The Temple Church, 8 July 2012

Transcription

1 The Temple Church, 8 July 2012 The Music at this morning s Mattins included the Credo from Leighton s Missa de Gloria, Berkeley s The Lord is my Shepherd, Awake from Bernstein s Chichester Psalms and Howells Fourth Rhapsody. Let my due feet never fail, To walk the studious Cloysters pale, And love the high embowed Roof, With antick Pillars massy proof, And storied Windows richly dight, Casting a dimm religious light. Milton, Il Penseroso, Generations of duteous feet, of choristers and choirmen, have echoed through the cloisters outside to reach this high embowed roof. We owe them a debt of gratitude that we can repay only by our own efforts: by the music we sing each week, worthy of them and of the legacy the choir and tradition and example of musicianship and commitment that they left us. Here at the Temple there is a famously unusual feature to that legacy: E J Hopkins founded the choir in 1843 and stayed here until 1898; Walford Davies (a mere fly-bynight, by Temple standards!) was here for 25 years, ; and he was followed by Sir George Thalben Ball, doyen of 20 th century choir-conductors, who arrived as assistant in 1919, assumed direction of the choir in 1923 and was in post until The continuity in musical style was even more marked than this might suggest. Sir Thomas Armstrong, Principal of the Royal Academy of Music, came to Mattins here in 1960 and wrote afterwards: What particularly struck me on Sunday was the continuity of style that has been maintained in the Temple Church over a long period. This is essentially the same as it was a generation ago under Walford Davies.The style was always marked by a certain intensity of approach. Whether this was derived from Walford Davies I cannot say. Certainly it has changed little in 40 years, and may well have changed little in the 40 years before that. I was told once by an old musician that the singing possessed similar qualities under the direction of E J Hopkins who died in 1901; and from what I know of Hopkins own music this possibility is a likely one. 1 There are men who remember, of course, that sound and that tradition well. Some of them are here today. 1 D. Lewer, A Spiritual Song, 1961, 460-1

2 There was then a particular character and cohesion to the choir. The choirmen were amateur or semi professional singers. Some had been choirboys at the Temple. Most had office jobs in London. The same men sang week by week, and were very rarely absent. They were paid only a modest sum to cover their travelling expenses. Sir George was reluctant to have professional singers; he thought they would be away too much and that the choir would consist of a lot of deputies and all sense of a team would be lost. There was a cohesion to the music too: the repertoire was drawn almost entirely from Bach onwards. Tallis s In the Dorian Mode, Eccard s When to the Temple Mary went Sir George would perform these, from earlier music, but in general he preferred a more modern repertoire. There are people here who will remember the regime for the choir s full practice. After the choristers rehearsal on Friday the boys had tea in the kitchens of the Middle Temple Hall and were then left unsupervised to cause mishap and mayhem around the Temple until the full practice of boys and men together, when the men had left work, at 6.00pm. Tea in the Middle Temple kitchens: some features of the time, quite natural then, would simply with the passage of time and mores be hard to imagine now. The choirmen were invited to the annual choir dinner; but there was no other social connection between Benchers and choir. The choristers and choirmen who were part of our life in those days are in their middle age now, some older still. We feel a pang when we hear that one has died. This year, three have passed on: Graham Davies, who joined the choir in 1959, and latterly lived with Kerry in Suffolk. Peter Kerswell, who joined the choir in 1960 and later sang in the Templars Male Voice Choir. He and Pauline used to attend Temple services from time to time when living in London. Martin Corry, slightly younger, who also sang later in the Templars Male Voice Choir and as a tenor in the Church. He served at the early Sunday morning Communion Martin and his parents who attended Mattins for many years are well remembered here. Martin and Ann were married here by Master Milburn. Sir George played the organ. Ian le Grice was best man and the reception was held in the Master s garden. Martin loved the Temple. We are the less for their passing. No man is an island, entire of itself; each is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. Our hearts go out to their families, to those who knew them here as children and those who have come to know and love them since. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

