Ushaw again + other plans.

At last! I think we're in a position to finally go ahead with everything as planned with the possible exception of the motet for the final Mass on St George's Day. It's an incredible relief, but just as I was putting the finishing touches to the administration re the musical side of things, I was floored by a very nasty bug which I'm told I'd probably been incubating for some time before, and only when I started to relax a little bit, did it hit me....

Fortunately, I'd no great plans for this weekend other than to sort out an Order of Service for our next venture @ Bishophill other than Friday Compline. If all goes well there, we may chant one or two of the Passions before Compline later this Lent. An extra bit of devotional music/chant never did anyone any harm - but we'll have to learn them first. :-)

Before that we're definitely chanting Saturday Vespers before the 4th Sunday in Lent. Some people would call this 1st Vespers of Laetare Sunday. It matters not, as it's the same thing, just viewed slightly differently!

After Ushaw, we're then back on the road again with services in Halifax on 23rd May, Middlesbrough on 27th June and the 6th Annual Founders-Day Requiem at Barnard Castle in July, date yet to be announced.

Music in church

Specifically referring to the Latin rite here, as the Byzantine/Eastern Rites are completely different here in so far as they are always sung. There's an excellent article by Michael E. Lawrence over at the Recovering Choir Director. Whilst this particularly referred to the Tract for the 1st Sunday in Lent, it's true for any Graduals & Tracts which are often the longest [& most beautiful] items of chant in a given Mass.

When we provided the singing for the EF Masses in York before their temporary suspension pending a new Celebrant, I was always conscious of time, especially if the priest singing the Mass had come a long way, and regrettably, the Gradual or Tract, and occasionally even the Alleluia verses, were curtailed to psalm tones, either basic or from Rossini, to save time. Even this wasn't good enough for some people who complained that there was too much music & they would rather have Low Mass all the time, despite the norms indicating that Sung or even High Masses are the ideal.

Sometimes you just can't win, no matter what you do!

It is hoped, that when EF Masses resume, with the proposed new Celebrant, who is now here, once he has been fully trained, and is confident enough to start celebrating Sung Masses, we will sing the full Gregorian Propers from the Liber/Graduale. I for one, won't be clock watching to see how long it takes!

Meanwhile, I urge you to read Michael's post. It really deserves a wider circulation.

Carpets in church

Whilst taking a break from work for Ushaw, I'm tring to catch up some of my favourite blogs. I have to admit, that I have a great admiration for Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement.

He has written an excellent item on carpets in church. In case you missed it, here it is.

I am in total agreement. :-)

Ushaw Update

Just taking a brief break from music preparations for what is now going to be known as "the Conference at Ushaw". Had a look round today. The chapel is magnificent, but it's given me yet another problem to solve, as there's no way that the chant Schola and the polyphonic choir [hoping that we get one!] can realistically occupy the same space, which puts an end to my thoughts that people singing chant could also 'double up' and sing polyphony in the closing Mass.

I'm glad I know *now*!

This of course, means that we need a completely separate polyphonic choir. I'm going to start work on this tomorrow evening. The intention is still at this stage, to have music by Byrd as we're celebrating a great English Feast, so why not have music by one of the greatest English composers?

On another note, I'm a bit miffed that I hadn't discovered the online Officium Divinum before. It could have saved me a lot of work, and has, in fact given me some more to do, as I may now have to make some revision of services that i've already prepared. :-(

Still, better to find out at this stage, rather than at the event itself!

Prayers and Practical Help needed!

The cat is well and truly out of the bag!

As has already been reported by Fr Ray Blake, the legendary Fr Z, Fr Michael Brown and also advertised in this week's Catholic Herald, the Latin Mass Society of England & Wales have made public their plans for a Residential Training Conference for Priests Wishing to Learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at Ushaw College, Durham.



Quoting from the press release...

"The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales (LMS) is organising a residential training conference for priests wishing to learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at Ushaw College, Durham, one of England’s most prestigious seminaries.

