![]() ![]() Provision for music to accompany the liturgy was stipulated by the founders of the major early colleges at Oxford, and choral church music there is still very much a living tradition. We shall ask that there be no applause at any time during this extraordinary day, and that silence prevails while in the chapels. Audience members are assigned to a particular stream of the eight Hours to ensure maximum variety of choirs and chapels. Moreover, it could be said, at the risk of divine wrath for extreme hubris, that, musically, this manifestation of the Divine Office will rank as the finest ever performed (along with the three previous editions of this festival), it being unprecedented for so many first-rate choirs to participate.Īs the capacity of the chapels is limited, all but one of the Offices are performed in two chapels simultaneously. Even were you to skip the less agreeably timed ones, you would be exposed to what is one of the most potent spiritual and aesthetic experiences available in the world today. Were you to attend all eight Hours, you would become one of an elite few among living souls to have done so, so rare is the opportunity now. Our solution is to engage two choirs for most of the Hours, one to perform the chant and the other the polyphony, which used to be standard practice in the better endowed cathedrals and colleges. Apart from sleep deprivation there are two challenges facing contemporary choirs wishing to perform the complete Divine Office: vocal stamina and the quantity of plainchant whose singing is a specialist skill not easily mastered. Ten choirs take part, two of which – The Tallis Scholars and Westminster Cathedral Choir – have opted to participate in all eight Offices. ![]() The polyphonic passages have been selected from among the finest ever composed, within an overarching Marian theme, though this is hardly limiting. ![]() It does not follow the texts prescribed for a particular day, and we err on the side of musical elaboration beyond what is canonically necessary. Though this ‘performance’ of the Divine Office (they are concerts, not services) is basically as authentic a rendering as might have been performed in late-medieval or Renaissance Britain or Europe, there are some departures from liturgical correctness. The tradition has changed little in nearly 1,500 years, and aspects may go back further: the roots of plainchant (‘Gregorian’ chant) may lie in Jewish or Pharaonic practice. The principal features of the Offices are the chanting of psalms with their antiphons, the singing of hymns and canticles, and the chanting of readings from the Bible with sung responsories. Caution need not inhibit the use of the word unique. Introduction Seventeen concerts, including the complete Divine Office: this festival is a truly extraordinary musical, architectural and spiritual experience. Music from the Renaissance to the present day, and from many European countries as well as Britain, including many Oxford alumni. Internationally acclaimed professional choirs – The Tallis Scholars, Stile Antico and Aurora Nova – and top-class period ensemble The Instruments of Time & Truth.īased in Oxford throughout, one of the world’s great historic cities, whose magnificent college chapels are uniquely apposite for this celebration of church music. The oldest and finest of college choirs participate – Magdalen, Merton, New College and The Queen’s College. The Divine Office (the eight services of the monastic day, performed at their intended times between 1.00am and 10.00pm) is the most spiritually charged and aesthetically intense experience to have emerged from western civilisation. ![]() Ten choirs and instrumental groups, eight chapels and churches, 17 concerts (including the complete Divine Office), three lectures. Back to previous page The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford - A unique event of exceptional musical intensity and spiritual potency ![]()
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