Who loves church music? Not the church leaders
NewsFrom the Daily Telegraph this morning, by Madeline Grant:
… Another week, another miserable story courtesy of the Church of England. Winchester – where sung worship has featured since before the days of Alfred the Great – has reportedly shown plans to its choral foundation to “increase diversity of contribution” in line with its main priorities of “reach and access” and “diversity and inclusion”. (Note the wishy-washy language, the lack of any mention of the worship of God.) According to classical music magazine Slipped Disc, in management-speak, this means replacing the cathedral choristers with a “variety of singers from other parts of the regional demographic”. Jargon becomes a cover for what is, essentially, vandalism, the destruction of centuries of beauty for no apparent reason.
All this has come to light via a leaked PowerPoint presentation which the press and the people who worship there were presumably not meant to see until the replacement of choral singers became a fait accompli; a classic case of managers being totally unaccountable to the people they purport to serve.
We must hope this plan remains confined to the PowerPoint deck, but similarly baffling decisions have become par for the course. St John’s College, Cambridge recently disbanded its wonderful mixed-voice Anglican choir St John’s Voices, which sings choral Evensong each week, in favour of “more diverse musical genres”. In 2020, Sheffield Cathedral sacked its entire choir, supposedly to reflect “the exciting future of the mixed urban community in which we live and work”. At parish level, St Margaret’s, Westminster quietly dismissed its choir midway through the pandemic. Following a similar move, the congregation of Holy Trinity, Sloane Square managed to raise enough money to fund their singers for a few years; but what may work in affluent Chelsea won’t be a template for all.
At parish level, St Margaret’s, Westminster quietly dismissed its choir midway through the pandemic. Following a similar move, the congregation of Holy Trinity, Sloane Square managed to raise enough money to fund their singers for a few years; but what may work in affluent Chelsea won’t be a template for all, still chuck it against the wall. The press – especially of the Right – is often accused of mindlessly bashing the CofE. In fact, very few of us hate it. Quite the opposite. It is loved but not, it seems, by the actual people who run it….
George Carlin, in his book “Brain Droppings,” once opined that the only good thing to have come out of church was the music.
So, like every other organization presenting music these days, cuts are heavily on the table. Go figure.
“…the only good thing to have come out of church was the music.”
Tend to agree, but I would add art, and architecture in particular. We should bear in mind, however, that artists have always been attracted to where the money is, the spiritual side being secondary in many if not most instances.
Yes, the main motivation all of these ‘great’ composers whose works now fill the regular repertoire and are continuously in demand, was the money. They merely used their gifts to bleed their patrons and acquire property. Therefore they were always trying to only offer what audiences and players wanted, without any personal input at all: they saw their profession as a trade, and thus helped to get classical music as a thriving business on the rails, a goal which has been achieved impressively in our own, enlightened times. The whole thing was nothing more than a clever business trick, wrapped in cheap mythology.
John, you haven’t a clue what you are talking about. Read a good biography of Bach, for example.
Borstlap = irony.
I have the faint impression that irony is not your strongest point.
Perhaps it’s not yours.
“Soli Deo Gloria”.
See: Bach.
This article misses the point.
The situation at Winchester is about how a particular individual has behaved towards those he is supposed to be nurturing, and a tradition he is charged with fostering. It’s not some outworking of the overall Church of England leadership.
More a playground bully than the kind of culture war the Telegraph favours.
But the article is about many places and choirs other than Winchester.
There’s a war on, and the sooner those who love the precious Anglican choral tradition realise that, the better.
I agree completely with you. I was at the Cathedral in Winchester on Sunday for the Girls’ Choir’s 25th anniversary service. Lovely music of course, but one thing was noticeable: the Canon Precentor was absent – for the whole day I gather – apparently on parental leave. To me that just smacks of him being told not to be there – very odd behaviour considering he is currently Canon in Residence!
Talking to current members of the congregation and Cathedral staff, they didn’t seem to have a good word to say about him. It was also community day – he was absent for the congregation meeting after the morning service. Make of this what you will…
The Dean was in residence actually. No facts here.
and he was literally on holiday with his wife a kids- apologies offered- (I was there)- it was a group holiday booked last summer.
Thems the actual facts but for those looking for a bogeyman and obsessed with conspiracy you won’t believe them… #eyeroll
For the supposed “head” of the Choral Foundation to be absent for such a major event in the history of the music at Winchester Cathedral is completely bizarre. Two former Precentors made a real effort to be there and it was really lovely to chat with them after the service. That says a lot about their commitment to their former charges. The current Canon Precentor should take a leave out of their book and actually start ministering to his flock rather than playing power games and being a bully. I wonder if he tuned in online?
I spoke with a good friend yesterday who works at the Cathedral and knows much about the workings of the place. The Precentor was down on the rota to be at Evensong last Sunday. The list was mysteriously amended over the weekend and another priest cantored at Evensong.
Church music needs to be supported not just in words on sites such as this (though the support is welcome) but with bums on seats at choral services. When clergy look out at a Monday Evensong and see poor numbers in the congregation, then it is perhaps natural that they ask how much is this costing, if there are not many in attendance to fill the collection plate. Of course that is not why these services take place, and of course the tradition must be maintained, but if choral services of a high standard were consistently packed out, not just at Christmas, then the clergy would not have a leg to stand on. So go to your local cathedral’s choral services (or parish church)and support them if you want to save this glorious part of our national heritage.
