Great Britten!

Marion, my SIL WhatsApped me on Friday, to say she and Adrian were going to Norwich Cathedral on Sunday evening, would we like to join them? The event was the "Ceremony of Carols" by Benjamin Britten, performed by the girls and boys who are choristers at the Cathedral, accompanied by Harpist Elizabeth Green. We jumped at the opportunity to hear this lovely piece of Christmas music as the Yuletide Season ended.

The piece has an interesting story - Britten composed it in March to April 1942, while crossing the Atlantic on a Swedish cargo ship, in the thick of the Second World War. He and his partner Peter Pears were heading back to Britain after a three-year stay in the US. Their cabins were hot and stuffy, and the company on board ‘callow, foul-mouthed and witless’. Plus, of course, there was always the danger of being attacked by German U-Boat.

The ship visited a number of ports on the Atlantic seaboard, before making the final crossing. , Britten completed his “Hymn to St Cecilia” and had hoped to finish another work but this was confiscated by customs officials who feared that the score could contain a hidden code of some sort!

Britten therefore had time on his hands. When the ship docked at Halifax, Nova Scotia, he came across a book of early English poems [“The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems”], and these formed the text which inspired him to write “A Ceremony of Carols”. Britten had also become interested in writing for the harp and intended to write a harp concerto. It was therefore a natural progression to write a work for a small boys’ choir with harp accompaniment. By the time they docked back in Blighty, he had finished the piece and prepared it for women's voices. 

The first performance in 1942 was in the Library of Norwich Castle, with an all female choir. He decided to change it after that, for male and female voices- and it has now become part of the Christmas repertoire for many choral groups. 

The text is a mixture of modern English and early/middle English. When you get both in the same piece of text, it is called 'macaronic'. One verse refers to a 'silly babe'  but silly there means helpless or pitiable! Despite the silliness and macaroni, it was a marvellous evening, the voices soaring up into the Cathedral, the harpist playing beautifully. We had a wonderful time - then A&M came back with us and we shared coffee and walnut cake, to round off our cultural evening.

What talented young people, what lovely music, what an unexpected treat!