The conference will run from Monday 20 April to Thursday 23 April 2009 (i.e. Low Week) and will feature Traditional liturgies in Ushaw’s magnificent neo-Gothic St Cuthbert’s Chapel together with a Gregorian Chant schola and polyphonic choir.



Expert tuition in the celebration of Mass in the Usus Antiquior will be provided on a small group basis. There will be guest lecturers and all participants will receive 1962 Missals and altar cards.

Daily devotions will include Lauds, Vespers, Benediction and Rosary.

Further details and registration forms can be obtained from the LMS office (Tel: 020 7404 7284) or downloaded from the LMS website, www.latin-mass-society.org"

What's this got to do with me?

Well, I've been asked by the organiser to provide the Gregorian Chant schola and the polyphonic choir!

This is a HUGE task for one person (particularly as I'm not a professional musician) and it therefore should go without saying, that I'll need considerable help to get enough singers + organist on board to do ourselves justice.

I don't wish to compete with the excellent Schola Sainte Cecile who provided the chant at the Merton Conferences, or the polyphonic choir which, I believe, was provided by one of the Oxford Colleges, BUT I do need reasonably confident chanters for the Schola, who will need to cope with the demands of Mass & the Divine Office for the duration, and a balanced polyphonic choir to sing Byrd's Mass for 4 voices, and motets, O Quam Gloriosum, Ave Verum and Regina Caeli for the Solemn High Mass on St George's Day which will conclude the conference.

There are 12 weeks to go between now and the Opening Day. I have, at the moment, 2 singers for the Schola, and the Director of music for the polyphony. Much work needs to be done! I'm also very much aware, that this is a working week and several people who form the backbone of the current Rudgate Singers & Schola won't be able to take annual leave at that time. It is, fortunately, before the start of the University Summer Term, so I'm praying like mad that we get some musically gifted students involved!

There are two things that I'd like readers to do. Firstly, pray for it's success, as this is the most important event that we have ever been asked to be involved in, and also let me know of singers who wish to take part. We need men for the Schola for all 4 days, and at least 8 people for the polyphony on St George's Day (Thursday).

As and when I get more information, I will post it here!

Another First

Over the last few months at Leeds Trinity & All Saints College there has been a series of public lectures and special talks as part of the inaugural Eastern Christian Studies Seminar series. It began last October with His Eminence, Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia, and most recently continued with the Rev. Professor Andrew Louth from the University of Durham. A feature of these seminars is that they are preceded with Vespers in the college chapel. Last Wednesday, for the first time, we had Orthodox Vespers [slightly edited for time!]. This was the first time that they had ever been celebrated here. Another first last summer was Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form at which I provided the Schola!

Celebrating Vespers was my good friend Fr David Carnelly. The Deacon was Rev. Professor Matthew Steenberg, who besides being Professor of Theology and Head of Theology & Religious Studies at the college, is also a Deacon in the Russian Orthodox Church.

What made this event extra special was the fact it was the day after the election of the new Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, formerly Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad.

Here are some photos.

Another Ordination

Back in December, at the Priestly Ordination of my good friend, Fr David, I was invited along with others, by the Romanian priest who had come, to their own Patronal Feast day of St Macarios the Great, which is always celebrated on the weekend in January closest to his actual Feast day in the Eastern Church, which is January 19th. (In the Latin Church it's the 16th).

So, on Saturday, 17th January, a few of us set off for the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, where the Romanian Community in Yorkshire has the use of the Lower Chapel for it's Liturgies. What we didn't expect was another Ordination, this time to the Diaconate. Present were His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis for Western and Southern Europe and His Grace Macarios, Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Northern Europe and former Parish Priest. Indeed Fr Macarios, as he then was, was the founder of the parish.

There was also an excellent Romanian Choir, the Grupul Psaltic Nectarie Protopsaltul from Bucharest, who sang the Liturgy to traditonal Byzantine Tones, but in Romanian of course, not Greek! After the Liturgy, which lasted for over 3 hours, we were treated to a traditional Romanian meal organised by the Parish Council.

