Top Choir to Sing at Stondon

William Byrd fans should not miss this final opportunity to buy tickets for the Cardinall's Musick concerts at Stondon Massey Church on Sunday 2 September.  Tickets are likely to sell out shortly. 

There will be two concerts, with two separate programmes: one starting at 3.00pm, the second at 5.30pm.  Between the two hour-long performances, Andrew Carwood, the artistic director of the Choir, will talk to ticket holders of either concert about Byrd. 

Contact us, or the Civic Theatre Box Office in Chelmsford, for ticket information.  

Watch this video by Cardinall's Musick in recent rehearsal and hear Andrew Carwood enthuse about this group and about Byrd himself and his music.

Cardinall's Musick at Fotheringhay: An Amazing Concert

It is difficult to describe in words the marvellous sound of Cardinall's Musick at Fotheringhay Church last evening.  This was the ninth of a series of fifteen 'Byrd Tour' concerts, but the first in a Parish Church setting. It was good to be part of the audience.  Andrew Carwood, their Artistic Director, wanted to bring the Choir to this Northamptonshire village because of Fotheringhay's association with Mary Queen of Scots, who was executed at the Castle in 1587. Byrd never went to Fotheringhay but the Catholic association for the Choir was irresistible.   There had been many fanatical Catholic plots to rid Elizabeth I and substitute Mary her cousin in her place. The Throckmorton Plot in the early 1580s was the most notorious and William Byrd himself came under some suspicion for a while because of his friendship with Lord Thomas Paget, the main ring-leader.

The first half of the programme could be regarded as a service of devotion and meditation. Andrew Carwood asked for applause at the end of a 45 minute sequence which included a complete performance of the 'Four Part Mass' interspersed with Mass settings for Lady Day and Easter.  The joy of the Easter sequence of music could be heard in contrast to the Propers. The sound was glorious and moving. Few voices, clear, audible diction: a sublime balance. Single out the words of the 'Credo': "Crucifixus etiam pro nobis, sub Pontio Pilato passus et sepultus est" ("He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate: he died and was buried"), and you could hear anguish in the voices; then the next line, "Et resurrexit tertia die secundum scripturas, et ascendit in caelum" ("And he rose on the third day according to the scriptures and ascended into heaven"), the sheer uplifting joy of that Easter event. Incredible word painting by this Choir from the pen of Byrd.

The second half contained a range of Byrd's Latin text output.  Andrew Carwood described 'Regina caeli laetare' ('Rejoice, O queen of heaven') as a symphony in four movements but with only three voices: the final 'Alleluia' being passed around between the singers.

After the Winchester Festival on Tuesday (10 July) the next 'Byrd Tour' concerts are at St Peter & St Paul Church, Stondon Massey on Sunday 2 September.  If you love early music and fabulous choral singing then make sure you are there at what will be Cardinall's Musick's smallest and most intimate venue. 

William Byrd Anniversary Concert 2012

Byrd's popularity is clearly undiminished considering the near capacity audience who came to the Stondon Singers concert last evening. The 'William Byrd Anniversary Concert' is something of a fixture for the Choir and St Peter & St Paul Church, thought to be the 43rd occasion the event was held (with the next already programmed for Tuesday 2 July 2013).


This was a programme very much in two parts.  The first included a performance of the 'Five Part Mass' (excluding the Credo) framed first and last by a piece from Byrd's great Gradualia cycle ('Gaudaemus omnes in Domino' (1605) opened; 'Laudate Dominum' (1607) closed). The programme was interspersed by three short pieces by contemporaries of Byrd: Robert White, John Mundy and Robert Parsons (the latter two members of the Chapel Royal).  An organ solo, Byrd's 'Pavan The Earl of Salisbury and Galliard' illustrated to many present Byrd's talent as a keyboard composer.  (We hear very little Byrd performed locally on instruments.)  This was played by Christopher Tinker, the Choir's conductor.

After a long interval so that all could have drinks and nibbles, the second half began with a royal tribute with 'Pastyme with good companye' (Henry VIII); 'O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth' (Byrd) and 'All Creatures Now' (Bennet).  A reading, four Italian madrigals and a 20th century piece by Kodaly concluded the programme with a song about stealing chickens!

