The Westminster service: Sunday 28 October 2018

Continued from http://raleigh400.blogspot.com/2018/09/westminsters-raleigh-400-symposium.html

Front cover of the 'Kyrie Eleison' from the Mass for Four Voices by William Byrd, probably published in London by Thomas East

All were welcome at the 11.00 am Sung Eucharist service in St Margaret’s Westminster on Sunday 28 October, the day before the 400^th anniversary of Sir Walter Raleigh’s death.

The Preacher was The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster. An appropriate choice: it was the Dean of Westminster, Robert Tounson (1575–1621), who in 1618 gave Holy Communion to Raleigh, attended at his execution, and wrote afterwards of how Raleigh had behaved on that occasion.

Renaissance music lovers were not disappointed that William Byrd’s 'Mass for Four Voices' had been chosen to be part of the service.  

Yet the piece was a remarkable choice in view of the religious tensions of Raleigh’s time. Byrd (c.1540-1623), a Catholic,  composed it around 1592-3 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, when settings of the Mass were highly sensitive documents and might well have resulted in the arrest of anyone caught with them.

Also chosen for the occasion was one of Raleigh’s best known poems, ‘Even such is Time’, with music composed by Bob Chilcott. 

Chilcott was born, appropriately enough in Devon, in 1955. He is one of the five eminent composers, seen above who have set the poem to music. 

The Voluntary was the Toccata from the Suite gothique by the French composer Léon Boëllmann in 1895.

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Budleigh Salterton Ladies Choir Spring Concert 2018

Pictured from top left, clockwise, William Byrd, Sir Walter, Thomas Tallis, Andrew Millington, Henry VIII, Bob Chilcott

Two pieces with words by Sir Walter Raleigh, set to music by distinguished modern composers, will be performed at a concert in Budleigh this Saturday.

The town’s Ladies Choir is being joined by Pieces of Eight, members of the Exeter-based St David’s Singers, who will also be performing musical items from the 16^th and 17^th centuries.   

The pieces include:

‘Pastime with good company’ by Henry VIII

‘Ave verum’ by William Byrd

‘Come again!’ by John Dowland

‘Fair Phyllis’ by John Farmer

‘If ye love me’ by Thomas Tallis

Two additional pieces are Raleigh’s celebrated poem ‘Even such is time’ set to music by Bob Chilcott and ‘Give me my scallop shell of quiet’ by Andrew Millington.

Pieces of Eight was formed directly as a result of the Walter Raleigh theme to the Ladies Choir concert, and will be wearing appropriate costumes! 

The Ladies Choir will be singing a number of pieces relating to the sea and travel including:

‘The Rolling Sea’ (by Madeline Chase and Eric Harding Thiman)

‘Blow the Wind Southerly’ (Northumbrian folk song, arranged by John Clements)

‘The Ship That Never Returned’ (English folk song)

‘Rolling Down to Rio’ (Rudyard Kipling and Edward German)

‘The Ships of Arcady’ (Francis Ledwidge and Michael Head)

‘And a few more with regal, Shakespearean or Raleigh links,’ I’m told.

Sir Walter will be delighted.

The concert, on Saturday 21 April in the Temple Methodist Church, Budleigh Salterton, begins at 7.30 pm.  Tickets £8.00 (including refreshments) will be available on the door.

See more about Budleigh Salterton Ladies Choir at http://budleighsaltertonladieschoir.co.uk/

The St David's Singers' website is at https://stdavidssingersexeter.weebly.com/

FOR THE RALEIGH 400  CALENDAR OF 

EVENTS WORLDWIDE IN 2018 CLICK ON 

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