While on a shopping trip to London, I found time to go to evensong at Westminster Abbey, which I’d never done before (I’ve been at evensongs there, but singing them!) The attraction was Byrd’s Great Service, a setting I’ve never sung, though I live in hope of one day performing it. This was a little tentative in parts, probably because of having to be rehearsed alongside a huge quantity of Christmas music. Britten’s Hymn to the Virgin fared better.
I sat near the choir on some seating just east of the stalls; seating in the stalls appeared to be reserved for choir parents at this service. This service gave me an opportunity to do something for the first time: pay my respects at Purcell’s monument. This is only accessible for a fleeting moment before each service, and if you are singing the service yourself you are lined up ready to process in at that point. I’ve tried to see it before and failed. It’s a great shame that while monuments to poets are one of the Abbey’s main attractions, those to composers are neglected by comparison.