Byrd died on 4 July 1623.  

Cardinall's Musick at Stondon: 2 September 2012

The Cardinall's Musick

coming to Stondon Massey

where William Byrd lived until 1623

William Byrd Anniversary Concert

Stondon Singers' William Byrd Anniversary Concert at Stondon Massey

BBC Music Magazine feature Cardinall's Musick

Renaissance sacred choral music is the theme of the BBC Music Magazine cover disc for April 2012 (published today).  Cardinall’s Musick, under the direction of Andrew Carwood, sing works by Byrd and Tallis recorded at the Kilkenny Arts Festival (August 2010) and St John’s College, Cambridge (June 2011).  Highlight works by Byrd are ‘Infelix ego’ and ‘Iustorum animae’ (perhaps misspelt on other discs with a letter ‘J’ for ‘Justorum’ – I learned recently that the letter ‘J’ does not exist in the23-letter Latin alphabet).

The disc also mentions the group’s celebration of Byrd’s Latin music throughout 2012 in a series of concerts “that takes in a series of venues and historical locations linked to the great English composer”.  This includes Stondon Massey Church in Essex on Sunday 2 September.  There is an advertisement on page 113 listing the entire ‘Byrd Tour 2012’ giving website connections for each place.

If you are interested in tickets for St Peter and St Paul Church – there are only 70 available per performance – or would like further information, please e mail. 

Cardinall's Musick to perform Byrd at Stondon Massey

The multi-Gramophone Award winning Choir the Cardinall’s Musick will be coming to St Peter and St Paul Church Stondon Massey on Sunday 2 September to perform two short concerts as part of their Byrd Tour 2012. 

Cardinall’s Musick is an internationally recognised Choir specialising in early music.  In 2010, under the direction of Andrew Carwood, the singers released their 13^th disc concluding the complete Latin choral works of William Byrd.  ‘Infelix Ego’ won them the Recording of the Year. 

The Byrd Tour 2012 celebrates the recording achievement by taking the music of the great Elizabethan composer to venues both great and small.  St Peter and St Paul Church, the only stop planned in Essex, is one of the smallest on the tour but has such a strong association with Byrd that Andrew Carwood felt that the opportunity to perform here should not be missed.  The tour will be extensively advertised by Cardinall’s Musick in national newspapers and the music press.  The Choir can be heard on the cover CD of the BBC Music Magazine soon.

Members of Stondon’s congregation will be there on the day to supervise car parking, provide front of house support and post-concert refreshments.  The professional Choir will be offering tickets for sale online for about £10 for each of the two concerts.  (However please indicate to us now whether you are interested so that we can seek to secure tickets for sale locally).

Provisional times for the concerts are 3.00pm and 5.30pm on Sunday 2 September 2012.  Each hour-long offering will include motets by Byrd.

Contact us for further information.

Notes:

The Financial Times carried an interesting article giving information on Byrd and heralding the Byrd Tour 2012, which begins at the Wigmore Hall in London on Monday 5 March: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/73e967be-597c-11e1-abf1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1nN4pStYi . For the latest tour information go to http://www.cardinallsmusick.com/news/byrd-tour-2012 and specifically, for Stondon Massey Essex, follow the link to the William Byrd Festival blog, http://www.williambyrdfestival.blogspot.com/ .

Byrd Book Query: Council of Trent

Received 24 May 2011

Dear Andrew,

I bought a copy of this booklet when I attended the concert at Stondon Massey 2 Saturdays ago & have enjoyed reading it. I am a little perplexed by a comment on p 10, 3rd paragraph. It says ‘The Council of Trent in 1563 had practically outlawed the Latin rite in the Church.’ The Council of Trent was a Roman Catholic Council which sought to resolve some of the justified criticisms levelled at it by protagonists of the Reformation. But it did not outlaw Mass in Latin in Roman Catholic churches, which I believe continued until Vatican II. Was the sentence in the booklet meant to refer to Queen Elizabeth I’s Act of Uniformity of 1558 which stipulated that (in England) only services in the Book of Common Prayer were lawful?

Christine Petch

Replied 28 May 2011

Dear Christine

Thank you for your e mail dated 24 May and your subsequent correspondence.

