On Wednesday 19 March Vox Cantab, a chamber choir comprising current and former Cambridge University Choral Scholars, will provide a varied programme of choral works, including several inspired by Petersfield and the surrounding area, under the direction of Louisa Denby.
Louisa gives some background to the choice of works and composers.
The first half of the concert is envisaged as a dramatic entity in its own right – a sequence of words and music by Petersfield poets and composers, and/or inspired by Petersfield and the surrounding area.
The poet Edward Thomas is a big Petersfield figure, and Michael Hurd is the obvious composer to include. We’re also presenting poems about Edward Thomas and the area around Steep, as well as letters written between Edward and Helen Thomas. We have had to be quite careful not to create a narrative that isn’t there, so the sequence is very much one of ideas rather than bearing out a specific storyline.
Other composers are William Harris (who died in Petersfield), Gerald Finzi (who sent his children to Bedales), and George Dyson, who taught at Winchester College, but was a former student of Hugh Allen, who was heavily involved in the early days of the Petersfield Musical Festival. There are some composers who have no particular connection to the area, but they set Edward Thomas’s words to music.
Praise ye the Lord – Michael Hurd
Extract from Hampshire – Arthur Mee
Praise ye the Lord was commissioned on behalf of the Choir of St. Lawrence in Alton, when they had their church organ restored. We thought it would be a really good opener because it’s quite upbeat and buoyant. And then we have a spoken extract from Arthur Mee’s Hampshire, which is basically a guidebook: it’s fairly objective and dry, but mentions the square and the church, and even the statue and the music festival!
Two Pewits – Howard Skempton
A Parley of Owls – Michael Hurd
The next two choral pieces use Edward Thomas’s texts and make a nice little pair. The Two Pewits is a very atmospheric text, and Skempton sets it brilliantly, I would say, really capturing the movement of the birds.
Genesis – Michael Hurd
And then there’s Genesis, an extraordinary piece by Michael Hurd, based on a collection of poems by Geoffrey Hill called For the Unfallen. It refers to the text of the same name in the Bible, but has a slight twist to it, diverting slightly from the usual ‘order of days’!
As the team’s head-brass – Edward Thomas
This poem brings in the idea of war – but we’re not in the throes of the trenches just yet. I could probably show you the exact field in Steep which fits the description in the poem. It’s so evocative.
The Trumpet – Ivor Gurney
This is a setting of an Edward Thomas poem. It’s on quite a grand scale, and should be performed with orchestra really, but I’m sure Anthony our organist will do it complete justice!
Extract from a letter from Edward Thomas to Helen
Edward Thomas wrote to Helen from Arras, in France, in April 1917. His attitude is very much as if they’re on a sort of jolly jape together, describing how “it was quite fun for me”, and “yesterday afternoon was exciting” and so on. There’s nothing of the horror of war in it.
Faire is the Heaven – William Harris
Although this poem is essentially about death, it’s very much a positive take on it, with elements of the metaphysical. We hope this musical setting will provide a moment of reflection after the previous reading.
Of Steep – John Gibbens
This poem describes the poet’s stone in the Steep Hangers, and how it now “faces France…where he fell”. This part of the programme is less upbeat than where we started from, but again we hope it will allow our audience space for reflection.
A Poet’s Hymn – George Dyson
This is a setting of words by Robert Herrick, describing the ‘poet’s abode’. It fits well at this point in the programme, with the idea of giving oneself up to Christ.
Extract from a letter from Helen Thomas to Edward
And then we have a letter from Helen Thomas to Edward, written during the war just after he died. She writes of hers and Edward’s love for each other, and there’s some description of the countryside and so on. It leads nicely into the next piece.
My Lovely One – Gerald Finzi
This piece is often used as a wedding anthem – it was written as one after all – but it can be interpreted in a number of ways: we interpret it as Edward’s love for Helen and vice versa.
Myfanwy – Edward Thomas
Edward wrote this poem for his daughter Myfanwy, and we thought it would be a beautiful way to bring the first half to a close. It’s an extraordinary poem, with the way it completely thwarts our expectation by the third or fourth line. And then the exquisite moment at the end, when he talks about Steep.
O Praise God in His Holiness – George Dyson
We finish the first half on a high note with a piece written for the 1937 coronation. It mirrors the opening piece and we hope will tie everything together!
The second half is just music, no readings. We’ve widened the geographical net a little bit, venturing further afield into the rest of Hampshire, and Sussex.
We begin with John Ireland’s poignant setting of words from the Song of Solomon and Gospel of John, arguably on the theme of war, but with quite a bit of hope in the equation! We’re then singing four of Parry’s Songs of Farewell, which have their metaphysical moments, a bit like the Harris in the first half. These are followed by a little gem of a piece by Frank Bridge, who was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music. And then we end on a high with Finzi’s God is gone up, which is traditionally an Ascensiontide anthem, with words from the same source as My lovely one – written by Edward Taylor. We couldn’t not end the concert with this piece: it’s the epitome of the idea of life triumphing over death once and for all, and it’s a classic of the repertoire.
We are really looking forward to being back at the Festival, even singing one or two of the pieces from the Edward Thomas centenary concert back in 2017, which was such a memorable occasion. And we are very excited to be working again with the poet Debbie Whitton Spriggs, and her husband Jeremy, who has done a lot of theatrical work. And of course our lovely organist Anthony Gray, who is one of the most versatile musicians I know.
