How shall I keep from singing?

A very brave conductor stood in front of us on Saturday, having arranged for 40 parts to gather together to sing Tallis’ ‘Spem in Alium’ in aid of a children’s charity. After two hours’ practice, we held together just enough to sing the monster work in public, together with other Tallis motets: ‘If ye love me’, ‘O nata lux de lumine’ and ‘Salvator mundi, salva nos’. People listening seemed to appreciate the richness of sound, which carried well across the church, even though to some of us, in the thick of it, it sounded more like ’spam in aluminium’ in places.

On Sunday we were joined by some of the students, back from their term’s studies, which was an encouraging boost to numbers. It was a joy to sing the Benedicite (a reminder of Mattins days) as the anthem in the morning service, a strange mixture of Trinity Sunday and World Environment Day. However, it all came together at Evensong when we sang ‘I bind unto myself today’, the words of which neatly combine Trinity with the natural world. The Sweeney responses and ‘Hymn to the Trinity’ (Tchaikovsky) made a splendid end to a weekend feast of music.