I was invited to attend a memorial service for Martin, who was a long-standing member of a choir I visit Cathedrals with; we often found ourselves travelling home together on the train. It was held in the quire at Wells Cathedral and well attended, with some people having travelled a considerable distance.
As I suspect the majority of the congregation were themselves singers, we were allowed to sing in one of the anthems, Bach’s O Jesu Christ, mein Lebens Licht: easy enough if you are a soprano as you have the straightforward tune. I think I was standing behind two of the tiny minority of unmusical people present (neighbours? relations?); at any rate they didn’t seem to appreciate this.
Wells Cathedral Chamber Choir and Costanzi Consort sang Alessandro Scarlatti’s Exsurge Domine which I didn’t know and Byrd’s Haec Dies, which I did. Wells’ chamber choir is comparable to Bath Abbey Chamber Choir, indeed they were founded at the same time, and I believe a joint service is proposed.
I thought the whole service was a fitting tribute to Martin and we were collectively grateful to the Cathedral for allowing it to take place there. I was also able to use the occasion to get a Wells Cathedral Pass, which allows me as a member of a church in the Diocese to visit the Cathedral outside services without paying. I suspect this scheme is underused as it appeared that the welcome desk team weren’t familiar with the process for issuing passes, although there must be thousands of people who are entitled to one.