Lots of music

On an Evensong Sunday, there is a lot of music. I have an idea just how much from the day’s recordings – the first thing I do with them is to remove all the material for which I have no responsibility (e.g., sermons, prayers, etc.). For today, that leaves:

9:00 Eucharist: 26 minutes
Improvised prelude and six congregational songs, including service music and two Taizé songs during communion, all accompanied on piano.

11:00 Eucharist: 37 minutes
Organ prelude and postlude, four hymns, Psalm (unaccompanied plainsong), Anthem (accompanied on the piano), Trisagion, Sanctus, Agnus Dei.

Choral Evensong, with prelude: 51 minutes
Organ prelude, preces and responses, Invitatory (O gracious Light), three Psalms (Anglican chant), Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (Howells, the St. John’s Cambridge setting), anthem, hymn. My friend Jean L. accompanied the Canticles and the Anthem so that I could conduct them, which hopefully improved the results.

That comes to twenty-eight items (depending on how they are counted), six minutes short of two hours. Plus the choral rehearsals before the 11:00 Eucharist and Evensong, and my own practice in the early morning, and again in the afternoon before the Evensong rehearsal.

I am glad to do all of this. It is my vocation, the thing which the Lord of Hosts has assigned to me. I list all of this to make the following point:

Every one of these twenty-eight musical items needs its own integrity. As we do it, it must be the most important thing in the world. But as soon as we sing or play it, we must move on. That can be a challenge, and not just for musicians.



I am still reviewing the day’s recordings; there were some mistakes:
-- the 9:00 prelude had some problems, mostly in the development section, and I think that I can learn from what went wrong. This is the main reason I listen to these things.

-- the Evensong prelude had enough wrong with it that I am going to play it again next Sunday for the Eucharist.

There was also quite a bit of Real Music. For now, I will post two items from the 11:00 Eucharist:
-- Congregational Hymn: Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched (tune “Resignation”).
The congregation “took hold” of this very well, and I think it is a good example of what I mean by “Connection” to the sound. We should all do this, every time we play or sing a note.

-- 11:00 postlude - J. S. Bach: Fugue on a Theme of Corelli, BWV 579. This is something of an obscure piece that deserves to be played more often. It went very well, and comes complete with a bit of applause before the final cadence. Bach makes the listener think that he is done, and then he still has a bit more to say.
The photos are of our little Pilcher instrument.