Photographs of the Service can be found here

And a video here

Thanks are due to Fr Constantin, the Parish Priest and the Community for their splendid hospitality, and congratulations to the new Deacon! [Unfortunately I never did find out his name! If anyone reading this does know, please tell me, and I'll update this entry.]

Sad News

I only seem to be updating this blog at the moment when I'm either not busy or unwell. I hope this isn't going to be the case all the time, & I'll try and keep up to posting a bit more regularly....

Unfortunately my first entry in ages relates to sad news. A friend of mine died last Monday. She had been suffering from cancer for some time, and, whilst it wasn't totally unexpected, it's still rather unsettling as Ruth was only 45. I'd known her since the early 80's when we were both students. She was the girlfriend - and later wife - of another friend who I was at school with. The funeral is on Wednesday in York. Please remember Ruth in your prayers, and also Stephen her husband and their daughter Sarah.

I've also just found out about the death of I priest last November who I knew back in the early 1990's. Hegumen Gregory [Woolfenden], an Orthodox monk who was parish priest of St Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church, New Britain, Connecticut (USA). I first met him when he was still Fr Graham, a catholic priest of the Diocese of Liverpool, who had bi-ritual faculties, and was therefore able to serve Byzantine Catholic Liturgies as well as Latin Rite Mass. We met several times in Liverpool, usually at the Metropolitan Cathedral, which was host to a number of Byzantine Liturgies at that time. After he left the area and moved to Oxford, we gradually lost touch until only fairly recently when we were able to communicate with each other again, thanks to Facebook.

May his memory be Eternal!

Much Ado about 'Something' [I hope!]

The first part of 2009 finds us at a relatively quiet time. We've nothing major planned for the first quarter of the year yet, though I've tentatively bookmarked 21st February as a date when 'something' may happen. This 'something' could either turn out to be an Orthodox Divine Liturgy or a Trad Latin Mass depending on who 'books' us first! It's a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle at this stage though & a bit frustrating, but we can't make any progress until the relevant pieces are in place regarding venue and nature of Service.

There's something of interest in both options as that date in the Eastern Calendar is All Souls' Saturday - the equivalent in the West of 2nd November. The Mass on the other hand would be a Vigil Mass of Quinquagesima, as it's the weekend before Lent.

I don't really mind which one we end up singing for, the important thing, in my opinion at least, is to keep up the interest & momentum built by the excellent Carol Service in York just before Christmas. We do have a very important date already in April and the gap between the Carol Service and St George's Day is, I think, too long.

As for St George's Day itself, there's not a lot I can say about it right now (due to not being allowed to!) except that it will be at Ushaw College in County Durham and will be potentially the biggest and most important service we've ever been involved in. It's a working day for most people, so I've already sent out an email whilst acknowledging this, urging and imploring singers to try and book a days leave that day. Time will tell, but the more people declaring their availability between NOW and the end of February will ease my stress levels considerably!

I live in hope! Meanwhile, Compline by candlelight continues every Friday, but the monthly Chant Masses in the Extraordinary Form have come to a temporary halt. This is because we've lost the priest who was offering these Masses to a Parish in Middlesbrough (more on that in a later post as we intend to visit!) and his replacement is still learning the EF. I don't yet know when 'Normal Service' will be resumed, but am looking forward to Masses with Fr Stephen when he's given the Green Light after his training as he is an excellent singer.

As this is my first post since the end of December, I'll close by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!

Carol Service Recording

It seems like light years ago [only 10 days actually!] since we had our Annual Carol Service. This was another huge success, and thanks are due to all who took part - not just the singers, but those who prepared the church, lit all the candles and brought the wine & mince pies! The small church was packed with, we think, just over 100 people.

