I’ve just come from one of the most remarkable and incredible choral concerts ever … here at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester! Tonight we heard the impossibly difficult, 40-part a cappella motet by Thomas Tallis, Spem in alium, for eight choirs of 5 voices each, considered the greatest piece of English early music. I actually found a YouTube video by tonight’s group, ORA Singers, conducted by Suzi Digby, so you can experience what we did. I took a picture of the group at the very end, but for the Spem in alium, extra singers were added to complete the 40 parts.
I was stunned at how the group opened the concert. They were sitting on the stage, with no conductor, when all of a sudden they started singing William Byrd’s “Ave verum corpus” from the sides of the chapel. Someone must have given the pitch very quietly, because I sure didn’t hear it! (Of course, we were sitting in row 20!)
Followed was the plainchant, “Spem in alium,” sung in procession from the apse by the men. It was so incredibly beautiful to hear plainchant in this cavernous cathedral. Following were Renaissance motets by William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, and contemporary works by James MacMillan, Roxana Panufnik, Janet Wheeler, Roderick Williams, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, plus a chant for women’s voices by Hildegard von Bingen (O viridissima virga).
But wait, there’s more! One of the most remarkable pieces on the program was a choral arrangement of Ralph Vaughan Williams “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis,” arranged by Greg Murray. As you might imagine, a choral version would have to be somewhat of a compromise since humans can’t sing as high as the violin parts in the orchestral version. But at one point, a soprano sang a high F — that’s a fourth above a high C! It was interesting to learn that the instrumental “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” made its debut in this very place, Gloucester Cathedral in 1910, with revisions in 1913 and 1919. I liked the arranger, Greg Murray’s comment in the program: “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis brought glory to this building over a century ago. I hope that this version might bring glory, praise and much enjoyment for performers and listeners alike.”
A few days ago, I wrote that you should come to a Three Choirs Festival for the world-class music making, but stay and meet the people! I wrote that John and Rosemary Allsop, parents of organist Christopher Allsop, greeted me like an old friend on Sunday after first meeting me in 2017 in Hereford. I met them again tonight and they presented me with a CD from Christopher.
At dinner at a Thai restaurant tonight, we sat next to a couple who were formerly singers in the choir who sang tonight and we had a really nice conversation about singing in choirs.
At the concert tonight, we sat in row 20, and Joan Ishibashi overheard a conversation among people behind us. Turns out that it was a woman organist from Denver, so Joan asked me to turn around and introduce myself. You’ll never guess that Barbara Hulac had come to Honolulu and heard me play, and even had gotten one of my business cards. To top it off, we found out we were both graduates of Westminster Choir College! She graduated in 1971 and I entered in 1972, just missing each other. Small world, indeed!
The day started gloriously with clear blue skies and no rain as we spent the morning at The Old Rectory in Quenington with other attendees in the Three Choirs Festival. The Old Rectory was formerly the home of three generations of vicars and his family and sits on the banks of the River Coln and a mill race, opposite St. Swithins Church, in the Cotswolds. There is a huge garden with magnificent trees of various kinds, beautiful flower beds, vegetable gardens and a gracious stone house. We were met by Lucy Abel Smith, whose family bought the property in the 1980s. Then we were treated with five or six homemade cakes, tea and coffee, which pretty much became our lunch for today.
And here are photos of St Swithins Church.
It was a beautiful day in a beautiful place!
I remember a fine performance of Spem in Alium conducted by Richard Proulx with the Holy Name Cathedral Choir in Chicago. jb
I SO want to see the score and hear the RVW Fantasia in the choral version!! Just looked online, but couldn’t (yet) find it.
I’ve conducted Spem in alium a number of times, but most memorable was for the 40th Anniversary of Peter Hallock beginning his work at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, and I was invited by Peter to conduct. We did it after Compline, with the Compline Choir, Cathedral Choir, and a group of “ringers” filling in the parts otherwise not covered.
Peter was in the first choir (and had the first vocal entrance on a G) and, after the pitch was given, came in a bit sharp! The other first choir singers were startled, but quickly got with it and it went fine from there. Amazing to be a part of this event!
