After a busy morning (two Eucharists and wedding) it was lovely to be able to take a backseat and just be at Choral Evensong without taking any leading role.
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree made me cry without quite knowing why. I remembered blogging about it last year at about this time and have just looked up what I said. Guess what, it made me cry then too.
Fabulous use of the word “Tush” in Psalm 94.
They murder the widow and the stranger, and put the fatherless to death.
And yet they [the wicked] say, Tush, the LORD shall not see, * neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
I’ve come to love Choral Evensong very dearly. I’d never had it in any church that I had worshipped in regularly before coming to St Mary’s and indeed would once have been of the opinion that its day was done. However, I find that it is exactly what I need often when my day is done. Tonight’s was lovely.
Couldn’t agree with you more about ‘Jesus Christ the Apple Tree’. It was sung, at his own request, at the great Michael Mayne’s Funeral in Salisbury Cathedral and the preacher on that occasion said the following: ‘And perhaps most of all, those strands of simplicity and humility that are the harbingers of gratitude and grace caught in three musical choices with which we celebrate Michael’s life today. Elizabeth Postern’s ‘Jesus Christ the Apple Tree’ – if she never wrote another piece (and I know nothing else by her), this wonderful essay in simplicity would earn her reputation.’ I’d like it sung at my own.
Evensong is wonderful. Compline is almost as good…. “Brethren, be sober, be vigilant……”.
I remember the then Provost of St Andrew’s Cathedral Aberdeen Donald Howard describing Evensong as being “like a relaxing soak in a hot bath after a busy Sunday”. He had a point.
When I lived in Glasgow I travelled from the darkest southside to St Mary’s for evensong most weeks. Now, I’ve been to many stunning evensongs in grand cathedrals and college chapels over the years but St Mary’s Glasgow is hard to beat for the intimacy of the experience and the absence of pretension – as well as the high musical standards! Keep up the good work.
With you on Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. Great text. I’ve recently used a setting in the Oxford Book of Flexible Anthems which uses a traditional folk melody to stunning effect – even simpler than the Poston, but just as effective!
Our little choir, Angelus Singers, was formed, and still exists, to sing Evensong in churches where no choir exists.
In my write-up about the value of Evensong, I said that..’You cannot go away angry, after Evensong’, and I still believe that.