Festival Mention in Magazine

William Byrd, "one of the indisputable giants of Renaissance music", is the Great Composer featured in the January 2011 edition of the Classic fm magazine published today. The article mentions the forthcoming 'William Byrd Festival' at St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey (Essex), an invitation to visit the Memorial Tablet (though please contact beforehand, because the church is usually locked), and a photograph of the small Norman church which we should emphasise is in a small village, not a town, of about 600 residents.

The William Byrd Festival is being held in support of repairs and maintenance to the church and its surroundings.

Festival Programme Announced

Having retiled the nave roof this year, more work needs to be done to St Peter & St Paul Church and its surroundings. In order to raise funds to retile the porch and create a new Garden of Remembrance in the churchyard (which will cost over £5000) members of the local congregation are organising a ‘William Byrd Festival’ next May to commemorate the village’s famous Elizabethan composer. The Festival will be held over two weekends at the church.

Leading the list of artists will be Richard Turbet, an expert in the life and work of William Byrd, and the Stondon Singers, a local Choir who since their formation in 1968 have specialised in the music of the renaissance composer and his contemporaries. Richard has chosen as his theme ‘William Byrd: His Essex Years’. The event will be given twice on Saturday 7 May: a matinee at 4.00pm and evening performance at 7.30pm.

Then on Saturday 14 May at 7.30pm, the Writtle Singers conducted by Christine Gwynn will give a concert of mainly Byrd’s music. Having heard the Writtle Singers perform an evening of words and music remembering the events of the Gunpowder Plot this will be an occasion not to miss.

Tickets for both events go on sale in early January priced £12.50 (children under 16, £6), from the William Byrd Festival, c/o Church Office, The Vicarage, Church Street, Blackmore, Ingatestone, Essex. CM4 0RN. (Cheques payable to “Stondon Massey PCC”. Please enclose SAE).

On the two Sundays, church services will also be on a Byrd theme. On 8 May at 9.00am Stondon Church will have a Book of Common Prayer Morning Service featuring recorded music by Byrd, with singing supported by the church music group, Jubilate. Then on 15 May, again at 9.00am (repeated at 11.00am at the Priory Church of St Laurence Blackmore), there will be a Service of the Top 10 Favourite Hymns, as voted by the people of our two parishes and beyond. Why? Because Byrd said that “Since singing is such a good thing, I wish every man would learne to sing”.

Writtle Singers 'Top of the Bill' as Second Weekend of Festival is Announced

We are delighted to announce that the Writtle Singers, a local chamber choir, will be giving a Concert at Stondon Massey Church on Saturday 14 May (at 7.30pm) as part of a second weekend of the forthcoming William Byrd Festival.

Writtle Singers chamber choir, conductor Christine Gwynn, has gained a reputation for high quality and innovative performances, both locally and further afield, including Cambridge, York and London’s Southbank Centre. As well as making 3 CDs and broadcasting on BBC Essex, Writtle Singers have toured abroad to Antwerp and Prague and will be performing in Zurich in April 2011. The Singers have a wide repertoire and have recently performed Byrd’s music in commemoration of ‘Gunpowder, Treason and Plot’, the failed Catholic uprising against King and Parliament in 1605. Hear them on 14th May.

A review of their recent Concert, 'Gunpowder Treason and Plot' is given here.

To hold a concert on Bonfire Night (Saturday 6 November), with the sound of fireworks clearly audible all round Writtle Church, would have ordinarily been total madness. However the juxtaposition of the Anglican and nation's celebration that the King had been saved with the intimate Catholic mass - and other works - in a place of peace with invited (though paid) guests was stunning. The noise outside added to the secrecy and urgency of worship inside. I mention worship because at many points in the programme the music crossed from musical to spiritual. When, in the Credo, the choir sang "Et resurrexit tertia die" the joy of salvation was almost tangible. Byrd's work was sung with conviction. The Agnus Dei, sung away from the stage in the chancel was a fantastic piece of theatre. The script was quite something too. "Martyrs or traitors"? I had an interesting conversation over the post concert glass of wine comparing 9/11 with 5/11.

Byrd Notes

Cardinall’s Musick under the direction of Andrew Carwood has won the Gramophone Record of the Year and Best Early Music recording for their 13th CD in the series, of Byrd’s complete works in Latin. The disc is titled 'Infelix ego' and is released on the Hyperion label.

‘Classic fm Magazine’ will be featuring William Byrd in their January 2011 edition. The magazine hits the news-stands on 2 December.

Every 21 November, in America, William Byrd is honoured (together with John Merbecke and Thomas Tallis) with a feast day in the liturgical calendar of the Episocopal Church (USA).

Readers might be interested to know that the Festival blog is attracting almost as many visitors from the United States of America as those from Britain. Why is this do you think? Please send in your comments.

Festival to welcome Byrd musicologist and well known local singers

Stondon Massey Church will be reverberating to the words and music of its local Elizabethan composer next May. Members of the local congregation are organising a William Byrd Festival in support of the fabric of the village’s ancient church and surroundings.

