Taking part in the ‘World Cup of Evensong Canticles’ has made me think about my personal history of singing them.* I didn’t start to sing evensongs until I was about 16, and for a few years after that I only knew a very limited number of settings. I think Gibbons ‘Short’ and Ireland in F were the first settings I learnt. As an undergraduate at Merton I only sang full settings there once a year on Shrove Tuesday (a College feast day), otherwise it was chants or faux-bordons. This astonishes Mertonians of a more recent vintage; normality had been restored there a few years later, after a new chaplain arrived. Some of us found the restriction frustrating and went moonlighting to sing at a weekday evensong at Lady Margaret Hall, where I was introduced to a number of the standard Mags and Nuncs. Later as a graduate student at Cambridge my canticle repertoire expanded considerably and has continued to do so ever since thanks to Cathedral visits. I even own a box set of the complete Priory Mag and Nunc series.<\/p>\n
I think I’ve sung almost all the settings in widespread use; the gaps being either recently composed (such as the settings by Philip Moore) or early (I’ve sung only three Mags and two Nuncs of the many by Weelkes, and not yet sung Byrd’s ‘Great’ in a service). A significant omission, presumably because of difficulty, is the St John’s Service by Michael Tippett.<\/p>\n
Turning to the World Cup, I’ve been enthusiastically casting my vote in the knockout stages. I have not been immune to a tendency, noticed by another participant, to prefer services where I’ve sung a solo part; so Stanford in G got my vote but Dyson in F didn’t. My ideal final would be for the smooth teamwork and discipline of the Gibbons Second Service to overcome the soaring long-range trajectories of Howells’ St. Paul’s, but I suspect that Coll. Reg. will lift the trophy. <\/p>\n