How shall I keep from singing?

Music in true kingly style this week, with Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ in the morning and ‘The King shall rejoice’ in the evening. Much to my amazement, approximately half of the congregation stood up during the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ (unusual for a liturgical setting) – whether that was entirely from tradition or also a welcome excuse due to a long service and hard pews, I was carefully not told. But I’m sure we beat the record for the number of appreciative comments from our traditionally-minded congregation. Fortunately, the organ was mended – such grand music would have sounded rather anaemic accompanied on the piano.

The organ decided to go on strike this weekend and we are awaiting new parts. Consequently, all the musical parts of the service had to be accompanied on the piano. It made a pleasant change (for one week only) but I hope the organ builders manage to sort out the damage by next week. It was an excuse for the noisy organist to become the twiddly organist, adding embellishments all over the place. He couldn’t do much to doctor the morning anthem, however, as it was sung a capella: one of my favourites, ‘Ave Verum’ by Pearsall. We sang it smoothly, with much expression and a light touch, as instructed. It was almost as beautiful as the long silence afterwards, as we processed slowly up the aisle back to our seats, blocking the way for the organist to reach his beloved piano for some more twiddles. There were 28 in the choir for the morning, leading to a crush at the altar rail, but the booming voices of so many basses helped to make up for the lack of thundery notes on the organ.

A quieter, more reflective evensong, again accompanied on the piano, but this time with fewer choristers. There were just enough in each part to sing a well-balanced ‘How beautiful upon the mountains’ by Stainer. That is, when the reader remembered to announce that we were singing it!

A normal Sunday Eucharist with no overt reference to Remembrance Day, apart from the sermon and the choir anthem: The Russian Kontakion (Kiev Melody). However, this service was swiftly followed by the formal town Remembrance Day service next to the war memorial. The choir arrived at the last minute like Brown’s cows – we are used to having a ‘leader’ who ‘knows what to do’ but this year we were on our own. A wreath-bearer was hurriedly chosen and the crucifer (newly promoted by popular vote) led us to approximately the right spot. Of course, the military and the other uniformed groups (Cubs, Scouts, Brownies) had been practising for weeks and knew just where to stand. ‘O God our help in ages past’ and the National Anthem was sung to the accompaniment of a much reduced and rather subdued town band. A rather poignant moment as a member of the crowd noisily collapsed and needed medical attention brought home to me what we were really remembering, and suddenly a slight confusion about where to stand mattered not at all. I don’t suppose on 11/11 all those years ago they were too sure where they stood, either.

And so to the season of remembrance – starting with All Souls’ and All Saints’. Midweek services are never well-attended, so the choral focus was on the Sunday services. There was a distinct lack of congregational singing during the Festive Eucharist by Rawsthorne – I think they’ve decided it is up to the choir to sing that one. Millington’s little gem of an anthem, ‘Sing we merrily’, always sounds good, although the timing sometimes goes a little astray – this time was no exception. Fortunately, the congregation do not have access to music copies, and probably weren’t counting, anyway….

An informal opportunity for people in the town to come and light a candle in memory of loved ones took the place of evensong. However, the choir still played a part, singing, ‘Hail, gladdening light’ and ‘Give us the wings of faith’ by Bullock. I’m never too keen on the Bullock, although I will tolerate it. Fortunately, our stronger singers were mostly in attendance, and one remarked that it was her favourite anthem.