It was a great pleasure to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook today, live in church on Thursday 3rd June 2021 and broadcast online on Monday 7th June 2021. My script is below. You can watch the recording below (the video will not appear in ‘mobile view’ – please click “view web version” at the bottom of the home page if reading on a tablet or phone) or watch on YouTube at this link.
[Choir sings Ave verum corpus by William Byrd]
Hello and welcome to Choral Classics from St Stephen Walbrook, twenty minutes of beautiful music sung by our Choral Scholars under the direction of Gabriella Noble and accompanied by Polina Sosnina.
Today our music and readings take as their theme “Corpus Christi” - the feast of Thanksgiving for the Sacrament of Holy Communion, which the church celebrates today.
We’ve just heard William Byrd’s 1605 setting of Ave verum corpus, a Eucharistic chant which dates from the thirteenth century:
Hail the true body, born
of the Virgin Mary:
You who truly suffered and were sacrificed
on the cross for the sake of man.
From whose pierced flank
flowed water and blood:
Be a foretaste for us
in the trial of death.
O sweet Jesus, O merciful Jesus,
O Jesus, Son of Mary,
have mercy on me. Amen
Byrd is considered to be one of if not the finest English composer of the Renaissance and Ave verum corpus one of his most outstanding works. His renown as a musician undoubtedly helped him during a time when his Catholic faith was viewed as seditious and, for Catholics, celebration of the mass was banned. Published under the reign of James I as part of a set of over one hundred pieces known as the Gradualia – Ave verum corpus was probably intended to be sung as part of private devotions rather than during public worship.
At Corpus Christi we give thanks for the central act of worship of the Christian faith – a shared, sacred meal. Our next short but beautiful piece is a musical setting of a text commonly used as a grace before formal meals at University Colleges and Livery Companies.
In 1904, the composer Charles Wood won a competition to compose music for the grace used by the Worshipful Company of Musicians. We’re about to hear another setting by the same composer, first published in 1927; the words – sung in Latin - verse fifteen of Psalm 145:
The eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord: and thou givest them their meat in due season.
[Choir sings Occuli omnium by Charles Wood]
Alice Meynell was a poet, critic and suffragist. Her work is seldom heard today, but she was held in such high esteem by her contemporaries that she was on two occasions suggested for the position of Poet Laureate. Her friend G.K. Chesterton likened her work to the Metaphysical poets of old.
In ‘A General Communion’ Meynell explores the mystery of unity and diversity in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Members of the church gathered to consume the body of Christ are themselves individual members united as the Body of Christ. As we gather around the altar here, re-membering takes on new and multiple meanings; we remember the moment at which God and humanity were reconciled or “re-membered”; in participating in the sacrament, we are re-membered with all the faithful who have gone before us and those who follow.
In her poem, Meynell uses words that carry multiple meanings; exploring individuality and collectivity through metaphor.
A General Communion – Alice Meynell
I saw the throng, so deeply separate,
Fed at one only board—
The devout people, moved, intent, elate,
And the devoted Lord.
O struck apart! not side from human side,
But soul from human soul,
As each asunder absorbed the multiplied,
The ever unparted, whole.
I saw this people as a field of flowers,
Each grown at such a price
The sum of unimaginable powers
Did no more than suffice.
A thousand single central daisies they,
A thousand of the one;
For each, the entire monopoly of day;
For each, the whole of the devoted sun.
An archive recording of our next piece sung by Luciano Pavarotti in duet with his father Fernando has over one million views on YouTube – and we’re hoping we get close to that with our recording today!
Panis angelicus – a communion anthem by César Franck, was completed in 1872 and incorporated into his Mass for Three Voices. The text is the penultimate verse of a hymn by St Thomas Aquinas composed for the feast of Corpus Christi:
Thus Angels' Bread is made
the Bread of man today:
the Living Bread from heaven
with figures dost away:
O wondrous gift indeed!
the poor and lowly may
upon their Lord and Master feed.
[Choir sings Panis angelicus by César Franck]
Born in 1830, the youngest child in a gifted family, Christina Rossetti became one of finest poets of the Victorian age. The importance of faith in her life and art can hardly be overstated. More than half of her poetic works are devotional and in later years almost exclusively so.
Her poem ‘After Communion’ is a meditation on our relationship with Christ. Recognizing that the sacrament is a place where past, present and future meet, her poem begins in the present but shifts perspective to the future. Through a series of questions referencing various titles associated with Christ, she yearns for a more intimate relationship with Him; from Lord to God, Friend to Love, King to Spouse. But she acknowledges the mystery of the presence and absence of Christ in the Eucharist – and the limitations of this life – which means we will not experience this relationship in its fullness until the life to come – the time of love.
After Communion – Christina Rossetti
Why should I call Thee Lord, Who art my God?
Why should I call Thee Friend, Who art my Love?
Or King, Who art my very Spouse above?
Or call Thy Sceptre on my heart Thy rod?
Lo, now Thy banner over me is love,
All heaven flies open to me at Thy nod:
For Thou hast lit Thy flame in me a clod,
Made me a nest for dwelling of Thy Dove.
What wilt Thou call me in our home above,
Who now hast called me friend? how will it be
When Thou for good wine settest forth the best?
Now Thou dost bid me come and sup with Thee,
Now Thou dost make me lean upon Thy breast:
How will it be with me in time of love?
Thank you for joining us for Choral Classics. Please do make a contribution to the ministry – including the music ministry – of the church by making a donation by cash or card in person or online. After a short break the choir will be back for our Sung Eucharist celebrating Corpus Christi, do stay if you can. Choral Classics will return at the same time next week.
Our final piece of music is by Colin Mawby, another Catholic composer who died in 2019 after nearly seventy years as a cathedral musician. Mawby’s setting of Ave verum corpus uses dramatic changes in dynamics to emphasize different parts of the text.
[Choir sings Ave verum corpus by Colin Mawby]
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