Choral Society
This year has been an exciting and productive one for the Choral Society. The Christmas Term saw the rehearsal and performance (on Remembrance Day) of Karl Jenkins’s “Mass for Peace,” a mass commissioned in 2000 by the Royal Armouries Museum to mark the end of the most bloody century in world history.
The mass is based on the L’Homme Armé melody, a fifteenth century song used for the basis of many of the war masses written for Charles the Bold of Burgundy and his successors. The primitive harmonies and war-like rhythms of this song are used throughout to suggest the barbaric nature of war. One of the strengths of this mass is the variety of musical sources used and the way in which these sources are combined. Jenkins wrote movements from the traditional Christian liturgy (a melancholy ‘Kyrie’ with a passing reference to Palestrina, a military ‘Sanctus’ with trumpet fanfares and a driving rhythm, an ‘Agnus Dei’ with a lyrical chorale theme and a fast and furious ‘Benedictus’ which returns to the original ‘L’Homme Armé’ theme), movements which draw on World music and religious texts from major world religions (such as a Muslim prayer, and an excerpt from an ancient Indian epic, The Mahàbharàta) and movements based on secular poetry (such as ‘Hymn Before action’, a poem by Rudyard Kipling, ‘Charge’, a text by John Dryden and Jonathan Swift, ‘Angry Flames’, written by a survivor of the attack on Hiroshima and ‘Better is peace than always war’, which draws on Tennyson, Mallory, Arthurian Legend and the book of Revelation). Jenkins said that he used variety to “reflect what touches us all, regardless of our religion or race.”
The school’s three major choirs (the Choral Society, the Chapel Choir and the Girls’ Chamber Choir) and an ‘ad hoc’ orchestra joined forces for what was a truly fantastic performance. Convincing performances from our four soloists (Helen Pike – Soprano, Lucy Steele – Contralto, Jack Halsey – Tenor, and Matthew Ralph – Bass), and from the whole chorus, along with the visual presentation of war scenes (put together by Mr. Avery and Mr. Roberts), was enough to move many to tears. This was a magnificent evening of musicality, artistry and theatre, and one which will hopefully be repeated on Remembrance Days to come.
In the summer term, we joined with various other chamber groups to perform a concert of Baroque music. The concert opened with the best known of Handel’s coronation anthems, ‘Zadok the Priest’, which has been performed at every coronation since 1727. Next came the lyrical first movement of Dvorak’s Quartet in D Minor performed by the String Quartet (consisting of Stephen Webster, Tim Page, Rosie Ievins and Lydia Stone-Fewings) and one of the most beautiful movements from Handel’s ‘Rodelinda’, ‘Mio caro bene’ sung by Bex Proud. The choral society returned in full at the end of the concert to perform Bach’s ‘Sleepers,Wake!’, one of the most well-known Cantatas. The professionalism of the soloists, Sam Troth, Jack Wilde (Trebles), Pamela Davies (Soprano), Alex Hurst (Tenor) and Matthew Ralph (Bass), and the choral society and orchestra, created a performance of which even Bach himself would have been proud.
Mr. Perrins’ thirst for new challenges has made this year particularly fruitful for the Choral Society, and I would like to thank him for his enthusiasm, and all the members of the chorus for their dedication.
Sam Baddeley