Choirs: An Appeal for Common Sense

Choirs throughout the world face extraordinary challenges at present. Effectively silenced for several months, they have been unable to sing together in rehearsal or in the context of liturgical or concert performance. Even as countries begin, ever so cautiously, to emerge from lockdown, a considerable amount of debate has arisen surrounding the circumstances of viral transmission through singing. This panic was initially precipitated by the spread of the virus in a choir in the USA, pre-lockdown, with the assumption that it was the singing, rather than the lack of social-distancing, which caused this. A number of preliminary studies, including two carried out in Freiburg and Munich, demonstrate that singing is perfectly safe as long as sensible precautions are put in place.

However, Britain’s choral tradition is now under major threat due to the UK government’s proposed guidance which will make it difficult or impossible for choirs to meaningfully rehearse or perform. Even though there is no scientific evidence to prove the dangers of singing, the negative narrative means that the onus is now on us to prove that singing is safe: so much for ‘innocent until proven guilty’. However in a world which seems unable to accept any risk at all, the UK government’s response is ultimately driven by concerns about liability.

Aside from the obvious impoverishment of the Liturgy and the wider cultural heritage, many professional musicians now face very bleak times. Amateur musicians will suffer too. However in the case of children’s choirs, and those which include children such as cathedral choirs, this situation is nothing short of catastrophic.

Children’s choirs are in a constant state of flux and development and boys’ voices undergo pronounced change which requires particular management. Throughout a choir, individuals are at different stages of sight-reading proficiency, pitching ability and general musical awareness. The younger ones apprentice from the older ones, with every child at a different stage on the journey. Through this process the transmission of the choral tradition itself takes place, encompassing the shared musical experiences, the collegiate knowledge of specific repertoire, and the choir’s unique sound itself, melded by the building in which it sings.

None of this can be simply put on hold; it has to be active in order to exist. This is certainly the case for the two choirs which I direct, the London Oratory Junior Choir and the London Oratory Schola, on whose behalf I wrote to Oliver Dowden MP, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to express these concerns. Over a week later his department has yet to respond; however, a number of other Members of Parliament including Sir Edward Leigh have contacted me to assure me of their support.

In my letter I wrote that, unlike adult choirs, a boys’ or children’s choir cannot simply pick up where it left off. The process of nurturing and developing cannot be put on ice and then resumed at a later date without significant consequences. It could take three to five years to recover the damage and rebuild, and a generation of singers could easily be lost. Time is of the essence, and the clock is always ticking for a boy treble.

Science is not absolute, even when preceded by the definite article. The risks to the young are absolutely minute. Will institutions such as Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College disappear from the landscape? Will there be no choir at the next coronation in Westminster Abbey? Of course not – common sense will prevail in the end, but the sooner the better.

UPDATE: Today (Fri 3 July 2020) I received a response to my letter to Oliver Dowden MP. The response came from Caroline Dinenage MP, Minister of State, DCMS. The letter does not address any of my concerns nor does it make any mention, specific or otherwise, of Children's Choirs.

“The Noblest Sacred Work in Existence”

These were the words with which Sir Edward Elgar described J.S. Bach’s setting of the St Matthew Passion. This formidable work, also known as the ‘Great’ Passion, is something of a musical Mount Everest; its scale and complexity are a considerable challenge to both singers and players. Bach’s first setting of the Passion, the St John, was first heard in Leipzig on Good Friday in 1723, and the St Matthew followed a few years later. Both his Passions are for soloists, choir and orchestra, although the later St Matthew expands on the forces of the St John by dividing the forces into two choirs and two orchestras, and even adding a third ‘Ripieno Chorus’.

J.S. Bach’s autograph MS
of the St Matthew Passion

Bach employs four distinct musical elements: the first of these is Recitative, largely sung by the Evangelist but also by the other characters such as Christ, Pilate and the High Priests. Secco, or dry, recitative, allows large amounts of text to be conveyed with great economy, whilst also giving the singer enormous expressive freedom. The Continuo accompaniment, mostly played by organ and cello, provides a sparing accompaniment, although a particular innovation which Bach brought to the St Matthew setting is the ‘halo’
 of strings which surrounds Christ each time he sings, emphasizing his Divinity.

Secondly, there are the Choruses sung by the full choir. With the exception of the large opening and closing choruses, which buttress the entire work, the other choruses are turba (crowd) choruses, in which the choir represents variously the disciples, the high priests and their entourage, the soldiers who mock Christ, or simply the angry mob.

Thirdly there are the Arias and their smaller relatives the Ariosos (with texts written by Picander, the pen name of Christian Friedrich Henrici), which break the Gospel narrative to allow pause for thought. The Ariosos provide commentary, whereas the Arias provide reflection, sometimes accompanied by a chorus which interjects and vocalises the thoughts of the listener on their behalf.

Fourthly, the Chorales, Lutheran hymns which are strategically placed throughout the Passion. These hymns would have been well-known to the congregations in Leipzig, though they would not have joined in, instead listening to Bach’s exquisite renderings of these much-loved melodies using harmonies which seem to achieve utter perfection. Of the twelve Chorales which appear in the St Matthew Passion, five use the ‘Passion Chorale’ melody which many will know as the hymn ‘O sacred head sore-wounded.’

