Advent by Candlelight
4.00pm Sunday December 2nd
The Two Churches of Swaffham Prior
SWAFFHAM PRIOR'S ANNUAL "ADVENT BY CANDLELIGHT" CONCERT has been
part of the village's annual cycle of festivities for nigh on twenty years
and, for the majority of these Advent celebrations, Cambridge Voices, under the
direction of its founder and present director, Ian de Massini, have had the
privilege of providing the choral music, weaving their vocal items in amongst
the many readings of prose and poetry presented by members of the village,
together with audience-led hymns and concluded by the traditional Advent
prayers and benediction given by the parish priest.
This year, to mark the choir's 20th anniversary, Cambridge Voices are to present a sequence of their more traditional Advent choral works that they have performed over the years and which will include the Advent Prose by Palestrina, "The angel Gabriel from heaven came" alongside arrangements of ancient Advent plainsong and seasonal carols, as well as the great American heraldic song "Mine eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord".
But the choir will also perform one modern work, "Ave, generosa", which has been specially composed for this anniversary year by the choir's composer-director, Ian de Massini. The choir gave the first performance of this double-choir-and-soloist meditation upon a text by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen (1097-1183) in Paris in the summer, followed by its British premi¸re to a capacity crowd in Ely Cathedral's Lady Chapel one week later, and there are plans to record it for inclusion on the choir's next album in 2008.
As for the readings this year, we are going to mark the fact that this year is
the centenary of the birth of one of Britain's greatest modern poets, W(ys
tan) H(ugh) Auden (1907-1973).His evocative lines of verse are on
the lips of many today. Who can forget the arresting scene from the film
"Four weddings and a funeral "as the lines "Stop all the clocks,
cut off the telephone. . . the stars are not wanted now; put out every
one." were read out at the grave of the actor Simon Callow (not in real
life, of course, as he's not dead yet!)? Others may remember the superb
1936 BBC black-and-white film "Night Mail" which featured Auden's
narrative poem about the delivery of mail by train, read by Sir John Betjeman
and background music by Benjamin Britten. Think of the brilliant settings that
Benjamin Britten made of his friend's many poems, including "Anthem
for St Cecilia's Day" and "Elegy on the death of President
Kennedy", as well as William Walton's epic choral setting of "The
Twelve" (to be included in our "Advent by Candlelight" concert
this year).
Auden's output was prolific, spanning as it did some of the most momentous events of the 20th century, and religion played a large part in his literary creations, often as a background to weighty discourses on the meaning of life and the nature of being human. A brilliantlyresearched recent publication of Auden's complete poems lists no less than sixteen works that relate to the various themes of "Advent". So, we have a wealth of material from which we can create a framework from which to suspend this year's village Advent concert, and will include the famous "Tell me the truth about LOVE!".
As in previous years, you are invited to give £6 as you arrive for the concert, and all profits will go to EMMAUS, the locally-based charity that provides such invaluable work and accommodation for the homeless. The concert begins at 4.00pm in the parish church of St Mary's, moving over to the neighbouring church of St Cyriac & St Julitta's for the final, mystical part of the event. Please remember to wrap up warm for this last part of the concert as the noisy heating there will have to be turned off once all are inside, seated.
The concert concludes, as ever, with a plentiful supply of mulled wine and mince -pies back over in the first church, so generously provided and prepared by members of the village social committee. We are always looking for readers to take part in this concert so, if you would like to read, do please contact Hilary Sage as as soonas possible (tel. 01638 742978). There'll be a run-through for all the readers on the day, just after noon, to give them an idea of the differing acoustics of the two venues. Many people from across the country make this event their one moment in the year to visit Swaffham Prior with its unique setting of the two neighbouring churches for the Advent concert, so do come along and experience this magical melange of music, poetry, and ambience that marks the traditional count-down to Christmas.