Dick, here are the program notes. I’ll also include the text in a separate comment.
Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (arr.GregMurray) Why would anybody wish to transcribe this unique work into a choral piece?After all, the original is a masterpiece of purity, in the sense that the form seems to require no embellishment, and the sound of strings alone is a most appealing medium.One always runs the risk of ruining a perfectly good instrumental composition by tagging on words.Yet there might be something tantalising in restoring words where they were removed to create this masterpiece. Since its premiere in Gloucester Cathedral in 1910,Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis was pruned, in 1913 and again in 1919, into the concise form we know today. To convert it into a choral format is more involved than a conventional arrangement: merely substituting different instruments. First, singers cannot replicate the available ranges of string instruments which, in a piece like this, are beyond human capability. Secondly, strings can sustain notes and phrases ad infinitum, which contributes to one of the many appealing aspects of the work–a sense of the infinite in a pure-sounding medium. For singers, who need to inhale (justoccasionally),a re-casting of the writing is needed, passing the strands among different vocalparts, and redistributing florid passage work. Care was required in converting pizzicato into some sort of vocal equivalence and overcoming the demands of extremes of dynamic range in the original, at whatever pitch Vaughan Williams originally chose. Voices prefer to sing louder as they rise in pitch, unlike the power-flexibility of stringed instruments. Yet the distinctive factor is the restoration of text. The words associated with Tallis’ theme, ‘Why fum’th in fight the Gentiles spite’,would sit uneasily with his framing of the theme, and thus I have opted for excerpts from psalms 6 and 26, taking a liberty by inserting a Kyrie eleison which both the words and Vaughan Williams’ dramatic chords cry out for. Whilst it would be expected for a choral work to have a text, the solo quartet’s extempore passages are really incompatible with word-setting, which led to these being the distant musicians, instead of the second division of the orchestra, as found in the original. After all, in a cathedral or a monastery, the words of psalms would be chanted antiphonally; from side to side, and not near and far. Therefore the antiphony of the Fantasia is in double-choir formation, reminiscent of so much of the sacred choral repertoire. In the end, these technicalities are a means to bring this best-loved work to new performers, and new listeners. If justification is demanded, it might be that no choral group existed until fairly recently that could have attempted this venture. Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis brought glory to this building over a century ago. I hope that this version might bring glory, praise and much enjoyment for performers and listeners alike.
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Greg Murray
Here is the text to “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.”
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Help, Lord, the souls that Thou hast made, The souls to Thee so dear, In prison for the debt unpaid Of sins committed here. These holy souls, they suffer on, Resign’d in heart and will, Until Thy high behest is done, And justice has its fill. Kyrie eleison. For daily falls, for pardon’d crime They joy to undergo. The shadow of Thy cross sublime. Christe eleison. The remnant of Thy woe. Oh, by their patience of delay, Their hope amid their pain, Their sacred zeal to burn away Disfigurement and stain. Heal me, O Lord, my body is racked, My soul is racked with pain. Return, Lord, rescue my soul in your merciful love. For in death no one remembers you. For the Lord has heard my weeping, For the Lord has heard my plea, He will accept my prayer. There is one thing I ask of the Lord, For this I long, To live in the house of God all the days of my life. For there he keeps me safe in his tent To savour the sweetness of the Lord. To behold his temple, For there he keeps me safe in the day of evil, In the shelter of his tent. On a rock he sets me safe, O Lord, hear my voice when I call, Have mercy and answer, of you my heart has spoken. O Lord, have mercy and answer, O lord. Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison. Help, Lord, the souls that Thou hast made. Oh by their fire of love, Not less in keenness than the flame, Oh by their very helplessness, Oh by Thy own great name. Good Jesus help, sweet Jesu said The souls to Thee most dear. In prison for the debt unpaid Of sins committed here. Oh by their fire of love Not less in keenness than the flame. Oh by Thy own great name. Oh by their very helplessness, By Thy own great name.