The Thomanerchor performing at
the Thomaskirche, Leipzig

I will have the privilege of directing the London Oratory Schola, the Oratory Junior Choir and the Belgravia Chamber Orchestra in a performance of the St Matthew Passion next week, forces similar to the Thomanerchor, Bach’s own famous boys’ choir, still singing to this day, and having recently celebrated its 800th anniversary. Aside from the roles of Evangelist and Christus, performed by Nicholas Mulroy and Marcus Farnsworth, two leading singers of the professional world of music, all of the other roles and Arias will be sung by boys from the Schola. I can’t begin to describe how hard the choristers have worked for months in preparation - the St Matthew is more of a project than a piece. Even the sheer organization required in terms of marshaling the singers and players through the rehearsal on the day of the performance requires meticulous precision, ensuring that the soloists, choruses and instrumentalists (the wind and strings of both orchestras) are there at the right times. (I am most fortunate in this regard to have an orchestral manager who very much has his wits about him.)

During the rehearsal we will start with all the Recitatives, then some of the Arias & Ariosos, followed by the Choruses and Chorales, and finishing with some remaining Arias. What this means is that the Passion is not heard by any of us from start to finish until the performance itself. It is rather like preparing a vast number of different ingredients, before assembling an incredibly elaborate meal, like Babette’s Feast. The fact that there is just one performance, one chance to hear it, one chance to get it right, gives both the listener and the performer a real sense of focus on the Mystery of the Passion. Please keep us all in your prayers next Tuesday, and if you can, come along.

Lenten Musical Oratories and the St Matthew Passion at the London Oratory

Lenten Musical Oratories begin this evening at the London Oratory. These services, held at 6.30pm on Wednesday evenings during Lent, last a little over an hour and combine music with spiritual discourses, prayers and hymns. The Lenten Oratory on 2 March, sung by the Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School, will include music by Byrd, Morales and Tallis, and the service on 16 March, sung by the London Oratory Junior Choir, will include works by Dering, Gagliano and Perosi. Both the Schola and Junior Choir will be singing in a performance of J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion at the Oratory on Tuesday 15 March, see below for details.

Advent & Christmas Carol Services at the London Oratory, and a Concert

The Advent Musical Oratory is always held on the first Sunday of Advent at the Little Oratory in London and will take place this Sunday at 4.30pm. It is a service of Readings, Advent Hymns and Choral Music sung by the London Oratory Junior Choir, with medieval bells played by Dr Mary Remnant. The London Oratory Carol Service takes place on Tuesday 22 December at 7.30pm featuring both the Junior and Senior Choirs of the Oratory. Doors open at 7pm and admission is free. The Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School will be giving a concert this Friday 27 November of music by Rheinberger, Bruckner and J.S. Bach, and will also be singing a Carol Service for Aid to the Church in Need on 3 December at St Mary’s Cadogan Street, London. See the posters below for details.

The Monteverdi Vespers of 1610

Arriving in the San Polo district of Venice, I stand in front of one of the city’s largest churches: Santa Maria Gloriosi, better known as the Frari, named for the Franciscans who constructed it. It is a large brick-built Gothic edifice, and like other tall churches built on Venice’s uncertain foundations, is trussed with enormous wooden beams which span the archways within. Entering into the nave by the west door, I am immediately struck by the vast and imposing marble tombs in the side walls, monuments to great artists such as Titian and Canova. I make directly for a small side chapel in the far left corner. There, under a simple marble slab in the chapel floor, lie the mortal remains of one of Venice’s greatest composers. The tomb is marked with his name and dates alone: Claudio Monteverdi 9 May 1567- 29 November 1643.

On a stand to the side rests a facsimile copy of his most famous work, the 1610 publication of his Mass and Vespers. It is the Vespers which has become most synonymous with Monteverdi’s name, and no wonder, for it contains ninety minutes of the most exciting and brilliant music one could ever hope to hear. My visit to Venice precedes a performance of the Vespers at the London Oratory which I am shortly to conduct involving two choirs: the Schola Cantorum of The London Oratory School and The London Oratory Junior Choir.

Buying a large print of Monteverdi at the gift shop to put on the wall of the Song Room at school, though not quite sure how on earth I will get it home, I set off for St Mark’s. The streets and canals of Venice seem to embody so many of the characteristics found in Monteverdi’s music: variety, splendour, and above all, colour. Walking to the Grand Canal, I take a vaporetto, one of Venice’s large water buses, down to San Marco. Entering the great Byzantine Basilica, amid throngs of tourists, I find myself in the vast cavernous nave. The effect of the marble floor and walls, and the golden mosaics overhead in the rounded recesses of the domes, is totally overwhelming, despite having seen it many times before. Finding a quiet spot in the gallery, I put on my earphones to listen to a famous recording of the Vespers. The crowds of people melt away and I am left seemingly alone in the basilica, listening as the performance, which was recorded here, comes back to life. It is absolutely extraordinary to hear the acoustics on the recording exactly matching the building around me.

