Late to the party this week, I won't bore you with details of yet more Harvest services as they were all very predictable and are now completed for me. One place asked for "The sower went forth sowing" which I had not played for years but recall it being asked for at a rural funeral with interment in the churchyard. The verse "Within a hallowed acre he sows yet other grain, when peaceful earth receiveth the dead he died to gain" seemed delightfully apt.
Sunday evening I was supplying for a colleague.
"Solemn Evensong of the Dedication Feast"
Tallis festal responses
Psalm 84 (Parry chant)
Christ is made (Westminster Abbey)
Dyson in D
Locus iste (Bruckner)
Pleasant are thy courts above (Maidstone)
O word of God above (St Edmund)
Only begotten word of God eternal (Caudes plaidant) in Procession
A commemoration of past worshippers at the chancel step
In our day of thanksgiving (St Catherines Court)
A rather lovely service and was pleased to be spared any Mary devotions at the start or sacrament devotions at the end as some high churches have at Evensong 😳
I've enjoyed hearing what you all had for Harvest which included many new to me. Every day is a school day on the ship 🤣
Late to the party this week, I won't bore you with details of yet more Harvest services as they were all very predictable and are now completed for me. One place asked for "The sower went forth sowing" which I had not played for years but recall it being asked for at a rural funeral with interment in the churchyard. The verse "Within a hallowed acre he sows yet other grain, when peaceful earth receiveth the dead he died to gain" seemed delightfully apt.
Sunday evening I was supplying for a colleague.
"Solemn Evensong of the Dedication Feast"
Tallis festal responses
Psalm 84 (Parry chant)
Christ is made (Westminster Abbey)
Dyson in D
Locus iste (Bruckner)
Pleasant are thy courts above (Maidstone)
O word of God above (St Edmund)
Only begotten word of God eternal (Caudes plaidant) in Procession
A commemoration of past worshippers at the chancel step
In our day of thanksgiving (St Catherines Court)
A rather lovely service and was pleased to be spared any Mary devotions at the start or sacrament devotions at the end as some high churches have at Evensong 😳
I've enjoyed hearing what you all had for Harvest which included many new to me. Every day is a school day on the ship 🤣
That's quite a sophisticated IYSWIM selection for Evensong. I must confess I used to get a bit tired of the Marian Stuff at Our Place, though our monthly Evensong (BCP - mostly said) and Benediction wasn't too bad. Vespers (RC or Lutheran), with incense during the Magnificat (to prepare the sanctuary for Prayer), is IMHO a much more user-friendly service...
One place asked for "The sower went forth sowing" which I had not played for years but recall it being asked for at a rural funeral with interment in the churchyard. The verse "Within a hallowed acre he sows yet other grain, when peaceful earth receiveth the dead he died to gain" seemed delightfully apt.
I've never come across that so looked it up. Rather delightful Victoriana - its unusual metre means that it only goes to its set tune "St Beatrice" which I doubt is well-known.
One place asked for "The sower went forth sowing" which I had not played for years but recall it being asked for at a rural funeral with interment in the churchyard. The verse "Within a hallowed acre he sows yet other grain, when peaceful earth receiveth the dead he died to gain" seemed delightfully apt.
I've never come across that so looked it up. Rather delightful Victoriana - its unusual metre means that it only goes to its set tune "St Beatrice" which I doubt is well-known.
The Tin Tabernacle Of My Youth used A&M, so I may have sung it several lustra ago...
Fascinated by your comments about that old Harvest hymn.
@Baptist Trainfan you are quite right, I doubt if many under the age of 60 would have either heard it or would know the tune. It was years since I had but "Ruth" is an interesting thought should it be asked for again. I'm afraid the set tune of St Beatrice is rather dreary 😳
@Bishops Finger I have played for RC Vespers before and tend to agree it is pretty user friendly. The place on Sunday had got an augmented choir in to sing the fancy stuff, they usually have a fairly congregational style.
“Let earth and heaven agree” - Millennium.
“You are the king of glory” (Mavis Ford).