Leading the list of artists on the evening of Saturday 7 May will be Richard Turbet, an expert in the life and work of William Byrd, and the Stondon Singers, a local Choir who since their formation in 1968 have specialised in the music of the renaissance composer and his contemporaries.

Mr Richard Turbet is a retired librarian from the University of Aberdeen where latterly he was Special Collections Cataloguer and subject specialist for Music. Richard is a leading authority on William Byrd, having written or edited over one hundred published works about the composer and related subjects. Richard has given talks at the Byrd Festival in Portland, Oregon, and edited its tenth anniversary commemorative book. He has contributed to the Grove and to Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and is currently compiling the third edition of his book, “William Byrd. A Guide to Research”. For fifteen years Richard Turbet was a cathedral layclerk.

The Stondon Singers need no introduction other than to mention that they are one of the leading small choirs in this part of the county and St Peter & St Paul’s Church is proud to host their annual ‘William Byrd Memorial Concert’ every July around the time of the composer’s death. Their conductor is Christopher Tinker.

“There is a growing sense of excitement”, said Andrew Smith, the Chairman of the Festival Committee. “Richard will be speaking at Stondon for the first time, and has chosen as his theme ‘William Byrd: His Essex Years’. The combination of Richard Turbet’s expertise and the Stondon Singers musical ability to illustrate the talk will create a unique event and will be one of the highlights of the Festival”.

‘William Byrd: His Essex Years’ will be presented at Stondon Church on the evening of Saturday 7 May 2011.

William Byrd Festival Service

We will having a Festival Service using the traditional Book of Common Prayer liturgy on Sunday 8 May 2011. The service will be on the Byrd theme, not that the recusant Catholic composer attended his parish church all that often, if at all. Morning Prayer will be at St Peter & St Paul Church at the usual service time of 9.00am.

William Byrd Festival. Stondon Massey. May 2011

The ‘William Byrd Festival’ will take place in May 2011 at St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey, where this great Elizabethan composer was buried in 1623.

The ‘William Byrd Festival’ exists to:
- raise funds towards the upkeep of the ancient St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey (Essex), and its immediate surroundings
- raise the awareness and appreciation of William Byrd (c1539/40 – 1623), the Elizabethan composer, who died in 1623 having spent the previous 30 years as a resident of the village of Stondon Massey.

The Festival will be organised by local people and St Peter & St Paul Church PCC, the body responsible for the fabric of the building.

It is planned that the Festival will be held over one weekend in May 2011. The programme is in an embryonic stage and will be published in due course. Tickets will go on sale early in 2011.

Would you like to help with the event?

Would you like to join our mailing list and be among the first to hear what is happening?

William Byrd: Memorial in Stondon Massey Church

"To the Glory of God and in memory of WILLIAM BYRD who lived at Stondon Place in this Parish for the last thirty years of his life. He died 4 July 1623 aged eighty. This tablet was erected in 1923 in celebration of the tercentenary of his death".
The memorial is on the south wall of St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey.

(Photo by Michael Harris)

Book in Stondon History Series. 'William Byrd: Some Notes'

A 28 page booklet about the William Byrd, written from a local perspective, is available priced £2.00 + P&P (£3.00 to UK addresses) in aid of St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey.

Stondon Massey: Church Roof Appeal

Rising prices mean that the small congregation at Stondon Massey church is faced with a £5,000 shortfall following completion of essential work to retile the nave roof.

Roofing Contractors have advised that the heating oil used to fire the new tiles and the price of the imported lead has been the main reason why costs have risen since the indicative estimate given last year. More work to the roof structure also proved necessary once the old tiles were stripped off.

The Norman Grade I listed church of St Peter and St Paul has stood on the “stone hill” on the outskirts of Stondon Massey village since about 1130. It has long been associated with the Elizabethan composer, William Byrd, an ardent Catholic who lived in Stondon Massey for the last thirty years of his life, dying on 4 July 1623. Although he probably never crossed the threshold to receive an Anglican communion, inevitably his body was laid to rest in the churchyard, as requested in his last Will and Testament. Byrd’s memorial, unveiled nearly 100 years ago, is on the nave wall. We have the Edwardian Rector of the village, Revd. Reeve, to thank for his bringing to local and national recognition this great composer, who is now remembered at the annual William Byrd Memorial Concert held at the church by the Stondon Singers.

Re-roofing the nave will ensure that the small country church is watertight for generations to come. The present Rector, Revd. Toni Smith, is appealing for funds to bridge the gap.

It is our turn to remember and protect this legacy and honour those who have worshipped in this little church over many centuries, through both bad times as well as good.

£5,000 is urgently needed.

Do help if you are able, as have the many generations who have gone before us. Do come and see for yourself. The church is open for services, usually held at 9.00am Sundays, and on the 2nd Sunday in the month until September for visitors from 2.30 to 4.30pm.

Donations would be welcomed. Please send cheques payable to St Peter & St Paul Church PCC to Blackmore Vicarage, Church Street, Blackmore, Ingatestone, Essex. CM4 0RN.

Thank You.