On the previous foreign choir tour I went on, to Lisbon, we were proudly informed that St Antony of Padua had come from the city and shown a site associated with him. And the one I have just returned from was based in Padua and includes singing in his basilica, so I have followed him around.
Gloucester Choral Society’s latest excursion began (for me and quite a lot of others) with a railway journey and an overnight stop in Milan. We brought with us a number of carefully rehearsed pieces, mostly unaccompanied.
Our first performance, the day after arrival in Padua, was really one for the bucket list: San Marco, Venice. Usually they host choirs for concerts and services quite often (to judge by the number of people I know who’ve sung there) but we were the first visiting choir since the coronavirus pandemic. We got an early train and bounded this way and that across canals to the Piazza, then were admitted to an open courtyard for a quick run through of the music before singing at the midday Mass, in a block of seating at the front of the south transept.
I have previously performed in other buildings with a comparable degree of prestige (Notre Dame, Chartres Cathedral and of course British ones such as St Paul’s). I generally feel the sense of occasion before and afterwards, but when actually in performance I become so focused on the music that I don’t give thought to the surroundings, and that was the case this time too.
After lunch and some free time we reassembled in S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (where Monteverdi is buried) and performed the same pieces at an early evening Mass led by an exceptionally friendly priest.
A couple of days later we crossed the road from our hotel and sang for a Mass at the Basilica of St Antony. Here space constrained us into three equal rows, and I had to step forward from the second row (altos) to join the end of the soprano row when we sang something other than plainsong. (It still felt as if the rest of the choir were the other side of Padua.)
Our music included:
Cloister, Basilica of St Antony, Padua
Venice:
- Gibbons Almighty and everlasting God
- Byrd Ave verum corpus
- Tallis O Lord, give Thy Holy Spirit
- Harris Holy is the true light
- Tavener Hymn to the Mother of God
Padua:
- Stanford Coelos ascendit hodie
- Byrd Non vos relinquam orphanos
- Mozart Ave verum corpus
- Philips Ascendit Deus
All familiar to me except for the Byrd Non vos relinquam (normally sung by lower voices which explains how I missed it) and the Tavener which I’d only done once before. Another post will describe the rest of this choir tour.