There are many reasons why this work is usually the preserve of concert choirs, not least because of the complexity and expense involved in performing it. There is a myriad of professional adult choirs which sing in the major concert halls and tour around the world, none greater with reference to this particular work than the Monteverdi Choir itself, founded and conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, whose 1990 recording I am listening to.

However the performance at the London Oratory will be sung by two liturgical choirs, and more significantly still, it will be sung by childrens’ voices. Readers of New Liturgical Movement will be very familiar with photographs of the beautiful Liturgy which is maintained at the Oratory. However, there is another less visible but nevertheless incredibly important dimension to the work of the Fathers of the Oratory. This is their school, The London Oratory School, founded in 1863, where 1400 young Catholic pupils are educated according to the unique traditions and standards of the Oratory, in the spirit of St Philip Neri. We are truly blessed that these boys receive such an education in their Faith and experience the Liturgy of the Oratory, most especially those in the Schola who sing Mass at the Church every Saturday. In addition the London Oratory Junior Choir for boys and girls at Catholic schools across the capital, sings the 10am Mass at the Oratory on Sundays.

Training boys and girls to sing such music is certainly a challenge, but the truth is that the ceaseless toil and hard work involved with daily rehearsals make the results all the more rewarding. Focused children can achieve pretty much anything, and the higher you set the bar, the more they amaze. In the past year the Schola boys have sung J.S. Bach’s St John Passion, Victoria’s Requiem and most recently a joint performance of the B minor Mass, Bach’s ultimate choral challenge, with Westminster Cathedral Choir. Introducing young Catholic children to this great repertoire is not simply a matter of duty, it’s an incredible privilege too.

The Monteverdi Vespers is a conundrum on many levels. To start with, it is probably better to approach it as being a portfolio of music, some of which is appropriate for use at Vespers, some of which is less so. From a performance perspective, there are many different decisions to be made concerning the order of movements, the allocation of parts, transpositions and keys, to the extent that no two performances are ever likely to be the same. Much has been written about the work, and in particular there is great debate amongst scholars concerning the placement of the Motets, or Sacris concentibus, as to whether they are intended to replace the repeated Antiphons, or follow them, or whether they are in fact simply free-standing Motets for performance outside the context of Vespers.

At our own concert performance on May 6, we will sing the complete work in the order of the original 1610 print, with the seven-part Magnificat. The boys of the Schola, as well as the Junior Choir, will be joined by two outstanding tenor soloists of great distinction, Mark Dobell and Nicholas Mulroy, and accompanied by The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble. It is always a thrill to work with period instruments, and amongst them will be an Italian seventeenth century triple harp and a theorbo, a long-necked member of the lute family which one is more likely to encounter in renaissance paintings. However music is an art which comes to life, and we can only imagine how close, or not, we come to what Monteverdi heard with his own ears.

The London Oratory Carol Service 2014

The London Oratory Carol Service takes place tomorrow evening, Monday 22 December at 7.30pm (doors open from 7pm). The service follows the pattern of the traditional English Carol Service, with the addition of Benediction. In the spirit of St Philip Neri's love of drawing the faithful to devotion through the powerful combination of scripture and music, all of the carols are closely related to the readings. Rachmaninov's Ave Maria follows the reading of Gabriel's Message, while Peter Cornelius's Three Kings, with its climactic 'offer thy heart to the infant King' is the motet sung before the exposed Blessed Sacrament.

A particular feature of this service is the interplay between the Oratory's Junior Choir, for boys and girls aged 8-16, and the professional Senior Choir, in medieval cantiones as well as in the traditional German alternation of Quem pastores, in which the 'Angels' (the Junior Choir) sing from the gallery while the 'Shepherds' (the Senior Choir) respond from below with 'Nunc angelorum gloria!'. The service will include a carol by the Oratory's organist, Matthew Martin, on the text of the 'O' Antiphon for December 22, O Rex Gentium.

Photos from the London Oratory Carol Service this evening

The photographs below were taken at the London Oratory Carol Service this evening. The London Oratory Junior Choir made up of children aged 8 - 16 and the professional Senior Choir both sang from the Nave. The service ended with Solemn Benediction.

The London Oratory Carol Service

The London Oratory Carol Service takes place on Thursday 19 December at 7.30pm featuring both the Junior and Senior Choirs of the Oratory. The Carol Service was reviewed by the Daily Telegraph in 2009. Doors open at 7pm and admission is free.

The Advent Musical Oratory

The Advent Musical Oratory is always held on the first Sunday Sunday of Advent at the Little Oratory in London and will take place this Sunday at 4.30pm. It is a service of Readings, Advent Hymns and Choral Music sung by the London Oratory Junior Choir.

The London Oratory Junior Choir, which I direct, celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year. The choir, for boys and girls aged 8-16, sings Gregorian Chant and Motets from the 16th-21st centuries. (If you know of a child who might like to join the choir, please visit www.oratoryjuniorchoir.com. If you are looking for a similar opportunity for a child elsewhere, you might like to check this list of Catholic Children's Choirs.)

The service also features the Medieval Bells played by Dr Mary Remnant. Last year I had a quick go on them myself: