two familiar pieces for Ash Wednesday

Posted on February 26, 2007 by vhk10

Just a brief note until I can prepare some longer entries. On Ash Wednesday we sang two very familiar pieces: Allegri’s Miserere and parts of Byrd’s 4-Part Mass. I know both pieces very thoroughly, but as it happens I haven’t sung either for several years. I sang the Byrd more than once at weddings of friends, though I never felt that the mood of the piece was quite right for this. There is a deep melancholy to it, I suppose because it was written for clandestine performance under persecution. But I think the couples concerned felt that the alternative for the performers they’d got was Darke in F! The Byrd is more suited to Ash Wednesday.

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3 Responses to two familiar pieces for Ash Wednesday

  1. Matthew says:
    March 13, 2007 at 5:03 am

    Yummy Byrd! We did the 5 part mass, also his Ave Verum, and a Miserere by Lotti.

    Reply
  2. vhk says:
    March 13, 2007 at 9:50 am

    The Byrd 5-part Mass is a piece that I haven’t performed since I was a student! I am being promised it before too long though. It’s a question of finding the tenors.

    Reply
  3. Matthew says:
    March 14, 2007 at 5:08 am

    You’re right about the tenors. I roped in a few extras for the gig so that we had 3 on each part. It was just delicious.

    Reply

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