Absolutely Glorious!

My friend said about this performance, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

The Saint Paul’s Service is the canticle setting (Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis) that Herbert Howells wrote for the acoustics and Cathedral Choir of Saint Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in London. And because of the vast acoustics of the Cathedral, this setting has slower harmonic changes than, say, the Collegium Regale Service composed for the acoustics and Choir of King’s College, Cambridge (UK). 

The Saint Paul’s Service is one of my favourite settings along with the Gloucester Service (composed for the acoustics and Choir of Gloucester Cathedral). And the Saint Paul’s Service is performed splendidly here by the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge. The Choir is accompanied by the Associate Organist Harrison Cole.

As I’ve noted before and asked: What has happened to the Church of England? I don’t think they can get any lower church and still call themselves Anglicans, when they act like Southern Baptists. No one blessed themselves at the beginning of the Nunc Dimittis as is customary Anglican protocol. During the Gloria (“Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost”) which is where Anglicans are taught to bow, I saw only 2 guys over in the distance bowing. The priest didn’t even bow. Good lord, people! One wonders if the priests are in the right church? One expects more from the “Mother Church” of the worldwide Anglican Communion. 

Shouldn’t Anglican priests in the “Mother Church” be setting an example for others of Anglican protocol and what it is suggested/taught that Anglicans do? It’s part of what makes Anglicans Anglicans.That’s how it was explained to us in our Confirmation Class. Putting on a clerical robe doesn’t make one an Anglican when one behaves like and looks like a Southern Baptist and looks utterly bored during Evensong. Of course it’s customary for the choristers to not bow during the Gloria because they are performing.

Apparently it’s not just the CoE. What has happened to Anglicans/Episcopalians in general? I watched this same canticle setting performed by a University Chapel Choir in one of the southern US states and no one that I saw in the Quire and Nave areas bowed there during the Gloria either! Is it because it was the south? I don’t know. I’ve just never seen this lack of Anglican protocol before from my experience as an Organist/Choirmaster as well as an observer.

My friend loves the Choir of Trinity Choir, Cambridge. He said: ”One can hear the same ‘spoken word’ anywhere so it’s obvious that the people are there for this outstanding Choir and their music/the Howells. Because not all churches have a Choir of this caliber. In fact, most do not.” He’s correct. I was wondering how many were there for the Choir and the Saint Paul’s Service.

And for those wondering, the organ console in the Trinity College Chapel is directly below the organ pipes on the upper level, similar to the way it’s done in some Anglican cathedral churches. The organist has a built-in monitor in the console for watching the Director of Music conduct the Choir.