Posted in Religious on Jul 26th, 2008 No Comments »
Brought up a Catholic before the Second Vatican Council means that all my early experiences of worship are of the traditional Latin Mass - and almost ten years as an altar boy meant I officiated at one or more every week. But it must be forty years since I last went to one. The Latin Mass was replaced in the 1970s by the mass in the vernacular. Occasionally I attended versions of the mass on Sunday where some latin was allowed, mainly in the singing, but it was a weak and insipid thing compared with the original.
It’s heartening to see the blanket ban on the traditional Latin Mass being lifted by the present Pope, but I’m not sure if the art can have survived forty years of silence. Let’s hope so. And if they want altar boys over sixty, who remember it last time round, I’m available.
Here’s a moment of nostalgia to touch all Catholics of a certain age. It’s the Kyrie, sung by choir and congregation, at a late celebration of the Latin Mass on All Saints Day 1975, at Downham Market, England by Fr Oswald Baker.
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Posted in Religious on Jul 22nd, 2008 No Comments »
Organs weren’t introduced into most English churches until the middle of the nineteenth century. When they were they had a profound effect on church music. Before, church singing was simpler, rougher, and more homely. After, it became smoother and more solemn. The earlier style is now referred to as West Gallery music - on account of the choirs and musicians stationing themselves in the West Gallery. Choirs were accompanied by local bands - of violins, cellos, flutes, cornets and other assorted wind instruments, including the strange Serpent. These bands doubled for secular dances at local inns and halls -see the early dance scene in the BBC’s 1995 version of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ which recreates such a band. In Thomas Hardy’s “Under the Greenwood Tree” too there is a memorable evocation of a West Gallery band and choir.
Over the last twenty years or so there has been something of a revival in West Gallery music - and a joy it is to hear. From recordings I have heard I suspect that modern recreations smooth out the roughness and off pitch intonation of the originals. Here, however, is ‘Come Let Us All’ . It is sung at Christmas time. I don’t know where I got this from, but it captures perfectly the original rustic, homely quality of the music, sung in a regional (Dorset?) accent, with delightful added aitches to make ‘hangels’ - a touching attempt to poshen up their style.
Afterthought: Listening to it again I realise that in among the strings and woodwind there is an organ, sounding the death knell of the band - and making the singing more poignant.
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Posted in Religious on Jul 17th, 2008 1 Comment »
WorldWiseWoman is enthusiastic, in her response to my post here, about the singing of Noirin Ni Riain & the Monks of Glenstal Abbey. There was a series of programmes on the BBC in the early 90s documenting the Irish influence on American and other contemporary music. It was called ‘Bringing It All Back Home’. I don’t have the piece WWW mentions but I do have this from that series. It’s called ‘An T-Aiseiri’, which means ‘resurrection’.
It’s comforting and sublime.
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