“O Word of God incarnate” - Bentley.
“The heavens declare your glory, Lord!” - Galilee.
“Send forth the gospel! Let it run” - Fulda.
Some less well-known stuff there - we'll see how it goes!
(I'd have preferred “Let earth and heaven combine” but it seemed too archaic!
At home is:
Forth in thy name O Lord I go
Fill your hearts with Joy and gladness
O Lord, our Lord, throughout the Earth
We plough the fields and Scatter
Great is thy faithfulness
Our minister decided it was harvest but didn't consider that it's the October holiday and the start of the Mòd so everyone's away.
[rant]
Not to put too fine a point on it, we had (mostly) a load of crud this morning:
O breath of life - St Clement* As the deer pants for the water** Peace is flowing like a river*** Broken for me, broken for you**** O Jesus, I have promised - Day of Rest *****
* It feels very silly to be singing the tune that's most associated with The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended at half past nine in the morning
** The previous hymn in the book, As pants the hart for cooling streams, to that wonderful tune Martyrdom, would have been infinitely preferable.
*** Sung to a tune that with a very slight tweak would sound like The sash my father wore
**** Beginning to lose the will to live by this point
***** What's wrong with Wolvercote???
[/rant]
Love the Britten. Over my long life I have played it and conducted it.
We had some decent mid century RC + stuff and the congregation showed their appreciation by singing heartily.
Here I am Lord
Be still for the presence of the Lord (thats the +)
Lord, how can I repay all you ever give to me?
Be not afraid.
Sympathy indeed to @Piglet on the "crock of shite" (lovely expression I once heard in the Potteries) she had to endure this morning 🤮 I often get asked for that wretched Day of Rest in rural parts even if I often 'forget' and launch into Wolvercote ... purely habit as I sweetly explain to any complaints 🤣 @Heron seems to have had a lucky week though 🤢
Parish Communion for Trinity 17 (BCP!)
God of mercy God of grace (Heathlands)
Merbecke
Psalm 43
We pray thee heavenly Father (Dies Dominica)
And now O Father (Unde et memores)
The Lord is King lift up thy voice (Church Triumphant)
All quite low key and a very calm atmosphere but everyone present was 70+ after all 🤣
Mattins (a few miles down the road)
O day of rest and gladness (Offertorium)
usual canticles etc
Lord of beauty thine the splendour (Regent Square)
My God how wonderful thou art (Westminster)
O praise ye the Lord (Laudate Dominum)
I enjoyed this more than the other which is highly unusual, probably due to decent hymns and a small choir who sang lustily. They even managed to sing the old Cathedral psalter pointing quite well ... which detestable book lingers still in a few country places!
With the lovely folk in the west highland charge of the SEC this morning.
[one that I can't now remember, no matter how much I wrack my brains]
Praise God for the harvest of orchard and field
All my hope in God is founded
Think of a world
@Baptist Trainfan yes, I know some people do but I'm quite sure you would agree it is unsuitable to be played on the organ? Fine with other instruments of course ... another one out of the 1970s book with the pink cover if I recall. However do you find you get a lot of screeching in the final two lines when the tune elevates? I have accompanied it on the piano (under duress I admit 🤣) and although the singers enjoyed it my ears were pierced badly 😏
I got called in for an 'afternoonsong' unexpectedly earlier on.
Hark my soul it is the Lord (St Bees)
Mag and Nunc
My God and Father while I stray (Troytes chant)
Lead us heavenly Father (Mannheim)
Sunset and evening star
Just don't ask ... it was dire beyond compare, even worse than that Aug 15th charade.
I think it has to be played "fairground organ" style, a bit like (dare I suggest?) Lefebure-Wely's "Sortie".
Our organist does just this (Hatherop Castle is the tune insisted upon by The Movers And Shakers at Our Place, whose word is like unto the law of the Medes and the Persians... ).
It does, I think, generally work better on the piano.
BTW, I once used a CD of L-W's Sortie as a postlude, in the days when we had no regular organist, and was soundly berated for introducing fairground music. In vain did I try to explain that L-W was a renowned organist at one of the top churches in Paris - the ignorance of the wilfully ignorant knows no bounds.
