The opening day of the Festival finally arrived, the first event being the opening service. This was one of those occasions where the processions of dignitaries (which included some truly spectacular civic headgear) are an important part of the ceremony. I lost count of the number of bishops who attended!
We sang hymns, including a couple of descants. These included I vow to Thee my Country which I think I have only now sung about three times in my life, despite going to a lot of fairly traditional churches. Also the more inspiring version of the last verse of Jerusalem the Golden (‘Exult, O dust and ashes!’) replaced the rather dull doxology which was originally printed with the descant. (Both texts are in fact drawn from Neale’s translation of Bernard of Cluny’s hymn.) The National Anthem was prefaced by a civic fanfare by Elgar (who else?), which managed to inject a note of melancholy into even this usually triumphal musical genre.
Our anthems were God is gone up and Walton’s Coronation Te Deum; I’d never sung the latter before. The latter piece required a lot of concentration and watching (where this was possible). I’m told that at one point my mug was featured in closeup on the large screens which relay pictures of the performers around the Cathedral, so I’d better look good in other performances this week in case it happens again.
Afterwards there was a photoshoot in the cloisters as we took in the news that our tenor soloist for the evening concert had pulled out.
If you are overweight, at any age, it is vital to drop weight in order to
reduce wellness risks.
I’ve been in some choirs which have had more than their fair share of large sopranos. (I recall one where I had to stand sideways on in the choirstalls when we stood up to sing. Otherwise I had other people’s elbows in my ribs and couldn’t breathe properly.) But the 3 Choirs chorus had an average mix of sizes and builds. I think in all but one of the concerts I had plenty of room even though the seats were close together.