Tewkesbury and another great concert

On Friday we sandwiched a short trip to Tewkesbury between our two rehearsals. Tewkesbury Abbey was founded in 1087, but the current building was largely constructed between 1102 and 1121, and is a fine example of the Norman Romanesque style. When we entered the abbey, we discovered a choral rehearsal in progress -- for a concert that afternoon of the Three Choirs Festival. Hearing Lauridsen's O magnum mysterium echo through the abbey as we walked in was an unexpected special moment.















The town of Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, is situated where the river Severn meets the river Avon. Unfortunately this means that it is occasionally subject to flooding. Tewkesbury has been called one of the best Medieval streetscapes in England, with a lot of half-timbered buildings and narrow alleys.












On Friday evening, many of us took the coach to Worcester for another wonderful concert. The Festival Chorus and Philharmonia Orchestra combined in two major works: An Oxford Elegy, by Ralph Vaughan Williams; and Johannes Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem.

The text of An Oxford Elegy combines portions of two poems by Matthew Arnold, "The Scholar Gipsy" and "Thyrsis". Vaughan Williams had originally wanted to create an opera based on "The Scholar Gipsy". The text is conveyed primarily by a narrator, with the choir either singing wordlessly or echoing the narrator. It was interesting to hear passages referring to scenes in Oxford so soon after our visit there.

And the eye travels down to Oxford's towers:
That sweet city with her dreaming spires,
She needs not summer for beauty's heightening.
Lovely all times she lies, lovely to-day!

Brahms' German Requiem is much more familiar to choirs and audiences, but no less worth hearing again -- and this was an excellent performance. Brahms was an agnostic, but he know the Lutheran Bible well, and chose to use passages from the Old and New Testaments, and the Apocrypha, rather than the traditional Requiem Mass text.

Laura S.

Gloucester, Part I

We arrived at the Ramada Bowden Hall Hotel late in the afternoon on Thursday, August 4, and then road the coach to the Colesbourne Inn for a delicious evening meal together.

Colesbourne Inn

Bowden Hall Hotel











Friday was a free day; while some people chose to stay at the hotel for the day, others went into Gloucester to do laundry or to begin exploring the city.




Gloucester has a very different flavour than either Bath or Oxford. It has a long history as a trading centre. The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal connects it to the Severn Estuary, allowing large ships to enter its port.

Market Day in Gloucester

Draw Bridge on the Canal

Mariners' Chapel

King Edward's Gate

Laura S.

Rainy Day in the Cotswolds

We drove from Oxford to Gloucester by way of the lovely Cotswolds. The word Cotswolds combines the term "cots" -- stone sheep shelters, and "wolds" -- rolling hills. The golden fields of grain and green sheep pastures are defined by distinctive stone fences built from the Oolite limestone that is quarried in the region. Farm and village buildings are also constructed of this limestone.

We stopped to explore two typical market towns -- Burford and Chipping Campden. Both have their origins in the wool trade, but now rely heavily on the tourist trade. There were plenty of small shops, tea rooms, and pubs to provide shelter from the rain.

Our coach driver did an excellent job of maneuvering through the narrow, winding roads to our new hotel outside Gloucester.


Burford Street View

Chipping Campden

Chipping Campden Market Hall

St. James Church, Chipping Campden

Typical stone fence












Laura S.

Tuesday, August 2: I've been to London to visit ...

Well, I'm not sure that any of us visited the Queen today, but about 20 of our group piled onto the coach at 8:00 am to see how much of London we could cover in a one-day visit. The rest of the group took the day to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere at the hotel and to explore more of Oxford.

The London group managed to cover a lot of territory in one day. I spent several hours at the Victoria and Alberta Museum, which was founded in 1852 as the Museum of Manufactures. It is now "the world's greatest museum of art and design" with huge collections of ceramics, furniture, textiles, sculptures, and other fine and decorative arts from around the world and through the ages.

I next tried to rent a bicycle to explore Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, but the self-serve bike rental didn't work well for me, so I settled for a stroll through part of Hyde Park -- hard on my feet but a better way to take pictures of the lovely flower gardens there.

After a very hot and crowded rush-hour tube ride I got to St. Paul's Cathedral just as they were starting their Choral Evensong service. The first cathedral to be built after the reformation, St. Paul's was designed by the architect Christopher Wren and erected between 1675 and 1710. It's a breathtaking, awe-inspiring place in which to celebrate the beautiful evensong service. After the service I discovered that several other tour members were also there, and Warren was able to provide several details about the organ at St. Paul's.

Other London explorations by the group included the British Museum, double-decker tour buses, the Tower of London, the Natural History Museum, and a lot of great places to eat. Three of our group even managed to Brighton for the day.

One of London's newer sculptures

Flowers in Hyde Park:

Saint Paul's Cathedral

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 ...