‘William Byrd: Some Notes’ has been compiled using a mixture of sources. I have to admit that the relationship of the fledgling Anglican Church and its relationship, both political and religious, with Catholicism is not an area with which I am familiar, so clearly your knowledge is greater than mine.

Looking at Wikipedia, reference to the Council of Trent looks to be an error. Its inclusion in the booklet comes from a phrase taken from Edmund H Fellowes biography of William Byrd (1936). I think that Fellowes is wrong.

Having looked at the history of Stondon Massey by Reeve (1900), the then Rector mentions two events: firstly “a fresh edition of the Prayer-book was issued in the spring of 1559, and ordered to be generally adopted by June 24^th. … A copy of the Bible was once more directed to by placed publicly in every church”. Secondly, “in 1563, Archbishop Parker published the thirty-nine Articles as a standard of belief, and a commission was opened at Lambeth to enquire into the tenets of the clergy”. Reeve adds that, “This appears to have been a too searching tribunal for [Revd. John ] Alford, [Rector of Stondon Massey, 1558 to 1563,] and he was deprived of his benefice”.

The thirty-nine Articles of Religion appear in the Book of Common Prayer and remain valid for anyone entering the clergy today in the Church of England. These Articles but would not be acceptable to Catholics e.g. allowing priests to marry. Article XIX states that “the Church of Rome hath erred” in not preaching the “pure word of God”; Article XXII describes purgatory as “vainly invented”; and especially Article XXIV: “It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, , and the custom of the Primitive Church, to have publick prayer in the Church, or to minister the sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the people”.

I suspect that Fellowes was referring to this ruling rather than the Council of Trent. The Articles would effectively bar Catholics from the “English Church” and the Latin rite was effectively banned.

The Articles more or less coincide with Byrd’s appointment to Lincoln Cathedral. In harbouring Catholic thoughts Byrd must have known the dangers he faced.

I would be interested to know your thoughts on the matter.

Regards

Andrew

Received 28 May 2011

Dear Andrew,

Thanks for your e-mail. I must stress that I am not an expert on these matters. I am merely one who is interested in the Tudor period & in the Reformation (in the English church). I think your research has demonstrated that the reference to the Council of Trent here is wrong. The Act of Uniformity of 1558 (which I believe came into force in 1559) outlawed any service other than those in the new Prayer Book, which was issued in 1559, and those services were all in English. So, indeed, the Latin Mass became illegal in the Church of England from the moment that the new Prayer Book was published, which you have found to be the Spring of 1559. (I’m calling it the ‘new’ Prayer Book because Edward VI issued a Prayer Book too, but that would have been withdrawn during Mary Tudor’s reign & I’m assuming that the Prayer Book issued by Queen Elizabeth was a new and/or revised version.) I assume that this Prayer Book did not include the 39 Articles as you say that they were not published till 1563 (I know a shorter version, i.e. with fewer articles was produced in Henry VIII’s time & gradually expanded upon). Anyway, from my limited knowledge, I think the Latin Mass became illegal in the Church of England in 1559 rather than 1563.

So you and I are saying much the same thing. Thank you very much for taking time to look into this. Perhaps the sentence in the booklet should be amended for future editions.

Christine

Reeve Family Archive

Gift day, refreshments plus ...

Reeve Family Archive

The Reeve family moved to the Stondon Massey Rectory in 1849, and lived in the village for almost a century.  This archive is a generous donation by one of their descendants.  It represents an interesting social history of a well-to-do family of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Please handle these items with care.

1.                   The commonplace book of Captain Edward Reeve (1785-1867).  He wrote this manuscript at The White House, Ongar, in about 1860.  Edward Reeve purchased the Rectory for himself and the advowson for his clergyman son Edward James for £700 in 1849.

2.                   ‘Jottings’ by Edward Henry Lisle Reeve (1858-1936) written in 1881.  He was known as Lisle to his family.

“My father you know is always telling us the same old stories, and then he will turn to me and ask ‘if I remember that’.”

3.                   ‘Plauti Comoediae. Tom. I’.   Lisle was educated at Harrow School.  This book is dated September 1875.

4.                   Lisle was a keen athlete and cyclist during his youth.   The trophy shows success in 1880 in a one-mile and ten-mile race, with a contemporary photograph.  ‘Safety bicycles’ had just been invented, allowing the rider to touch the ground with their feet, and were first catalogued in 1885. 