I've been asked if some of the music could be put online. I wasn't too sure about this at first, having fallen foul of my webspace provider's bandwidth restrictions before - BUT, I discovered that I had more space available courtesy of my cable tv provider which I've hardly ever used! So, if you want to hear the choral highlights of the service, just click here. The sound files work best in QuickTime, although they can also be played in RealPlayer, but the quality isn't anything like as good. Whatever source you use, don't try Media Player as it won't work with these mp4's encoded via Nero.

I hope everyone is enjoying a very joyful Christmastide. Plans for 2009 to follow, once they're set in stone and not just being discussed.... There are one or two very exciting services but I've been banned by the organisers from telling you who might be involved, so you'll just have to wait!

Busy Busy Busy....

This Evening. Our Annual Carol Service. Tomorrow we sing Compline by Candlelight, both at Bishophill.

Saturday is David's Ordination in Leeds.

And Sunday is our regular Chant Mass in York.

I'm back at work on Monday.....

Compline by Candlelight

When we decide to do something, we don't compromise. :-) We even switched all the lights out before the service, our only concession to electricity was keeping the heating on!

Better images could have been obtained with a proper camera, but these pics from my phone will at least give you an idea.

Must be that time of year….

Arrangements have been made for the final rehearsals for our Annual Carol Service on the 18th. That can only mean that Christmas is coming. I’ve not even written any cards yet, so if you don’t receive any from me, consider this note as an apology in advance! Plans are already being made for Services well into 2009…

Between the Carol Service & Christmas itself, we have a Gregorian Chant Sung Mass for Advent IV at English Martyrs in York. As this is our only sung Mass this month, I’ve overloaded it with some personal favourites besides the Propers & Chant Mass for Advent - the Rorate Coeli, solemn Alma Redemptoris with its glorious incipit, the ‘O’ Antiphon of the day and rounding everything off with Veni Emmanuel. In this case you can have too much of a good thing!

I just wish more singers were available at Christmas though, rather than just before. It always seems to be to be a huge letdown service-wise. Even if we could just get an SATB quartet together, we could achieve so much. However, I know that most of our singers actively involved in church, will be scattered across the North of England at this time, myself included, as I’ve been ‘booked’ to sing a Chant Midnight Mass in the Extraordinary Form in a West Yorkshire Parish.

Besides Christmas, there is another HUGE event looming on the horizon, which has nothing to do with any of the above. A good friend, and occasional singer, when he’s not involved in his own church services is being ordained to the Priesthood in the Greek Orthodox Church in Leeds on 20th December. Please pray for Fr Deacon David on this very, very special day.

If you’re in York and free on the 18th or 21st December, please do come along to the Carol Service and/or the Mass and say hello!

Meanwhile, we continue to sing Compline every Friday at Bishophill. The ultimate aim is to sing the Office entirely by candlelight. I've just invested in more candles and candlesticks, so we're getting there, gradually... I hope to take some photos tonight, and if they come out ok, will post them here, so you can see what we're doing!

From the New Liturgical Movement

Coolest. Incipit. Ever!

By (Jeffrey Tucker)

Advent will soon be upon us, which means many things, among which is the annual fight--a polite one, no doubt--over who gets to sing the incipit (opening phrase) to the solemn version of Alma Redemptoris Mater.
Coming to York this Advent!

The Original Post on NLM has a splendid version of the solemn tone sung to Ambrosian Chant.

Chant & Carols

Well, since the last time I posted anything here, we've created another bit of history. A week ago on Sunday [16th], 4 intrepid chanters went to St Mary's Abbey and sang Vespers, concluding with the 'York' Solemn Salve Regina. We had done this last year, the first time [we believe] it was sung there since the Reformation - almost 500 years ago, only to be told that the monks wouldn't have sung from the place where we did, which was the main ruin. So, this year, we went and sang in the Monastic Choir and can now, quite legitimately, claim that we've sung music written for the Monks of the Abbey in the very place they would have sung it almost 500 years ago!

We now seem to have established a good relationship with the Museum Gardens authorities, so I would think it more likely that we'll return again for more services, maybe even Mass one day, though perhaps when its a bit warmer!