Ditto - at one church where I was Minister, I asked the organist if he would play it as the Recessional. He dismissed it as being "too frivolous".
At another church where I went as guest preacher, the organist played his own very jolly arrangement of the "Songs of Praise" theme tune (Joseph Cooper "hidden melody" style). Everyone went out happily humming it.
Perhaps, if playing HC on an organ, it needs to have a proper French set of stops.
Lefébure-Wély's famous (or infamous!) Sortie in E flat was once played as the postlude at a Sunday Eucharist at Our Cathedral. The altar party had a job processing out in a solemn fashion, and the Archdeacon (in full eucharistic vesture) actually did some little dance steps as he went down the aisle. He - and many of the congregation - were grinning happily, and the applause when the organist finished playing was loud and long.
If I were a church organist, I would be very tempted to play that suggestion...it would cause Outrage, of course, but it would be a darn sight more enjoyable than the usual dismal dirge...
I feel a thread coming on (possibly in Hell) regarding Awful Christmas Carols...
It seems a shame that so much sentimental Tosh (much of it Victorian) is churned out each year - because it's Traditional™ - with older and newer material ignored.
The nadir was reached at Our Place post-Covid, but before singing was allowed, when FatherInCharge insisted on carols being recited...try doing that with Away In a Manger, and see how far you get before losing the will to live.
I agree with those of you who hate AITM as I do too!
Although I've never played HC like a fairground organ 🤣 I did once infuriate a vicar who asked for Camberwell (which I actually like btw) and settled a score by playing Puff the nagic dragon instead. The kids loved it of course but not everyone was happy. I never got asked there again 😂
Even we traddie minded old organists can be naughty you know 😏
I also got banned from ever playing at a certain ultra high church for playing the second hymn at Devotions (Therefore we before him bending) to "I'm for ever blowing bubbles". It fitted so well but the only bubbles that night were of high church fury 🤣 I was adding insult to injury as the saving victim hymn they began that bit with went very well to the Internationale ...
When I was little (i.e. the age at which AIAM is usually aimed), I hated it too, but then I learned the Willcocks harmony from Carols for Choirs, which, being by Willcocks, is Very Nice Indeed, and when the time is right (usually after the Sixth Lesson, but sometimes at the lighting of the Christmas tree in Linlithgow High Street) I'm perfectly happy to sing it.
Now I reserve my outrage for the two Nights, Silent and (even worse) O Holy,
I’m another who really dislikes “O Holy Night,” and my heart sinks when I’m asked to sing it, which does happen on occasion. I usually answer that I’ll do it if I can sing it in French. That usually makes it a bit more palatable to me.
As for “Silent Night,” I’m pretty sure I’ve said before that I find it can be hellish or heavenly. It tends to be hellish if played on a keyboard and/or taken too slowly or “solemnly.” When accompanied by guitar—which the lore says it was written for, the organ being broken—it can be quite lovely, especially if it moves along with a little lilt. It needs to be treated like a folk song. I tend to think the Vienna Boys Choir demonstrate how it should be sung.
Comments
Didn't know Ian Ray was local to me! I'm a canary.
Sunday evening I was supplying for a colleague.
"Solemn Evensong of the Dedication Feast"
Tallis festal responses
Psalm 84 (Parry chant)
Christ is made (Westminster Abbey)
Dyson in D
Locus iste (Bruckner)
Pleasant are thy courts above (Maidstone)
O word of God above (St Edmund)
Only begotten word of God eternal (Caudes plaidant) in Procession
A commemoration of past worshippers at the chancel step
In our day of thanksgiving (St Catherines Court)
A rather lovely service and was pleased to be spared any Mary devotions at the start or sacrament devotions at the end as some high churches have at Evensong 😳
I've enjoyed hearing what you all had for Harvest which included many new to me. Every day is a school day on the ship 🤣
Lion Walk URC.