3 Psalm 23, set by Lennox Berkeley And what an inheritance awaited Sir George s successor. Who could worthily and aptly take it on? The Inns appointed John Birch, musician of international stature, famous for his collaboration with Dean Hussey at Chichester. What a joy is has been, this morning, to hear music that will always be linked with John and his Chichester years. Leonard Bernstein himself conducted the first performance of the Chichester Psalms in New York in 1965; two weeks later John conducted the first UK performance at Chichester as part of the Southern Cathedrals Festival which John himself with the organists of Winchester and Salisbury had reestablished five years earlier. John premiered Herbert Howells s Fourth Rhapsody at Westminster Abbey in (And in 1972, he performed a Howells Partita written for Edward Heath, the piano-playing Prime Minister. Mr Heath, leaving the first performance to John, pleaded pressure of state-business; one might wonder if he was influenced as well by the pressure of a difficult score.) John premiered Berkeley s The Lord is my shepherd, composed for the 900 th anniversary of the foundation of Chichester Cathedral, John gave the UK premiere of Leighton s Missa de Gloria (Dublin Festival Mass), at St Michael s Cornhill, What an extraordinary legacy: to have been central to the creation of such works, and in such abundance. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know that the Lord, he is God. Psalm 100, set in Hebrew by Leonard Bernstein, Chichester Psalms To the surprise of the Cathedral world, John Birch decided in 1980, at the age of 51, to take early retirement from Chichester and move back to London. John arrived at the Temple in January And he was not busy just here. In 1984 he was appointed curator-organist at the Royal Albert Hall. He also served as president of the Royal College of Organists, At the Temple, John decided to adapt the repertoire and running of the choir.

4 John expanded the choral repertory, introducing much music from earlier periods, by Palestrina, Byrd, Tallis etc. Ian le Grice was appointed assistant organist and started working officially at the Temple in October John arranged with the Royal College of Music for some of his organ students to be organ scholars at the Temple: among them were Stephen Disley, Stuart Nicholson (son of our former verger Brian Nicholson) and Andrew Post (a former chorister and the son of Peter Post, Lord Denning's clerk). John sought and was granted permission for the choirmen to have lunch in hall once a month with the law students in their dining-terms. Here at last was a welcome step towards some sense of community A year or so later John announced that he would be re-auditioning all the choirmen. There was some danger of misunderstanding here. Several of the men had been ready to retire when Sir George did, and only stayed on in order to give John some continuity and a back row in place for his arrival. Lord Diplock fittingly wrote personal letters of thanks to each man who left the choir. A new team of younger men was engaged, and they were paid a fee comparable to the fee paid by London cathedrals. The Friday evening practice was replaced by a longer practice before the Sunday morning service. The choir s structure, as we know it now, was formed by John Birch in those early years. In 1985 the Queen attended a service to mark the 800th anniversary of the Round Church. The Queen entered to the singing of Finzi s God is gone up. John arranged the introduction for brass and organ and brought a group of brass players from the RCM to play. Following the service there was a banquet in Middle Temple Hall. The men were in the musicians gallery with John. All were in black tie, John in an old DJ which he kept in his Temple flat. He bent down to tie his shoelaces. Rrrrip: the trousers split along the rear seam. No matter, until Her Majesty Queen asked if the choir could come downstairs so that everyone could hear them and see them better. Dr Birch stayed modestly upstairs. John was awarded a Lambeth D Mus by Archbishop Runcie in1989, and would take the choir to sing at Lambeth Palace for degree ceremonies and for the palace staff carol services. There is a dark secret to one of these visits. The story involved a chorister, a large and ancient door, a large and ancient and tempting key, a mischievous chorister and an Archbishop, now locked into the loo behind the door whose key had mysteriously disappeared. (It is probably in the Lambeth pond, to this day.) John retired in There was, quite rightly, a service at which he was thanked for fifteen years of invaluable work here. All eyes were on him. He had transformed the choir; all of us here this morning do well to remember how much we owe him. We are his heirs; this morning s service, the service every Sunday morning made possible by the choir s present structure and regime is his legacy

5 We should remember as well those who have, over the decades, sung and served under the direction of John himself, his predecessors and his successors. On the morning of John s retirement, at least one chorister was also leaving the Temple. Sam Hiller had auditioned here with Peter Hurford s Litany to the Holy Spirit; his parents still have the letter, offering Sam his place in the choir. Sam continued to sing, as a student and lay clerk: at Sheffield Cathedral, for six years and more. (He continued to report regularly to his parents on the quality of the sermon!) Sam, a young man, died earlier this year. John Birch went to his funeral, and then as thoughtful and as loyal as ever sent to Sam s parents a photograph of the choir that included Sam. Only a few weeks later, John himself suffered his fatal stroke. I hope John would be pleased if this morning, as we give thanks for him, for his whole life and career, for the music he made at Chichester, in the Temple and far beyond, we give the last word to this one chorister, one young singer, who sang here under John s direction and who has died so long before his time. Thanks to John, thanks to all the singers who worked here with him, thanks to their successors who fill this lovely place with praise week by week and year by year, Here let the pealing Organ blow, To the full voic d Quire below, In Service high, and Anthems cleer, As may with sweetnes, through mine ear, Dissolve me into extasies, And bring all Heav'n before mine eyes. Milton, Il Penseroso, 161-6