5.                   Two books belonging to Edward Reeve.  ‘Watts’, a hymn book dated 1815.  Highlighted is the hymn ‘Give to our God immortal praise’.

6.                   ‘Prayer’ dated 1815.  The Book of Common Prayer, which then included prayers for the deliverance of King James I from the Gunpowder Treason (illustrated above), and a form of prayer with fasting in remembrance of the martyrdom of King Charles I.  These remained in the Prayer Book until 1859.  The service of Morning Prayer included a prayer for “our most gracious Sovereign Lord King GEORGE” (George III who had reigned since 1759 – and by 1815 was bonkers) and “our gracious Queen Charlotte, their Royal Highnesses George Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, and all the Royal Family” (George Prince of Wales was Regent and later, from 1820 to 1830 King George IV).

7.                   ‘Church Services’.  A Book of Common Prayer inscribed “Elizabeth Jane Reeve. Aug^st. 22^nd 1884. With her father’s love”.  Jane was one of three daughters of Edward James Reeve (1821-1893), then Rector of Stondon Massey.  The book was given on her 25^th birthday. The same Morning Prayer records “our most gracious Sovereign Lady, Queen VICTORIA” followed by a prayer for “Albert Edward Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales and all the Royal Family” (Albert Edward eventually became King Edward VII in 1901.  Queen Victoria’s consort, Albert, had died in 1861).

8.                   ‘Hymns for a Week’ and ‘Concordance’.

9.                   ‘Death Certificate of Edward James Reeve’ and Hymns sung at his funeral at Stondon Massey, August 1893.

10.               ‘British Museum. Reading Room’. Rules, dated 1894, reflecting Lisle’s interest in local history.

11.               ‘Stondon Massey’.  The parish history written by Revd. E H L Reeve (Lisle).

12.               Miscellaneous Papers.

The archive is the generous donation of a descendant of Edward Henry Lisle Reeve.

'Allegri Miserere and other choral masterpieces'. St Barnabas, Great Tey. Saturday 1 October 2011

Ten powerful voices in perfect balance of sound gave a memorable recital at St Barnabas Church Great Tey near Colchester on Saturday as part of the Roman River Festival.  The Armonico Consort under the direction of Christopher Monks performed an a cappella programme entitled ‘Naked Byrd’ which explored pieces composed by composers who, according to the Director, “wore their hearts on their sleeves”, writing some of the music in difficult circumstances.  William Byrd, of course, wrote music for the catholic liturgy at a time when the celebration of mass was illegal. The programme spanned 800 years of choral music from Hildegard of Bingen through to the modern Morten Lauriden’s ‘O Magnum Mysterium’, a Christmas Matins piece beautifully sung.  

The representative piece by Byrd was the ‘Agnus Dei’ from the ‘Mass for four voices’ in a slower reading then I had heard before, but never lacking in movement and certainly not a forensic dissection of the parts employed. Other pieces of that era included Victoria’s ‘Libera Nos, Salve Nos’ from the ‘Officium Defunctorum’ and an arrangement by the director of Tallis’ psalter setting ‘Why fum’th in fight the Gentiles spite’.  It would be entirely wrong to pick a highlight from the programme because all seventeen pieces were beautifully rendered.  No single voice overpowered another.  All blended harmoniously.  Allegri’s ‘Miserere’ was emblazoned across the tickets (not ‘Naked Byrd’) and clearly was a big draw to the sold out event. John Tavener’s  ‘Funeral Ikos’ and ‘Song for Athene’ were central works in the second half of the concert.

The ‘Armonico Consort’ have been formed for just a decade and are a highly sought after choir, which is small wonder judging by the wonderful sacred sound on Saturday.  If the two CDs entitled ‘Naked Byrd’ are as good as the live performance, and I have no reason to doubt otherwise, then these will act as a marvellous memento of a warm October evening in the Essex countryside.

The Roman River Festival is an annual event now in its eleventh season. For more information visit www.romanrivermusic.org.uk

Photo: St Barnabas Church Great Tey (pictured in 1985) inset on cover of this year’s Festival programme.http://www.romanrivermusic.org.uk