That's quite a sophisticated IYSWIM selection for Evensong. I must confess I used to get a bit tired of the Marian Stuff at Our Place, though our monthly Evensong (BCP - mostly said) and Benediction wasn't too bad. Vespers (RC or Lutheran), with incense during the Magnificat (to prepare the sanctuary for Prayer), is IMHO a much more user-friendly service...
The Tin Tabernacle Of My Youth used A&M, so I may have sung it several lustra ago...
http://hymntime.com/tch/htm/s/w/f/o/swforths.htm#:~:text=This hymn was written for Harvest Festival at,and toil. The first fruits of our lives.
The tune starts off a bit like "Morning Light" (= "Stand up, stand up for Jesus") but then veers into different territory.
The hymn could be sung to "Ruth" (= "Summer suns are glowing") by repeating the first four lines at the end - works quite well I think.
Ferial responses
Psalm 67 - chant by Nares
Usual chants for the Mag & Nunc
Hymns:
God that madest earth and heaven - Ar Hyd Y Nos
We plough the fields and scatter (again) - Wir Pflügen
Now thank we all our God - Nun Danket
@Baptist Trainfan you are quite right, I doubt if many under the age of 60 would have either heard it or would know the tune. It was years since I had but "Ruth" is an interesting thought should it be asked for again. I'm afraid the set tune of St Beatrice is rather dreary 😳
@Bishops Finger I have played for RC Vespers before and tend to agree it is pretty user friendly. The place on Sunday had got an augmented choir in to sing the fancy stuff, they usually have a fairly congregational style.
“You are the king of glory” (Mavis Ford).
“O Word of God incarnate” - Bentley.
“The heavens declare your glory, Lord!” - Galilee.
“Send forth the gospel! Let it run” - Fulda.
Some less well-known stuff there - we'll see how it goes!
(I'd have preferred “Let earth and heaven combine” but it seemed too archaic!
Forth in thy name O Lord I go
Fill your hearts with Joy and gladness
O Lord, our Lord, throughout the Earth
We plough the fields and Scatter
Great is thy faithfulness
Our minister decided it was harvest but didn't consider that it's the October holiday and the start of the Mòd so everyone's away.
For the Beauty of the Earth - ENGLAND'S LANE
King of kings, majesty - own tune
Crown Him with Many Crowns - DIADEMATA
Not to put too fine a point on it, we had (mostly) a load of crud this morning:
O breath of life - St Clement*
As the deer pants for the water**
Peace is flowing like a river***
Broken for me, broken for you****
O Jesus, I have promised - Day of Rest *****
* It feels very silly to be singing the tune that's most associated with The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended at half past nine in the morning
** The previous hymn in the book, As pants the hart for cooling streams, to that wonderful tune Martyrdom, would have been infinitely preferable.
*** Sung to a tune that with a very slight tweak would sound like The sash my father wore
**** Beginning to lose the will to live by this point
***** What's wrong with Wolvercote???
[/rant]
Organ Voluntary of Britten's prelude and fugue on a theme of Vittoria rounded it off nicely.
The hymns were...'mid'...as Gen Z might have it
Lovely stuff.
We had some decent mid century RC + stuff and the congregation showed their appreciation by singing heartily.
Here I am Lord
Be still for the presence of the Lord (thats the +)
Lord, how can I repay all you ever give to me?
Be not afraid.
Parish Communion for Trinity 17 (BCP!)
God of mercy God of grace (Heathlands)
Merbecke
Psalm 43
We pray thee heavenly Father (Dies Dominica)
And now O Father (Unde et memores)
The Lord is King lift up thy voice (Church Triumphant)
All quite low key and a very calm atmosphere but everyone present was 70+ after all 🤣
Mattins (a few miles down the road)
O day of rest and gladness (Offertorium)
usual canticles etc
Lord of beauty thine the splendour (Regent Square)
My God how wonderful thou art (Westminster)
O praise ye the Lord (Laudate Dominum)
I enjoyed this more than the other which is highly unusual, probably due to decent hymns and a small choir who sang lustily. They even managed to sing the old Cathedral psalter pointing quite well ... which detestable book lingers still in a few country places!
