Fifty from Hill church travel to England to perform

Posted 8/2/18

by Michael Caruso

The past 12 months have been special and memorable for the musical forces of Chestnut Hill’s Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. During a relaxed conversation …

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Fifty from Hill church travel to England to perform

Posted

by Michael Caruso

The past 12 months have been special and memorable for the musical forces of Chestnut Hill’s Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. During a relaxed conversation several weeks ago, parish music director Erik Meyer looked back with more than a little satisfaction.

“The musical highlight for me and the choir,” he said, “was our trip to England. Our weeklong residency at Bristol Cathedral and our one Choral Evensong at Westminster Abbey were huge successes. The most recent time we traveled to England was in 2014. For that trip, we brought approximately 34 adult choristers. This time around, our choral forces numbered 50 people from the parish, 45 of whom were singers. That’s about the upper limit. More than that number, and we would have needed to rent a second bus to get us around.”

Meyer spoke of the presence of six trebles as being particularly satisfying for him. “That was very exciting for me. I’ve always wanted to be able to offer young people a topnotch choral experience here at the church rather than have them join some other choral ensemble because their own parish doesn’t offer them any potential experiences. And that makes our choir truly fully generational.

“My own son, Lukas, came along. He was almost eight years old at the time we left. I have to admit that I was a little nervous for him, since he was the youngest member of the choir. But I think the trip matured him.

“It helped that the people at Bristol Cathedral were extremely warm and friendly. They made us tea before every Choral Evensong, and that was special because Bristol is a rather edgy city, a little on the rough side. Yet there were plenty of people in attendance at all of our Evensongs and even for my solo organ recital.”

Although Meyer would dearly love returning to England soon — remember that the Episcopal Church is the American province of the worldwide, 85 million-member Anglican Communion founded by the Church of England — he’s going to allow other parishioners to get the ball rolling. There are other points of interest for him at St. Martin’s Church.

“Previously,” he explained, “we had four services every weekend, two of which were musical: at 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. To be honest, that was a tad taxing, dividing the parish’s musical forces in two. The earlier service was less formal while the latter was more traditionally Anglican. Beginning in the fall, the two will be combined into one 10:30 a.m. service.

“Instead of having to maintain two choirs, we’ll now have only one centered around the four professional core singers plus the 35 volunteers who have regularly sung at the former 11:15 a.m. service. From now on, the children’s choir will sing with the adults at the 10:30 a.m. service and, more important, rehearse with them twice a month.

“I think it’s very important for them to be exposed to the repertoire the adults sing. In a way, a thriving parish is something of the ‘last village’ in our society, that rare place in which relationships across the generations are made and nurtured.”

Meyer made it clear that all children are welcome in St. Martin’s choir. “I’m not going to say ‘no’ to a young person who wants to sing. Sometimes it takes a few months for him or her to find their voice, but I’ve never known them not to.”

Meyer has big plans for St. Martin’s adult choir. The parish performs Choral Evensong on the first Sunday of the month from October through June. Since that particular Sunday in November falls on the 4th – close by the ancient Feasts of All Saints Nov. 1 and All Souls Nov. 2 — that Evensong will celebrate those holy days with a performance of Mozart’s “Requiem Mass.”

“Up to the ‘Sequence,'” Meyer assured. He was referring to Mozart’s having died before he completed the entire score. His student, Franz Xaver Sussmayr, completed those portions of the Mass that Mozart had not been able to finish. Mozart had reached the “Sequence” movement of the liturgy and had composed the choral parts, although had not yet orchestrated them. “We’ll perform sections of Mozart’s ‘Solemn Vespers’ to complete the afternoon.”

St. Martin’s Church will host an Advent Procession Dec. 2 at 5 p.m. and a “Messiah Sing-Along” Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. Marc-Antoine’s Charpentier’s “Midnight Mass for Christmas Eve” will be the principal musical work Monday, Dec. 24, at 10 p.m. The New Year will be marked by an Epiphany Lessons & Carols Jan. 6 at 5 p.m. Later in the month, the quartet of professional core singers will present a recital featuring songs and duets from opera. And Meyer, himself, will perform an organ recital later in February.

The March Choral Evensong will mark the Feast of the Transfiguration with the performance of a Bach Cantata composed for the day. Bach’s “Magnificat” will round out the season of Choral Evensongs June 2 at 5 p.m.

For more information about the musical programs at St. Martin’s Church, visit www.st.martinec.org

ENGLISH CHOIR

The weeklong residency of the choir of the Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Chestnut Hill, at Bristol Cathedral in the United Kingdom is only one half of a two-way street that welcomes many of England’s finest choirs to Episcopal churches in the United States. Several weeks ago, the Choir of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, included St. Mark’s Church at 1625 Locust St. in its North American tour.

Led by David Skinner, the Choir is comprised of students at Sidney Sussex College. They sang at both the Sung Mass at 11 a.m. and the Choral Evensong and Benediction at 4 p.m.

At the Sung Mass, the Choir performed Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s “Missa Dum complerentur” for the Ordinary, Orlande de Lassus’ “Heu mihi” at the Offertory, and John Rutter’s “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” at the Communion. For Choral Evensong and Benediction, the Choir sang Francis Poulenc’s “Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae,” Herbert Howells’ “Magnificat” and “Nunc Dimittis,” and Palestrina’s “O salutaris Hostia.”

Under Skinner’s direction, the Choir sang with surpassing beauty: passionate and eloquent. It would seem that the historic Anglican traditions of great music are hale and hearty in England. Perhaps the Choir of Sidney Sussex College might consider a visit to either St. Martin’s or St. Paul’s Churches in Chestnut Hill for their next tour.

You can contact NOTEWORTHY at Michael-caruso@comcast.net. To read more of NOTEWORTHY, visit www.chestnuthilllocal.com/Arts/Noteworthy

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