two of his pieces and a score for one of them: Lamentations. I guess this isn't bad considering only a handful of works by Parsley survive.
I'm a little confused about how the inclusion of Parsley's name contributes to an accurate sample of the Anglican Choral Tradition (ACT). (Maybe his name was meant as a garnish?) Whatever the reasons for his inclusion, I have been made aware of him, and he has me thinking.
The church is not perfect; it is spotted by Pride and Blame. The English Reformation is revealing, because it forced composers to adapt to their circumstances. Parsley, like Byrd, was one of those composers who had to compose Catholic (i.e., Latin) and English (i.e., English) music. We know that Byrd preferred the Catholic stuff and risked his life to continue writing music with Latin words.
I don't know whether Parsley wrote Latin church music by candlelight under his blankets at night, but I do know that Grove's Dictionary of Music says that his church music set to English texts "is markedly inferior in quality to his Latin church music, being marred by stiff points of imitation and an unimaginative approach to problems of texture."
So, if Parsley's best work is set to Latin texts, but he's included in a list of "vernacular" ACT composers . . .
In a sense, I don't think there's anything inherently Anglican about the Anglican Choral Tradition. I think that composers in every denomination, nay2, every religious tradition, strive to create works of beauty that speak of a higher power.
"Jesus's [sic] sign at the Last Supper was beautiful. If it is to speak of hope in the face of death, then it must be re-enacted beautifully. Church teaching is often met with suspicion. Dogma is a bad word in our society. But beauty has its own authority. It speaks our barely articulated hope that there may be some final meaning to our lives. Beauty expresses the hope that the pilgrimage of existence does indeed go somewhere, even when we cannot say where and how. Beauty is not icing on the liturgical cake. It is of its essence."-Fr. Timothy Radcliffe (Quoted in The New Liturgical Movement: Beauty is of the Essence of Liturgy)
So, does Parsley's work (in Latin) need to be saved because it is "Anglican" or because it is beautiful?
If you sing his English stuff in Latin, does it become more beautiful?
Do we need to be proactive about saving choral music that is beautiful liturgy-cake3, or will it manage to survive on its own?
The "Blast of Golden Flame" that inspires our music — and to whom our music aspires — will work through our denominational structures as they change over the centuries.
And there's nothing we can do about it.
1. You can purchase your own Osbert Parsley commemorative tablet. Check the Norwich Cathedral bookshop.
2. I generally try to use "nay" less than I have in this essay (twice). You can write "nay" as often as you like. You will need some sort of writing material. Check the Norwich Cathedral bookshop.
3. Available wherever cakes are sold? Nay, only the Norwich Cathedral bookshop.
Labels: Howells
I completed my first Sudoku puzzle today. It was pretty neat.
It struck me as being fun. But it also struck me as being sort of like registering an organ.
The rules of the game are simple: complete the puzzle so that the numbers 1-9 appear only once in every row, column and 3x3 grid.
This is just like registering an organ by setting up a limited number of pistons and divisionals. This part of the organist's craft often doesn't have much to do with music. It has everything to do with logic. Like Sudoku.
The original Sudokuish registration model seems to be the old Holtkamp switchboard. There, your generals have to be registered so well that their content can also serve the divisionals. (On early combination actions, divisional pistons could not be set independently of their corresponding generals). You might need a really loud sound, but that sound might also have to double as a cornet and accompaniment, and to use that you might have to take off the Great to Pedal coupler.
Tangent: And why is it, exactly, that we have to settle for a limited number of pistons? I mean, if we were able to stick a 60 gig iPod in the organ (for what, $400?) and program it to store the combination action, we would have like a gajillion and a half memory levels.
Wait, if I just hit a divisional piston here, how am I going to get that coupler on? or, how can I register the pedal so that it will balance both this soft sound and this stronger one? or, I want to pull on the Hautbois, but it sounds like a vomiting giraffe, etc.
I am going to assume that a lot of people have stopped reading at this point because either 1) they don't care about Sudoku, or 2) they don't care about organ registration, or 3) they don't care about either, or 4) they were offended by the giraffe comment, or 5) they have suddenly and unexpectedly lost power.
Look, I really like organs and if I want to talk about registering them in relation to a logic puzzle, well, that's what I'm going to do! Deal with it! If you'd rather read a Sudoku blog, well, that option is available to you. If you want to read an organ registration blog I'm afraid you're out of luck.
Sorry, I took kind of a harsh turn there, but maybe I'm a little overworked. I mean, try registering something by Herbert Howells. There's a lot going on. It's like a puzzle, and the possibilities are endless.
I guess the only real difference is, unlike Sudoku, there's more than one "correct" solution.
And no answer key.
Unless you count B-flat.