At least it wasn’t Hatherop Castle. Be thankful for that.
[one that I can't now remember, no matter how much I wrack my brains]
Praise God for the harvest of orchard and field
All my hope in God is founded
Think of a world
Our church likes Hatherop Castle.
I got called in for an 'afternoonsong' unexpectedly earlier on.
Hark my soul it is the Lord (St Bees)
Mag and Nunc
My God and Father while I stray (Troytes chant)
Lead us heavenly Father (Mannheim)
Sunset and evening star
Just don't ask ... it was dire beyond compare, even worse than that Aug 15th charade.
God is clearly much displeased with me!
It's better than Day of Rest.
Quite so!
Our organist does just this (Hatherop Castle is the tune insisted upon by The Movers And Shakers at Our Place, whose word is like unto the law of the Medes and the Persians...
It does, I think, generally work better on the piano.
BTW, I once used a CD of L-W's Sortie as a postlude, in the days when we had no regular organist, and was soundly berated for introducing fairground music. In vain did I try to explain that L-W was a renowned organist at one of the top churches in Paris - the ignorance of the wilfully ignorant knows no bounds.
At another church where I went as guest preacher, the organist played his own very jolly arrangement of the "Songs of Praise" theme tune (Joseph Cooper "hidden melody" style). Everyone went out happily humming it.
Perhaps, if playing HC on an organ, it needs to have a proper French set of stops.
*tries both* Oh yes. So they can.
Lefébure-Wély's famous (or infamous!) Sortie in E flat was once played as the postlude at a Sunday Eucharist at Our Cathedral. The altar party had a job processing out in a solemn fashion, and the Archdeacon (in full eucharistic vesture) actually did some little dance steps as he went down the aisle. He - and many of the congregation - were grinning happily, and the applause when the organist finished playing was loud and long.
My favourite version, played on a house organ:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu7CalxGAIU&list=RDPu7CalxGAIU&start_radio=1
Scroll forward to about 1.06, though the rest of this lockdown recital is worth listening to!
I think that's how David would have played it (he hated HC, but if forced, he'd have taken the mickey something rotten!).
You might have a point there.
Have you ever tried Away In A Manger to The Wombling Song?
I can't stand it!
Some of them do. I loathe it with a passion. But I long ago learnt that what I like or dislike is absolutely no guide to anything outside my own head.
But not AIAM!
It seems a shame that so much sentimental Tosh (much of it Victorian) is churned out each year - because it's Traditional™ - with older and newer material ignored.
The nadir was reached at Our Place post-Covid, but before singing was allowed, when FatherInCharge insisted on carols being recited...try doing that with Away In a Manger, and see how far you get before losing the will to live.
I, for one, just have...
I love the way this thread can wander off on kind-of related tangents but always has a natural reset on a Sunday.
Although I've never played HC like a fairground organ 🤣 I did once infuriate a vicar who asked for Camberwell (which I actually like btw) and settled a score by playing Puff the nagic dragon instead. The kids loved it of course but not everyone was happy. I never got asked there again 😂
Even we traddie minded old organists can be naughty you know 😏
When I was little (i.e. the age at which AIAM is usually aimed), I hated it too, but then I learned the Willcocks harmony from Carols for Choirs, which, being by Willcocks, is Very Nice Indeed, and when the time is right (usually after the Sixth Lesson, but sometimes at the lighting of the Christmas tree in Linlithgow High Street) I'm perfectly happy to sing it.
Now I reserve my outrage for the two Nights, Silent and (even worse) O Holy,
As for “Silent Night,” I’m pretty sure I’ve said before that I find it can be hellish or heavenly. It tends to be hellish if played on a keyboard and/or taken too slowly or “solemnly.” When accompanied by guitar—which the lore says it was written for, the organ being broken—it can be quite lovely, especially if it moves along with a little lilt. It needs to be treated like a folk song. I tend to think the Vienna Boys Choir demonstrate how it should be sung.