Music is the food of love

Music for the heart and soul©


One of my schoolmates at Southwell was an excellent organist, being under the tutelage of the Minster organist. He usually played for school services alongside the school Music Master, and as he progressed, he played for church services, helping the Minster Organist. He did not have the range and skill of his seniors, but he was learning and he was quite talented.

I was already employed within the Minster as a bell ringer, lowly though that be, so I got to know many parts of the building that the public never got to see. With David, I came to be a fairly regular visitor to the organ loft above the quire screen, when I would often turn the music for him as he practised on the screen organ, but never during a service. He would help the Minster organist at that time.

He was allowed to practise as often as he could, and I was allowed out of House to be with him. There we would be, in the organ loft, usually alone in that huge Norman building. Of course, he practised the hymns and anthems particular to the forthcoming services, but would also play many of the great anthems, toccatas, fugues and processionals by Bach, Buxtehude, Purcell and Mozart. Not just these, of course, as there were many others which had been written by great composers over the previous centuries.

One evening he had been through a piece by Vierne and went on to play ‘Wachet Auf, ruft uns die Stimme’ by Bach, better known in English as ‘Sleepers Awake!’ He really gave it some welly, with his feet flying like bees’ wings and the majestic sound of the huge pipes filled the Cathedral. Both of the Minster organs were, at that, time, renowned for the melodious voices. The knave organ had its ‘tuba’ and the quire its ‘trumpet’. I can say with all honesty, that the rendition of Cocker's 'Tuba Tune' was by far the best I have ever heard. No record, tape or disc could ever reproduce the sound. One could really ‘feel’ the music, as we were literally sitting inside the organ. Although the pipes above our heads faced outwards towards the quire in one direction and the knave in the other, we didn’t miss out on any of the sound.

After that he went on to do some improvisation of his own – on music from light opera, by Sir Richard Sullivan, to be precise. We had recently attended a concert in, Trebeck Hall our little town theatre when a group from the D’Oyley Carte Opera Company had performed a selection of pieces from various Gilbert and Sullivan operas. David played a couple of pieces from these. Did you know that “Take a pair of sparkling eyes” sounds really beautiful when played on the pipe organ in a great Norman cathedral? It does, and we enjoyed the interlude but it was soon time to pack up and go home to the boarding house.

As we came down the steps from the screen, switching off the lights and power to the organ, and walking into the transept towards the small postern door, we were greeted by two figures, the Bishop and the Provost, both with smiles on their faces.

“What was the music you just played after Vierne and Bach, lad?” asked the Bishop.
“Oh, er – er, it was Sir Richard Sullivan,” stuttered David, “he wrote some divine sacred music, M’Lord!”
“Indeed he did, young man. However, the music that you’ve just been playing was written for an entirely different place, wasn’t it?” said the Bishop, smiling.
“Yes!” answered David, red as a beetroot.
“Very well,” the Bishop went on, “but make sure you don’t accidentally play it at Service, won’t you?”
“I’ll make sure, Sir” said David.
“Very well” said the Bishop, turning and walking towards the door.
“Good night boys!” said the Provost, with a big smile and a wink!
As they walked towards the exit, I could distinctly hear the clatter of feet on the stone flags, with two voices, singing softly, “Take a pair of sparkling eyes!”

Sometime earlier than that episode, I had been introduced to Russian Orthodox Church music. I must have heard examples of it on the radio at home, but I cannot remember, but here was some, presented specially for me. Not only for me really, but it seemed like it at the time.

It was not long after I had gone to the school – it was my second year, perhaps third, that we had a visit by the Choir of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Paris. This large choir, decked out in their gorgeous church garments, standing in the quire, just in front of the High Altar, with the glorious window behind them.

The congregation, or should I say ‘audience’ was seated in the normal benches in the quire, plus all the chairs arrayed down the sides. The quire was full to capacity to see and hear this magnificent choir perform. They sang many Russian Orthodox sacred songs in a manner which was thrilling. The basso profundo so beloved of the Russians, combined with the tenor and soprano, filled the Minster with a glorious, magnificent sound such as had not been heard for ages in this building. I imagined the great choirs of the middle ages, but I could not picture them producing a sound like this.

The Minster choir was good, very good, but they did not have the quantity of voices or the vocal range of this choir. It was here that I was introduced to the Russian version of the Nicene Creed and much else.

Unfortunately I lost touch with the genre and as I began my modest record collection over the years, my collection totally lacked any. Until just a few years ago, when I heard this self same choir, The Paris Metropolitan, on a record played on the BBC’s ‘Your Hundred Best Tunes’. It was not as I remembered it; perhaps the resonances were different between our Minster and the Paris Cathedral.

However, I continued on the lookout, as and when I remembered, until I found a version by the Metropolitan Choir of Turku in Finland. The soloist was (is) Kitty von Wright, and it lacks the basso profundo, but it presents a much sweeter sound to me.

As I listen, albeit a different choir, I’m taken back to the peace and beauty of that great Minster, and I still can picture the Bishop and the Provost, walking along, singing “Take a pair of sparkling eyes!”

Here's a link if you want to see something about the place.

http://www.southwellminster.co.uk/index.htm

Oh if you go there and read the welcome letter from the Dean - don't believe him. He refers to the Minster being begun in 2008 - it wasn't - that should read 1008. We celebrated the Church's millenium in 1956, when the place was a thousand years old.