History on the page: Sumer is icumen in

The Choir are singing as part of the Music Society Showcase on Saturday, for which we rehearsed last night two lusty medieval pieces – the French song Tourdillon, which we’re singing with English words in praise of English booze, and Sumer is icumen in in four parts with a medieval-style pronunciation of the text; ‘Sumer is icumen in, lhude sing cucu! Groweth sed and bloweth med and spring be woode nu.’ The tenors and basses were reduced to thigh-slapping bombast and peasant dance-style footwork to relieve the monotony of their repeated two-bar accompaniment, which actually did much to get the lively, robust style into the piece that it needs. Will you do the same on the night, chaps ?!

For the Crypt concert, we looked at Britten’s early, antiphonal Hymn to the Virgin; dynamics are the key to bringing this piece to life, the crescendi in the second choir that lead into the beseeching harmonies of the first choir’s reply, and the diminuendi  that lead into the more intimate passages – ‘Darkest night – then comes the day,’ to which the second choir respond in Latin.

Continuing the medieval theme were the Advent antiphons, which  are finally starting to come together; the group are beginning to feel the ebb and flow of the phrases, and to take responsibility for delivering the line; a confident start to each one with clear vowel and positive first gesture means the rest of the phrase comes together well.

Thence back to carols, and time to check some of the intonation in the inner voices in The Holly and the Ivy. The Choir are now delivering this with real character, the driving conviction with which the refrain bursts into life at ‘O, the rising of the sun’ and the syncopated inter-play between voices at ‘the playing of the merry organ’ contrasting with the legato lines of ‘sweet singing in the choir.’ There’s real spirit about it now.

A Babe Is Born has at last found some real shape, some real conviction about the final page with its widely-spaced dissonant chords reflecting the angel’s cry, and some genuine energy in the Latin phrases, ‘Veni Creator Spiritus’ and ‘A solis ortus cardine,’ and so on. It’ll be a nerve-wracking experience, presenting a piece of mine in performance and wondering what sort of reception it will receive, but it will at least have great energy and commitment in its delivery that might win people over!

The Advent concert is in two weeks on Friday: after this evening, and with a couple of rehearsals to go, I’m starting to be confident in that fact that we’re going to be fine. And, in the case of A Babe Is Born and The Holly and the Ivy, some genuine craft and musicianship to demonstrate.

I’m not sure about the thigh-slapping, though…