Last Christmas we had my partner's mother staying with us and decided to go out one evening just before Christmas. We had intended to go to the ballet, but found that everyone (Royal Ballet, English National Ballet and Sadlers Wells) was doing The Nutcracker. This year, my partner and I are on our own so we decided to go to Evensong, only to find that there aren't any, everyone is doing carols.
So that tonight Westminster Abbey has said Evening Prayer and service of Lessons and Carols, with the same thing tomorrow. Over at St. Paul's Cathedral there are carol services on both afternoons, and at Southwark Cathedral said Evening Prayer this afternoon with a carol service in the evening then tomorrow there is building the crib followed by Evening Prayer.
Surely everyone doesn't want to sing carols! A few years ago we spent the Christmas holiday in Canterbury and the most magical events were attending sung Evensong on Christmas eve and sung Matins on Christmas morning. The choir was incredibly hard working as they were also singing a carol service on Christmas eve as well as Eucharist on Christmas morning.
There are alternatives, so this evening we will be at All Saints, Margaret Street where Paul Brough and his choir will be singing Byrd and plainchant. Then tomorrow we will go to Westminster Cathedral for sung Vespers (as the music list isn't up on their website I still don't know quite what they will be singing).
If we cared to drive, then we could go to Rochester (where they are doing sung Evensong both days with Ireland in F and Stanford in G) or Canterbury (where they are singing Evensong tomorrow afternoon). But it seems strange the way carols have completely taken over in London, as it that is all that tourists want.
Elsewhere on this blog:
Sunday 23 December 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Septura I first became aware of the brass septet, Septura , when noting their 2017/18 concert series Kleptomania at St John's Smith...
-
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos - title page Six Concerts avec plusieurs instruments: Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann; London Handel Players, director ...
-
Retrospect Opera's recording of Stanford's Shamus O'Brien in rehearsal Charles Villiers Stanford’s opera Shamus O'Brien pre...
-
Stravinsky: The Rake's Progess - Act Three, scene one: the graveyard Frederick Jones, Jerome Knox - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Ric...
-
Rediscovering her Polish musical roots: Jennifer Pike on the personal connections in her latest discJennifer Pike (Photo Arno) With her latest recording, violinist Jennifer Pike has been rediscovering her Polish roots. The Polish Violi...
-
Poster for the première of Léo Delibes' Lakmé Léo Delibes: Lakmé; Haegee Lee, Elgan Llŷr Thomas, James Platt, Julien Van Mellaerts,...
-
Stephen McNeff: A Star Next to the Moon - Jacob Harrison (Pedro Páramo) - Guildhall School of Music & Drama (Photo: David Monteith-Hodg...
-
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra I get all sorts of mail, people sending my information on concerts and recordings. Everything gets gl...
-
The Afghan Youth Orchestra On Thursday 7 March 2024, the Afghan Youth Orchestra makes its debut at the Southbank Centre at the start of its ...
-
Jonathan Dove: The Enchanted Pig - Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, 2023 (Photo Greg Milner) On Monday 29 February 2024, the Royal Birmingha...
No comments:
Post a Comment