31 March, 2013
Happy Easter!
The Easter Vigil is complete – the new flame kindled, the Paschal candle lit, the Exsultet sung and the risen Christ welcomed with bells, the Gloria, and the sound of the organ, silent throughout the austere Lenten season. Easter morning has been celebrated with an orchestral mass, and perhaps a dash of Mascagni. And church singers throughout London, sustained for the past week by coffee, muffins, throat sweets and the prospect of calmer times to come, head gratefully for their sofas.
The singers of Stile Antico won’t be idle for long – we meet on Tuesday to complete our preparation for the tour. We’ll be revisiting music that many may have heard this morning: the second part of our ‘Passion and Resurrection’ programme begins with Taverner’s rapt responsory Dum transisset Sabbatum, describing exactly the moment when the sun rose on the first Easter morning, and the women found the tomb empty. We explore the joyous side of Easter, in the shape of Byrd’s In resurrectione tua and Crecquillons’ Congratulamini mihi, but also the wonderment with which believers view these miraculous events, embodied most completely in the glorious Surrexit pastor bone by Lheritier.
We look forward to sharing all this – and more – with you in the US and Canada next week. But for now, we wish you all a very Happy Easter.