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December 01, 2003
A God slot
Over this weekend I have had the pleasure of attending two Advent Carol Services. The first was last night, and is an annual event in Tewkesbury Abbey. It is provided by two choirs, one, The Abbey School Choir, sings the weekday offices of Morning and Evening Prayer through the week and the other from the Bluecoat School in Birmingham includes a large number of choristers from other choirs in the West Midlands and Warkwickshire.
The service is a form of Thanksgiving which began around 1946 as a way of saying "thank you" to the people of Tewkesbury from the children (and their families) who had been evacuated to Tewkesbury to escape the bombing of the industrial centres further North. A huge number of people come from all over the country (I counted six coaches in one coach park) to attend this service and, even for those who never go to any other, it is well worth the effort.
The Abbey Church is a large space and the service makes full use of this liturgically. The Choirs move about in it, sometimes in procession, and sometimes as a quiet move from one area to another. The high vault and the stone walls allow the sound to bounce and fill the space in creating an amazing aural feast. Motets, chorales and familiar Advent carols poured from these well schooled and musically gifted voices to lift the five hundred or so of the congregation to another plane altogether. The experience of having two choirs on oposite sides of a building like this and singing responses to each other is something that has to be experienced to be believed.
The Advent Carols Service I have just returned from was as different as it could be, yet, here again, a superb choir did more than ample justice to the music and the setting. This time it was the Choir of Malvern College Chapel, and these young people have something to be really proud of. Their voices blended into a rich palette of tones that sent the spirit soaring with the angels. Even a very difficult piece by Benjamin Britten, "Hymn to the Virgin", which requires a "choir in echo" was ably performed by these school boys and girls.
Altogether an uplifting and thoroughly spiritual experience. For the curious vist the Abbey website, there are pictures and information on the building, the worship and other events.
Posted by The Gray Monk at December 1, 2003 12:34 AM