The full choir have now started rehearsing for our annual Carol Service at Bishophill on 18th December. This promises to be just as good as in previous years, so if you're in the York area and are free that evening, do please come along!

The Order of Service can be found here.

Chant Workshops

Yesterday, I spent most of the day on Tyneside, taking part in the last event [Mass in the Extraordinary Form] of a Gregorian chant workshop which took place there over the weekend. This was based mainly at Forest Hall, but the Mass I went to was at St Joseph's Church in Gateshead. It was organised by Dorothy of the Schola Gregoriana of Northumbria and led by the Scottish Gregorian Group directed by Alan Henderson.

During a very nice pub lunch, I was able to renew acquaintances with singing friends in Northumbria and also north of the border. This could lead to a collaboration in late spring/early summer next year, possibly at Brinkburn Priory, a venue of which I have already spoken very favourably earlier this year!

As for workshops, I've been asked if we can have one in York on a more limited scale. One of our new singers has requested one on singing Compline; basically going through the music for Compline in an afternoon session culminating in the service itself in the evening. It could be a good way of introducing people to singing and experiencing Chant in a relatively simple/informal setting. I'd be interested to hear what people think about this.

Meanwhile, our own Schola Cantorum is scheduled to sing in St Mary's Abbey ruins in the grounds of the Museum Gardens this coming Sunday at 3pm- weather permitting. We intend to sing Vespers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, concluding with the 'York' Solemn Salve Regina, which will be sung there for only the second time since the Reformation! Please do come and support us if you're in the area! The following weekend sees the first full choral rehearsal for the annual Carol Service at St Mary's, Bishophill Jnr. It never ends! Still, it keeps us out of mischief.. :-)

Busy weekends!

Last weekend was momentous! I think I’ve just about recovered…..

We started off on Friday evening with Compline, at which we were joined [for the first time in a singing capacity] by David. Saturday’s Mass was excellent. The polyphony had one or two hairy moments, which fortunately, only we noticed, and the singing of the ‘York’ Salve Regina was, I think, the best we’ve ever done. For a brief report of the Mass go here.

Sunday saw three of us go across to Oldham to fix our cravings for the Greek-Catholic Liturgy, which we’ve missed since May, when they were a regular feature at the University of York Chaplaincy. I introduced Bianca and Andrew to Stefan who is cantor for the Oldham church and a good friend of many years standing. The Liturgy was like a breath of fresh air – not that I don’t like Latin services you understand, but sometimes, they can be a little too intense, especially if you’re also involved behind the scenes. Once you get used to the Eastern Rite and if you invest a little time learning the basics of the Cyrillic alphabet [not difficult, I assure you[!] you’d be surprised at just how quickly it can be to pick up liturgical Ukrainian and take part in at least bits of the Liturgy! I hope we can go back there - sooner rather than later...

This weekend promises to be just as momentous, although the only singing involved will be this evening during Compline. Tomorrow, it’s another Liturgy in the morning at Bishophill, celebrated by our Orthodox friends, and then a concert in the evening performed by the excellent Ebor Singers. Sunday evening sees one of our friends being received into the Catholic Church and I’ve been asked to be his sponsor. Please keep John in your prayers this weekend.

The following weekend - Sunday at least, I'll be back on Tyneside. It often seems that I go to work during the week just for a rest!

New members!

I really should use the word 'member' loosely, as the people who sing with us are scattered all over the north of the UK, and only sing when they are able to do so, as opposed to choirs whose members meet at least weekly for rehearsals and services/performances.

Anyway, that said, welcome to Alan who will be singing with us this Saturday in York and David who wants to join the Schola Cantorum when we sing Compline each Friday at Bishophill

If you wish to sing chant and other sacred music in its proper context and live in the North of England preferably [though we have had singers from as far afield as Edinburgh & Nottingham!] then I would encourage you to get in touch!

Singing opportunities for choirs in church.