How are these things done in, say, France? There is a thriving cathedral music culture there, with regular concerts, and full churches:
Strasbourg:
https://artchoral.org/maitrise-de-la-cathedrale-de-strasbourg/
Metz:
https://maitrisecathedralemetz.org/
Rouen:
https://www.saint-evode.com/
Chartres:
https://www.cathedrale-chartres.org/maitrise-de-la-cathedrale-de-chartres/
Reims:
http://www.notredamereims.com/etablissement/maitrise/voix%20cathe-new.html
Poitiers:
https://maitrisedepoitiers.fr/index.php/fr/
Toulouse:
https://www.maitrisecathedrale-toulouse.org/
Nantes:
https://maitrisecathedrale-angers.fr/
And the Parisian Maitrise de la Cathédrale Notre-Dame is famous and also works with orchestras for grand pieces like the Fauré Requiem, Duruflé Requiem, etc. They prepare something big for the opening of the Notre Dame later this year.
https://musique-sacree-notredamedeparis.fr/en/the-maitrise-notre-dame-de-paris/
They regularly perform the music of one of the greatest talents in France: Ives Castagnet, composer of sacred music, for choir and for organ. His music is close in idiom to Duruflé’s, only more complex.
Sacred music is thriving in France.
but compare the standards of singing with the English equivalent, judging by this it’s pretty poor, and wouldn’t attract people into church I should think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1lQmvwl24I not a patch on what English cathedral choirs produce on a daily basis, and this is a grand, important occasion. I doubt whether these choirs sing every day like English cathedral choirs do, and I doubt they would have choir schools and professional lay clerks like the usual English model, things which are expensive. Also, France is a Catholic country and in such countries (also places like Spain and Italy etc), the church is far more embedded in it’s cultural life than the church in England. My point is that the war on professional music and its cost will only be won with big congregations, so people should spend less time commenting, and more time attending!
I don’t think that choir at Strasbourg cathedral was the Maitrise that offers concerts, it is much to big for that. And of course the quality of British church choirs is superb.
Despite not being a Catholic country, churches were centres of British communities for a very long time. Attendance has fallen away since the Sixties and the “God is Dead” trend — in all too many cases used as a justification for laziness by all too many people who never thought much about religion before or after the contemporary atheism caught on.
I think a lot more people are just oblivious to religious institutions than hostile to them. The main objective of the C of E seems to be to get people back into the churches, which may explain its general spinelessness on social issues. If they only realised that if they were more religious and less cut-rate community-centrish they might find their congregations…
Now they seem to realise that their major “attraction” is music, but rather than focusing on the music that glorifies God (seemingly a very secondary consideration on the C of E) they are going down the same DIE route that has not drawn parishioners back to the Sunday service or Evensong.
The younger generation has grown up without any religious education either at home or at school and certainly not at church.
Doesn’t look like a recipe for success to me.
Absolute rubbish. When St John’s Voices visited and sang at Chartres last year there was no home cathedral choir or music in sight. Many there expressed their joy at hearing a visiting choir which was to use their words ‘truly world class’.
https://www.cathedrale-chartres.org/maitrise-de-la-cathedrale-de-chartres/
Maybe you were not at the cathedral? It is that big thing with the two asymmetrical topwers, located at the Cloitre Notre Dame, opposite of the Alliance Française, right in the center. It cannot miss, really, if you look attentively.
https://www.afrenchcollection.com/chartres-cathedral-a-unesco-wonder/
It’s a conspiracy led by the Archbishops Welby & Cottrell to demote the role of good professionally led church music in the CofE.
This is continually demonstrated by their total disregard for the way in which they are allowing senior managers under their watch to disrespectfully demote the professional musicians who lead the music in the Cathedrals & major churches in this country.
They want choirs organists to accept mediocrity in their difficult talk in a secular society to provide music of excellence that in the past centuries has inspired and lifted worship to a far greater level than just words form their pulpits.
Look at how many distinguished and highly respected professional church musicians have left their jobs over the last few years as standards and lack of support for these dedicated professionals leave, disenchanted and feeling unsupported by ignorant clerics who no longer understand the role of music in worship and how it can enhance liturgy.
The catholic church went this way to destroy it’s musical heritage and is now mainly a desert of poor quality music.
The CofE, Wales & Scotland are heading for a similar disaster if they are not challenged.
It’s high time the likes of Cathedral Music Trust & the RSCM stopped self congratulating themselves and pretending all is well.
It certainly isn’t and will get worst if someone doesn’t challenge what is happening destructively in our major places of worship.
Unfortunately, the health of church music is linked to the health of the church. The inescapable truth is that the Church of England is becoming less and less relevant. As its relevance declines, so does that of church music.
The church means absolutely nothing to me. Its music is another story.
It’s the problem of religions getting stuck in orthodoxy.
This was already noticed in the 19th century when the idea of ‘Kunstreligion’ circulated among the artistic intelligentia, with the attempt to save the essence of religion through art, to liberate it from the clutches of a hollow shell and to revive it. This was also Wagner’s aim, but the whole idea misfired – as far as religiosity is concerned.