CE Church of St Alban-the-Martyr, Holborn, London 2.8.23

[DracoM]

CE Church of St Alban-the-Martyr, Holborn, London 2.8.23
Genesis Sixteen

Order of Service:

Introit: Salve Regina (Assandra)
Responses: Rose
Psalms 12, 13, 14 (Turle [after Bach], Turle, Latham)
First Lesson: Isaiah 55 vv.8-13
Office hymn: Before the ending of the day ( Te lucis ante terminum )
Magnificat Quinti Toni (Esquivel)
Second Lesson: 2 Timothy 2 vv.8-19
Nunc dimittis (Esquivel)
Anthem: Quomodo cantabimus (Byrd)
Hymn: Christ is made the sure foundation (Westminster Abbey)

Voluntary: Fantasia of Foure Parts (Gibbons)

James Orford (Organist)

Harry Christophers, Eamonn Dougan, Olivia Shotton (Conductors)

[cat]

A titbit from Esquivel's editor:

https://twitter.com/Gareth_Thomas26/status/1686302196848095232

[DracoM]

Reminder: today @ 4 p.m.

[DracoM]

Anthem particularly finely sung.

[Barry Rose]

One of my rare posts - and I hope it will stimulate some discussion.

Taking both ends of the Service - and first of all, the start.

Am I still alone in finding the presence of the continuity announcer, and then what seems to be the over-distant sound of the opening of the (too long, IMHO) Introit uneasy ? The listener's ear needs 15 or so seconds to adjust from one soundscape to the other. Surely 15 seconds of organ would cover this ? After all, that's what we usually hear, and more, when we go to Evensong.....

The final hymn (or any other hymn in any Worship). You have a congregation who are expected, and want to join in. They are not (necessarily) musicians, and their eyes are on their hymnbook ready to start the next verse.How do they know when to start singing ?.....

Over to all you experts - armchair, or otherwise.

[oddoneout]

One of my rare posts - and I hope it will stimulate some discussion.

Taking both ends of the Service - and first of all, the start.

Am I still alone in finding the presence of the continuity announcer, and then what seems to be the over-distant sound of the opening of the (too long, IMHO) Introit uneasy ? The listener's ear needs 15 or so seconds to adjust from one soundscape to the other. Surely 15 seconds of organ would cover this ? After all, that's what we usually hear, and more, when we go to Evensong.....

The final hymn (or any other hymn in any Worship). You have a congregation who are expected, and want to join in. They are not (necessarily) musicians, and their eyes are on their hymnbook ready to start the next verse.How do they know when to start singing ?.....

Over to all you experts - armchair, or otherwise.

I agree that the transition between the end of the everyday broadcast and that of CE is not always as well done as it could(and arguably should)be done, but it's how all programmes are treated these days. At least, so far I think, we've not had the situation of going straight from an advert to CE.
As for

How do they know when to start singing ?

, isn't that what the choir is for? Congregations will tend to wait for "someone else" to start rather than be pro-active in my experience, although if the hymn and tune are well known the lag may be so small as to be just about unnoticeable.

[Simon Biazeck]

There is plenty of organ music that could be used to lead the listener into the worship, or just improvise a verset. We always do so at the London (Brompton) Oratory and it works very well - sets the tone, so to speak. But sometimes, time is tight, and this was certainly jam-packed. An introit or invitatory should probably be short, and all the chant-based repertoire for traditional Catholic evening worship (e.g., Deus in adiutorium meum) certainly is. As for Evensong, many may opine that it's not strictly necessary, and I would probably agree with them. On this occasion the Assandra motet - beautifully and engagingly sung - was probably a little too long. (My guess is that Eammon Dougan directed this and the Preces & Responses - an erstwhile London Oratory colleague! - but who knows). Regular congregants can pick up the hymn after a play-over. And as oddoneout has suggested, the choir is there to lead and encourage. The less confident can follow if they wish or just listen and sing in spirit. I must say, I do love a plainsong office hymn before the Mag.! Once again, not strictly by the book, but oh, so lovely! (I think Lincoln do it as a matter of course.) Finally, I know it's an ostinato complaint in these parts, but I too am not a fan of the clerical tour-guide intro. I think it is encouraged by the producers, but you only have to tune into a live feed of Choral Evensong online to see that it's now pretty much ubiquitous. Thank heavens for Old Rite Vespers & Benediction - vacuum sealed! Back to revising my own Preces & Responses... news to my publisher! Oh, dear! SBz.

[Petrushka]

One of my rare posts - and I hope it will stimulate some discussion.

Taking both ends of the Service - and first of all, the start
Am I still alone in finding the presence of the continuity announcer, and then what seems to be the over-distant sound of the opening of the (too long, IMHO) Introit uneasy ? The listener's ear needs 15 or so seconds to adjust from one soundscape to the other. Surely 15 seconds of organ would cover this ? After all, that's what we usually hear, and more, when we go to Evensong.....

The final hymn (or any other hymn in any Worship). You have a congregation who are expected, and want to join in. They are not (necessarily) musicians, and their eyes are on their hymnbook ready to start the next verse.How do they know when to start singing ?.....

Over to all you experts - armchair, or otherwise.

We had a similar discussion at the time of the St John's Advent Service and I suspect, not having yet listened to this CE, that the problem was the same: the organ ploughing on between verses without allowing the congregation to take a breath meaning that they are playing catch up. The choir, of course, will know what to expect. It shows a cavalier disregard for the congregation and organists should leave a couple of seconds pause between verses and not belt through the hymn at speed.

I'm no expert, armchair or anything else, just a parish church chorister 50 years ago, but I still recall the wise words of my old choirmaster on this and many other topics.

[Magister Chori]

Speaking about the strict liturgical side of this CE, the placement of final responses (sung just after the collects and right before before the anthem) was quite an odd thing...

[Roger Judd]

When I am playing a hymn, I breathe after the play-over before starting the first verse, and then do the same between verses, just as the singers (choir and congregation) will. This way we all start together I hope.
RJ

[jonfan]

A beautiful service with expressive singing well caught in the generous acoustic.
Today I thought the silence between the opening announcement and Introit just right.

[mopsus]

I think I detected Purcell's original harmonisation in the hymn; it has a particularly splendid alto part.

[ardcarp]

"I think I detected Purcell's original harmonisation in the hymn"

I never quite know whether I find the 'missing' third in the chord at the end of the fourth line annoying or just authentic.

BTW where have all our silly emogies (is that how you spell it?) gone in this new format. A grin, wink or growl, let alone a rose or some bubbly is quite handy sometimes.

[ardcarp]

Oh...just found them.