Elsewhere: I see that the Episcopal Church has redesigned their website. This should make trying to find stuff there a little less like trying to complete a Sudoku puzzle.
Composer Byron Adams had a whole slew of his sacred choral music performed at an Evensong at All Saints, Beverly Hills in October. The Choir at All Saints is fairly well recorded (especially as heard on Hymns Through the Ages) and is one of my favorite American church choirs, so this is recommended listening.
The performances are downloadable in seven MP3s.
- Introit: My Eyes for Beauty Pine - A simple strophic SATB setting. For the second verse, the lower parts "oo."
- Preces & Responses - Possibly the strongest work of the set. This work is firmly grounded in historical models, and Adams's predilection for sequences only helps him here. This is hard stuff to write, and it really comes off very well.
- Psalm 121 (Anglican Chant) - This is pretty, though perhaps a little angular seeming upon first hearing. This performance gets a little sloppy in the middle (it's good to know that they are human too), but is mostly very well sung. The quiet Gloria is very effective.
- Magnificat - After "generations," the organ introduces a rhythmic flutter into the otherwise staid choral motion. "He has scattered" is set to a nice SA duet. The unison statement of the beginning of the Gloria is really stellar; my only quibble is that this performance makes the high A sound a little forced.
- Nunc Dimittis - A noble, sweeping tune performed by organ and solo tenor. The choir joins for Gloria. This Gloria starts the same way as the pretty one in the Mag, but is slowed down and softened. It is much more subdued (no high A here). The solo tenor "Amen" is a real unexpected treat and a nice way to recap the opening of the Nunc.
- Anthem: Praises of Jerusalem - This work is published by ECS. It's easy to hear the elements of his style at this point in the Evensong. Like the upward rising sequence. That works, but it comes back a lot. I think in general, the harmonic rhythm of the choral writing in this work is too consistent. Those parts are very harmonically conceived, whereas the active, substantial organ part tends to be a little more linear. It would be nice if the two found a way to switch roles once in a while. "Peace be within thy walls," is well set, but after hearing his setting of "My eyes for beauty pine" you have to wonder if he is even more obsessed with Howells than I am.
- Hymn: CARITAS. I really wanted to like this hymn, and I think I almost could have, but the reference to Friedell's "Draw Us In the Spirit's Tether" was just too much. And immediately before that, you have elements of DOWN AMPNEY (let alone the fact that the rhythm of the whole hymn is nearly identical).
Music sung at Taize services at All Saints, Beverly Hills, is, if not of one composer, certainly in one style. So, doing an Evensong in the style of a single composer is not really a departure for them. In fact, it gives to the service a special kind of stylistic unity. This effort is admirable, and the church should be highly commended for making recordings freely available.
Byron Adams is a professor of music at University of California Riverside.
Agitato - agitated
Ancora - again
Deciso - boldly (decisively)
Elato - Yeah , I have absolutely no idea what this term means. A movement of Howells's Rhapsodic Quintet is entitled Piu Elato. With that movement, Howells is possibly using Elato like "gelato" and asking for more ice cream. Maybe Elato is made-up Italian for "elated." I'll keep working on this.
Update 12 October 2005: Elato means haughty or elated
Energico - energetic, vigorous
Estinto - extinguished, dead (extreme quietness)
Giusto (as in "a Tempo Giusto") - in strict time, here a return to strict tempo after the preceding allargando
Mesto - mournful, sad
Pesante - heavy
Placido - calm, tranquil
Risoluto - resolved, decisive
Sonore - sonorously
Stringendo - faster
Stretto - (past participle of Stringendo) faster. In the Sonata it is dashed, possibly in the manner of an accelerando? Stretto is literally "to draw close," in which sense it is also applicable to closely spaced subject entries in a fugue.
Teneramente - tenderly
Vivo - alive, animated
Tangent: I like eat pecans too.
Labels: Howells
Now I've done it. I've gone and read the most inappropriate review of Messiaen ever. It's from Amazon's page for Hans-Ola Ericsson's Volume 6:
He builds the anticipation to such a high degree that by the end of this movement you will be dizzy and salivating, begging him to release you... and he wont [sic]... until... the very end. The end is so magnificent, almost orgasmic. I have personally passed out after listening to this piece due to hyperventillation [sic]! It is the most beautiful thing Ive [sic] ever heard since Barber's Requiem [sic].This is not for the uninitiated. Do not play it for your girlfriend, that is unless she likes dense and intense music. In which case watch out cause I may steal her from you. If you are a girl... how YOU doin'? (wink wink :)
Howells maybe, but not Messiaen.
Incidentally, why is this particular CD so expensive? $41.98?! The other CD's in this set are around $20 on Amazon. Yes, it's a two CD set, but come on. Suddenly Olivier Latry's complete Messiaen seems like a bargain.
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