Tag Archives: Merton College Oxford

the sounding of thy bowels

The phrase in the title used sometimes to be replaced by other words in performances of O Lord look down from heaven by Battishill, but not when I heard Merton College choir sing it at evensong in Bath Abbey earlier … Continue reading

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two carol services

I’ll do a very quick round up of Christmas music. I miss the carol burn-out suffered by many people I know by going away for Christmas but I did sing in our Advent carol service. The new piece this year … Continue reading

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Gibbons for the Gaudy

I went back for a Gaudy at my old Oxford College, Merton. It was the first Gaudy I’d been invited to for 9 years, and the first since the choral foundation was set up. A selection of choir members sang … Continue reading

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Dedicating the Dobson organ

It’s not every day you get to go to a 750th birthday event. I attended the dedication evensong for the new organ in Merton College Chapel in Oxford, at which one of my friends and contemporaries was preaching. The choral … Continue reading

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The Britten centenary at Merton

In between two performances of the War Requiem, I went to Oxford and heard two evensongs; a midweek one at the Cathedral and another live evensong broadcast from my old College, Merton, centred around Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia. This … Continue reading

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I attend a Choral Evensong broadcast

For many years I’ve followed Radio 3’s Choral Evensong broadcasts, and have listened to them whenever possible.  I’d never been to one – why bother when Radio 3 brings it into your own home?  But I made a special case … Continue reading

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Two and half degrees of slope

If you place a coin on its side on the floor of the nave of St. David’s Cathedral, aligned east-west, it will quickly start to roll westwards because of the slope of the building. It’s really quite disconcerting to see … Continue reading

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LPs: batch 7 – Holy Week

We don’t have huge amounts of sacred music in our LP collection, but I managed to find some appropriate to the season. Firstly, two settings of the Stabat Mater. The Rossini (conducted by Giulini with the Philharmonia) must be one … Continue reading

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another memorial service at Merton

I wrote earlier in the year about a memorial service I went to in Oxford. I was back again on Saturday for another such service, this time commemorating a contemporary and friend of mine who died before his time. We … Continue reading

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A College mailing list

My Cambridge college, Corpus, is proposing to set up a mailing list for its old members who were involved in the Chapel choir or music society. If you’re on it, you’ll get a newsletter and invitations to reunions of the … Continue reading

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