Advent by Candlelight
The two churches of Swaffham Prior (starting in St Mary's)
1st Sunday in Advent November 27th
Admission at the door: £6 (in aid of Emmaus)
ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR EVENTS to be held in Swaffham Prior is the annual
Advent by Candlelight, which not only attracts many residents from the parish
and nearby villages but also visitors from afar as London, Bristol and
Canterbury, who make their yearly pilgrimage to our neighbourhood expressly to
experience the unique melange of motets, anthems, hymns, poems, prose and
prayers, that we present, bathed in candlelight, using our two, complementary
churches that sit side-by-side in our little village.
In recent years , a second performance has had to be presented on the same day (in the evening) in Cambridge to allow more people to enjoy our event, and this repeatpresentation has attracted its own, increasingly numerous, followers from the city (who would dream of venturing into the wild fens of a dark and chilly winter's evening!).
As ever, the choral music will be led by Cambridge Voices, directed by their founder, Ian de Massini, who lives within our parish. The readings will be coordinated by Hilary Sage. Everyone from this parish is welcome to read: if you are interested (there will be an obligatory rehearsal on the day from 12noon) please contact Hilary for your reading.
Each year we have chosen a theme for our concert and, in the past, we have covered The foretelling of the Incarnation, The Annunciation, St John the Baptist, Advent by Bach, to mention a few. This year, we will look at the history, the myths and the fables surrounding St Nicolas. His feast-day occurs soon after our Advent concert, and it was his life and ministry that later informed the idea of Santa Claus, the bringer of gifts at Christmastide. The concert will examine all the known sources pertaining to St Nicolas's life, much of which echoes the life and death of Jesus Christ himself. Plus, we will look at how these brief facts have gone on to spawn so much invention and myth-making surrounding Santa Claus and Christmas. We will also hear some of the fascinating poems, and prayers, and plainsong, that were composed in the early mediaeval era to mark St Nicolas's feast-day, December 6th. One of the most important buildings in East Anglia - King's College Chapel, Cambridge - is dedicated to St Nicolas, and so we will look at some of the music that has been specially written for this religious foundation. The font in Winchester Cathedral is liberally decorated with scenes from St Nicolas's life, and this will feature in our concert, too.
And so, through our examination of St Nicolas's life and times, we may perhaps enter into our own spiritual journey, transported through words and music, and so towards a deeper understanding of the meaning of Advent in our own, hectic lives in this modern and bewildering world.
Musically speaking, the bulk of the material for our concert will come from Benjamin Britton's famous cantata Saint Nicolas, which itself comes with selfcontained hymns, to be sung by both choir and audience. Also, we will include an extract from Haydn's little gem of a communion-setting: the Saint Nicholas Mass, which includes probably the world's most brief musical setting of the Creed, one in which the four voiceparts sing different words at the same time, in order to get through the long text as fast as possible!