I find York at times a very frustrating city to live in. In fact I would go as far as to say that despite its historical importance as a religious centre, it's a very secular/liberal city, especially when it comes to church matters [of all denominations] as far as I can tell. More especially when it comes to music and liturgy or what passes for it!

Not convinced? Those of you reading this who are from the immediate area [or know it] just take a look around you. Where are the opportunities for people to sing sacred music, in church, on a regular basis?

Before I continue, let me say that this isn't an exclusive Latin Catholic rant. Members of other denominations, please feel free to chip in via the comments section with your own thoughts on the matter! If you've looked at the Rudgate Website you'll see that despite our Catholic leanings & history, we actually exist to sing quality music usually only heard on CDs or in concerts in its original liturgical setting, regardless of denomination. This is reflected in our singing members, who come from all over the north of Britain. On our 'books' at the moment we have Catholics, Anglicans, Orthodox, Methodists and others who don't belong to any Christian Church/community at all but just like singing the music. We've even had a Buddhist who was quite fascinated to hear Gregorian Chant, especially in it's proper context!

Before I get completely sidetracked though, let's return to the main thread. What opportunities are there for choirs, or people who would like to sing this music.

Forget the Minster. That's professional. Nothing wrong at all with that, but I'm thinking principally about amateurs, particularly as there isn't a lot of money floating around at the moment. The only other C of E choir that sings regularly to my knowledge is St Olave's - Marygate [Any others out there? Please let me know!]

What of the Catholics?

The only place I know of is English Martyrs, where our Schola Cantorum sing on a monthly basis. It's fair to say that a very good group of singers from the parish met to sing an excellent Mass by Palestrina in the Ordinary From back in June, and we ourselves will be singing there
later this month - a repeat of the music we sang in Brinkburn Priory in September. But these are special events. Why can't this music be sung more regularly?

You may wonder what provoked me to write about this. Well, I was at a concert last weekend sung by the excellent Ebor Singers. Whilst I admit to being a fan and regular supporter of theirs, they're not the only choir in York that sings wonderful music which needs to be heard in its proper context. It bugs me that this isn't the case, as you may have gathered by now!

This city has many wonderful talented musicians, not to mention an excellent musical Department at the University. The National Centre for Early Music is based here. Early music CD's are very popular, witnessed by the very recent fact that a CD of Gregorian Chant by the Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz topped Clasical Album charts worldwide and even made the top ten of the pop charts - yes, you read that correctly, the pop charts[!] in the UK. And yet, it's nigh on impossible to find quality liturgical music sung anywhere except on special occasions.

Why is this so?

Can anything be done about it?

Answers please via the comments box!

Plans for Next Year...

Having got home quite exhausted from work, as is my usual custom, armed with mug of tea in one hand & CD remote in the other, I put on a CD from my ever expanding collection in order to unwind a little bit.

I happened to pick a recording of Marian Vespers - a reconstruction of Vespers for the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, by the excellent Edinburgh University Renaissance Singers

This recording features music mainly by Victoria, and the more I listened to it, the more I thought "we could do this liturgically!" The psalms and hymn are the same as 'ordinary' Vespers of the BVM which can be sung more or less anytime unless it's a Major Feast Day, and all the music is available at cpdl, so there's every chance we might do this next year, perhaps in May or October which are traditionally months in honour of Our Lady.

Another major event I'd like to see happen is a performance of the newly translated Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom as recorded by a truly amazing choir, Cappella Romana. You're not likely to hear them often over here in Europe, so go over to their website and buy their CDs. Now! And say I recommended you to do so!

This is already at the discussion stage with our friends at the Greek Orthodox Church in Leeds, and we hope to sing this also next year.

Just a quick reminder of upcoming events for the remainder of this year.

25th October 3.30pm English Martyrs Church, York
Solemn Mass in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

16th November 3.00pm. St Mary's Abbey, York. [In the grounds of the Museum Gardens].
Vespers of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

18th December 7.00pm [TBC] St Mary's Church, Bishophill, York
Traditional Service of Readings and Carols.