Our First Evensong a Success!

It sure felt like a short night, but we all managed to get to breakfast, then get out to the bus with our robes and music by 8:45 am. After a short rehearsal on the lawn in front of the hotel, we boarded the bus and headed into Bath for a full day of sight-seeing and singing.

After we made a brief stop at Bath Abbey to park our robes in the choir vestry, David, our tour guide, started us out with a very informative walking tour, during which we learned a lot about the history, the architecture, and important people of Bath. We then had several hours to explore on our own, joining the huge throngs of other tourists enjoying narrow shop-lined streets, old limestone buildings, beautiful gardens, and sunny weather.

We gathered back at the cathedral around 3:30 to don our choir robes and rehearse for our first Evensong service. The abbey was filled with tourists during our public rehearsal. Many were exploring the beautiful building and taking pictures, but some sat and listened. It's a good thing we rehearsed the processional, because we lined up the wrong way the first time and all ended up on the wrong side of the choir loft -- kind of like driving on the wrong side of the street!

Our first Evensong service featured several works by Healey Willan, the Halley responses, and Psalm 11. These are all works that we have studied a lot and performed before, but what a different feeling to sing in such a lofty place! The stone walls and the spectacular, high vaulted ceilings reverberated with the sound of our voices.

After the service, many of us took a special tour to the top of the bell tower -- around 220 steps up a narrow, spiral staircase to see how the bells are rung, to see and hear them up close, and to look out over the city in all directions from the top of the roof and then from the top of the tower. At one point in the tour we were just above the vaulted ceiling, which is carved of stone only 7 cm thick. We could look down into the abbey through a little hole in the ceiling. The stone floor of the abbey looked very far down from there!

Laura Snyder





A few pictures taken from the tower ...