Ely

Singing in the choir stalls in any British Cathedral is a blessing, but some cathedrals are better than others and Ely is one of the better ones. I had been to Ely before, but not as a singer, as someone who belongs.  Why does anyone want to spend a holiday cooped up in a hot and badly ventilated choir school, practising all day, to sing Evensong six evenings in a row? This year our choir is bigger than other years, 29-30 singers in all, and we all love what we are doing and are here of our own free will. Ely is just a small town, and besides the cathedral and the docks down at the riverside, not to mention Cromwell's house, there isn't much to see. So the groupies and fans travelling with us are rather disappointed. They can't travel to Cambridge every day. We, the choristers, are quite happy and content. There would not be much time to explore our surroundings anyway, and it is not what we have come for. Although we come from different countries and different church choirs, we are supposed to be united in this and sing with one voice, no matter what we are or do in our "normal" lives. And that takes concentration and effort.

Ely cathedral can be seen from afar, as it is built on the highest point of a former island in the marshlands, now the fens, flatter than Holland it seems. To me the land is uninteresting, but the cathedral is not. It is a mixture of old, older, oldest and newer, as so many cathedrals. The Octagon over the crossing of Nave and the North and South Transepts is amazing, God looking down on us from above. The nave has a Victorian roof, but the North and South Transepts have hammer beam roofs dating back from the 15^th century, adorned with wooden angels painted in very bright and basic colours, red, gold, blue, green and yellow. Some of our group don't even notice them till the middle of the week as they are so high up. Many churches in Norfolk and in Cambridgeshire have "angel" roofs, but not all of them are coloured. Some because the colour has faded through the centuries (Necton?), others because they were never painted in the first place.

Several years ago, the angels in Ely were as colourless as in many other churches, but they have been restored to their former glory. I think I prefer the unpainted version.

We have an ambitious music list, but the first and the last Evensong we usually sing something we know quite well. The first evening because we have only studied for half a day and haven't fully blended yet as a choir. Besides it would be discouraging if the first Evensong would not go well. The last Evensong we want to go out with a bang so that we feel happy and long to do it again next year. We forget the imperfections and mistakes we have made during the week and just rejoice and sing joyfully. The last Evensong is a mixture of happiness and sadness. When it is over, we all part and go our separate ways again. For me it feels like a balloon out of which the air is escaping all of a sudden and I am left with this uninteresting limp and useless piece of plastic or rubber, whatever.  It is wonderful if we are invited back, which is often the case. At least we have achieved what we came for. But our dream of being cathedral choristers, is over.

Here is our music list for the week:

Monday 1 August:

Office Hymn 208

Preces: Heathcote Statham

Psalms 6, 7, 8

Canticles: Walmisley in D minor

Anthem: The Lord hath been mindful – S.S. Wesley (from Ascribe unto the Lord)

Tuesday 2 August:

Office Hymn 209

Preces: Michael Walsh

Psalms 12, 13, 14 (omitting vv 5-8)

Canticles: Sumsion in A

Anthem: Geistliches Lied – Johannes Brahms

Wednesday 3 August:

Office Hymn210

Preces: Michael Walsh

Psalm 18

Canticles: St. Andrew’s Service – Peter Aston

Anthem: Hail gladdening light – Charles Wood

Thursday 4 August:

Free day

Friday 5 August (Eve of Transfiguration in Lady Chapel):

Office Hymn 323

Preces: Smith 5 part

Psalms: 99 & 110

Canticles: Purcell in G minor

Anthem: Justorum animae – Gabriel Jackson

Saturday 6 August (Transfiguration):

Office hymn 323

Preces: Rose

Psalm 72

Canticles: William S. Lloyd Webber in E minor

Anthem: Christ whose glory fills the sky – Harold Darke

Hymn: NEH 178

Sunday 7  August (Eucharist):

Darke in F

Motet: Salvator Mundi – Thomas Tallis

Hymns: NEH 393, Sing Praise 259, Common Praise 170, NEH 286

Sunday 7 August (Choral Evensong):

Office Hymn 202

Preces: Rose

Psalm 86

Canticles: Noble in B minor

Anthem: Cantique de Jean Racine – Gabriel Fauré

Hymn: NEH 431

I love most of the music, but the chanted psalms are my favourite. Although chanting seems so easy, it isn't at all. The psalms can't be sung well without really taking in the words, the meaning. They are sung alternatively by the decani and the cantores. Also the words of the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis, respectively the songs of praise of Maria, and of Simeon when Jesus was presented in the Temple, move me every time. They are wonderful, whatever music they are set to, and fill me with joy. It doesn't matter at all if there are people attending the service or not, it is our own hymn to God, I think, giving ourselves in God's hands for safekeeping during the night at the end of the day.

The high altar from the choir stalls

I took many pictures inside the cathedral, but it is better to visit the splendid website of Ely Cathedral, which, besides a lot of useful information, also offers virtual tours of the exterior and interior of this awe inspiring building..

Two services formed an extra challenge this time. The first one was the service on Friday in the Lady Chapel, as we could not hear each other at all, and the anthem, Justorum Animae by Gabriel Jackson, was not easy either, but very effective in the chapel, where it must have sounded ethereal due to the acoustics. But it was all very different from singing in the choir stalls.

And the Sunday Eucharist in the nave is always a challenge. The choir usually feels rather exposed, and although by that time we know the ropes of processing and the rituals at Evensong, the Eucharist and processing on Sunday is different in each cathedral. So I at least, feel rather tense and it is a relief when all goes well and we do not do make any faux pas. But this tension often affects our singing, which it did indeed. Again, we can't hear each other very well, which is a disadvantage.

My B&B was in a small village just outside Ely, in Witchford. A former farmhouse again, the pigsties or stables had been converted into en suite bedrooms and were separate from the house where breakfast was served in the oldest part of it. The wooden beams in the dining room were impressive, and it was a nice and spacious room, contrary to my bedroom. Although everything was right, a good bed, clean floors, piping hot water and a very powerful shower, there was only one straight backed chair in what was supposed to be a double room. When I saw the size of the rooms, I took a double room because I wanted a bit of space, but it did not really serve my purpose. For an 8-day stay the room was very cramped, with pegs on the wall instead of a wardrobe – hangers kept sliding off - , and a wee chest with just two usable drawers. The farm was quite hidden from the road and reached by a potholed, private lane, which was a bit tricky at night. As was avoiding the many rabbits. Fellow singers in town complained of street noise in their accommodation. I woke up early because of respectively - although not necessarily in that order - a goose honking under my window, a pheasant making the most terrible noise, and pelting rain. I got up  - at 4.30 in the morning – and was rewarded by seeing the most perfect double rainbow I have ever seen, very brightly coloured. Lacking a wide angle lens, I could not photograph the complete rainbow, unfortunately. It is amazing that at home the noise of nearby traffic on the motorway and of planes beginning their landing right over my house, do not really disturb me any longer. But in that absolutely quiet B&B, in the middle of fields, feathered creatures could, as well as a braying donkey.

And then of course there is the day off in the middle of the week, which is worthy of a separate post.