You may now find yourself doing this while processing in and out of evensong at Salisbury Cathedral, which I returned to last weekend with the Erleigh Cantors. Looking back, I see that my last trip there, three years ago, was the first proper entry in this blog.
It was a busy weekend as we sang five services including a wedding. I’d already been in touch with the bride, as she contacted me a few months ago when the Cathedral gave her the name of the choir singing at her wedding but no contact details; I provided them for her. So the blog has some practical uses.
There were a few pieces new to me: firstly, an early Pater Noster by Stanford in 8 parts, slightly awkwardly written. I’d never done Greene in C evening canticles before, although I have heard them on broadcasts; probably because they too are in 8 parts at times, and on a rather grander scale than other canticle settings of the period. We also sang two movements from Rutter’s Psalmfest: a setting of the Jubilate and I will lift up mine eyes, where the influence of the Chichester Psalms made itself felt.
Some of the music was pretty demanding, especially at the high pitch of Salisbury’s organ. On Sunday morning we had Wills’ Missa Eliensis followed at Matins by Elgar’s wonderful Te Deum. (The Rutter Jubilate wasn’t a pushover either). Our afternoon evensong duplicated the BBC’s recent broadcast from Durham: Howells’ St. Paul’s Service followed by Leighton’s Let all the world, the latter being a fine example of the style a friend calls ‘Anglican spiky’. We sang it a while back at Worcester, but the choir was depleted then because of illness so it was good to do it at full strength. And the Elgar and Howells are on my wishlist.
Salisbury organ, like Peterborough, is tuned to C=528 whereas if A=440 then C would be 523. This is why the organ at Peterborough was never used with an orchestra, in fact they invested in a Chamber organ at concert pitch in Stanley Vann’s day. Knowing the organ was sharp, Dr. Vann would, occasionally get the boys to sing passages a semitone higher in the Song School so they knew they could reach the high notes.
I’m just trying to think; there are plenty of top A’s in church music but I am trying to recall pieces with top Bb’s. Parry’s “I was Glad” is the obvious choice but I remember auditions being held for the top Bb flat in a piece of Britten, or was it a top B?
How high did you have to go at Salisbury?
I sang at Peterborough in February and recall that the organ felt a bit sharp, though I think it may have been brought down in pitch after a recent rebuild?
We had a top B flat in Salisbury, I think in the Rutter Jubilate. One of the sopranos counted the top A’s for the first sopranos. There were lots, especially in the Wills Mass, but also in the Elgar and the Leighton. The Howells has big climaxes on A flats.
I can think of a lot of choral top B flats for sopranos in the church repertory: for starters, Dyson in D, Rubbra in A flat and Lo, the Full Final Sacrifice. Top B’s are of course rarer but there is one in Britten’s Te Deum in E, or if you’re feeling more ambitious, some in the Swayne Magnificat and the Nelson Mass. Perhaps this is a topic for another item.
…though I think it may have been brought down in pitch after a recent rebuild?
No, it hasn’t; no doubt a conscious decision was made to retain the tuning as a “heritage” feature”. LSM (billed as “The LCM Choir”!) sang there earlier this year too, and it was nice to be accompanied by a proper organ despite the disconcerting sharpness. The substitute instrument foisted on us on our home patch during the current rebuild of the parish organ is apt to turn into a very passable imitation of a coffee machine as short notice, though Christian is learning to humour it.
Lichfield is another cathedral with a sharp organ. Did you rescue the link to my photograph from your spam trap in the end?
They tried to get a faculty to bring the pitch down, but couldn’t get one so Peterborough’s organ is still at high pitch. These days they just have the clavinova in the practice room tuned to the same pitch (or did when I was singing with the voluntary choir).
David
So my sense of pitch didn’t fail me about Peterborough’s organ. I don’t know what happens in the practice room as we weren’t allowed to use it – we rehearsed in the ambulatory at the east end with a piano.
An account of a visit to Lichfield appears here. I have added the photo to my page of cathedral links.