April 26, 2009


William Blake, Christ Appearing to the Apostles after the Resurrrection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., c.1795

Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
The Third Sunday of Easter

Click to go immediately to:

1) The Music Programme Homepage

2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist and Evensong

3) The Concert Calendar.


Both organ voluntaries and the anthem at Evensong this coming Sunday, April 26, are the work of Percy Whitlock.

Click to read about him and listen to performances by Jennifer Bate and John Scott as well as a full programme on Pipedreams in honour of the centenary of his birth in 1903.


Musica Orbium under the direction of Patrick Wedd is sponsoring a fundraising sing-along (lecteur à vue) of Antonio Vivaldi, Gloria in D, RV 589, at Christ Church Cathedral, on Saturday, May 2, at 6:30 pm. Admission $10. Scores available to borrow.

YouTube provides the opportunity to practice beforehand with a moving score. Click here to check it out as well as listen to two performances, one, the recent recording on Analekta by Montreal's own Ensemble Caprice, directed by Matthias Maute, with Shannon Mercer, Josée LaLonde, Sophie Larivière, Monika Mauche, and Amanda Keesmaat.


2009 Commemoration: 200th Anniversary of the Death of Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Click to read about Joseph Haydn, Missa in angustiis, Hob. XXII:11 (Mass in Troubled Times), nicknamed the Lord Nelson Mass, with access to a number of performances.


Lemuel Francis Abbott, Horatio Nelson





Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata 145, performed by Boy Soprano: Alan Bergius (Soloist of the Tölzer Knabenchor); Tenor: Kurt Equiluz; Bass: Thomas Hampson; Tölzer Knabenchor (Chorus Master: Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden) / Concentus Musicus Wien; Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting.

Gustav Weigel, Paul at Pisidian Antioch, Pitts Theological Library

April 19, 2009

Masaccio, The Distribution of Alms and the Death of Ananias, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, 1426-27


Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
The Second Sunday of Easter

Click to go immediately to:
O fili et filiae (O Sons and Daughters) was the hymn during the Preparation of the Gifts on Easter Sunday and, this coming Sunday, it will provide the inspiration for the organ prelude and postlude at Choral Eucharist.

Click to read about O fili et filiae and listen to a number of sung versions and organ voluntaries.
Il Baciccio, The Women at the Tomb, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, c.1685



The organ postlude for Evensong this coming Sunday, April 19, will be the Final from Symphony No. 1, Op. 14, by Louis Vierne.

Click on underlined movements to listen to the entire symphony performed by Daniel Roth on the 1862 Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Church of St-Sulpice, Paris: Prélude, Fugue, Pastorale, Allegro vivace, Andante, Final.

And a second version performed by Jeremy Filsell on the 1890 Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Abbey Church of St-Ouen, Rouen: Prélude, Fugue, Pastorale, Allegro vivace, Andante, Final.



Donald Hunt, assistant organist of Christ Church Cathedral, will perform a McGill master's degree organ recital on the 1915/1996 Casavant organ of the Church of St-Jean-Baptiste, Rachel et Henri-Julien (Mount-Royal metro), on Tuesday, April 21, at 7:30 pm.

Programme: Charles-Marie Widor, Symphony No. 5; Healey Willan, Passacaglia and Fugue No.2; Olivier Messiaen, Chants d'oiseaux from Le Livre d'orgue; and César Franck, Choral No. 1 in E.

Click on underlined movements to hear Charles-Maire Widor, Symphony No. 5, performed by Jane Parker-Smith on the 1987 Van de Heuvel organ of the Church of St-Eustache, Paris: Allegro vivace; Allegro cantabile; Andantino quasi allegretto; Adagio; Toccata (allegro).

Performance of Charles-Marie Widor, Symphony No. 5, by John Grew on the 1915/1999 Casavant organ of the Church of Très-St-Nom-de-Jésus, Montreal. [NML] (info)

Performance of Healey Willan, Passacaglia and Fugue No. 2, by Patrick Wedd on the 1915/1996 Casavant organ of the Church of St-Jean-Baptiste, Montreal. [NML] (info)

Click to hear Olivier Messiaen, Chants d'oiseaux from Le Livre d'orgue,performed by Olivier Latry, on the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris.

Click to hear César Franck, Choral No. 1 in E, performed by Jennifer Bate on 1979 Danion-Gonzalez organ of the Cathedral of St-Pierre, Beauvais.



Hilary Punnett, organ scholar of Christ Church Cathedral, will perform a McGill bachelor's degree organ recital on the 1915/1996 Casavant organ of the Church of St-Jean-Baptiste, Rachel et Henri-Julien (Mount-Royal metro) on Wednesday, April 22, at 4:00 pm.

Programme: Olivier Messiaen, Allélluias sereins dans l'âme que desire le ciel from L'Ascension; César Franck, Prélude, fugue and variation; and Louis Vierne, Final from Symphonie No. 1.

Click to hear Olivier Messiaen, Alléluias sereins dans l'âme que desire le ciel from L'Ascension, performed by Messiaen himself on the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Church of Sainte-Trinité, Paris.

Click to hear César Franck, Prélude, fugue and variation, performed by Jennifer Bate on the 1979 Danion-Gonzalez organ of the Cathedral of St-Pierre, Beauvais.

Click to hear Louis Vierne, Final from Symphonie No. 1, performed by Daniel Roth on the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Church of St-Sulpice, Paris.


Musica Orbium, under the direction of Patrick Wedd, is sponsoring a fundraising sing-along (lecteur à vue) of Antonio Vivaldi, Gloria in D, RV 589, at Christ Church Cathedral, on Saturday, May 2, at 6:30 pm. Admission $10. Scores available.

Click to go to Antonio Vivaldi, Gloria in D, RV 589, performed by the Ensemble Caprice, directed by Matthias Maute, with Shannon Mercer, Josée LaLonde, Sophie Larivière, Monika Mauche, and Amanda Keesmaat. Open the lyrics and booklet.

To listen, click on the small loudspeakers in front of the first 12 movements.



Click to go to Cantata 66 for Easter Monday performed by Soprano: Barbara Schlick; Alto: Kai Wessel; Tenor: James Taylor; Bass: Peter Kooy; Collegium Vocale Gent; Philippe Herreweghe conducting.

Pontormo, Supper at Emmaus, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 1525

April 5-12, 2009 (Holy Week)


Dieric Bouts the Elder, The Last Supper, Sint-Pieterskerk (detail), Leuven, 1464-66

Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
Holy Week: Passion Sunday through Easter
April 5-12, 2009

Click to go immediately to:

1) The Music Programme Homepage

2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist and Evensong

3) The Concert Calendar.



The music of Orlande de Lassus appears throughout Holy Week Services. His St. Mark Passion will be sung on Good Friday.

Click to read about Orlande de Lassus and listen to a wide array of his liturgical music.





Click to hear this year's Holy Week programme of organ and choral music from Pipedreams: From Palms to Passiontide.

Click to hear last year's Easter programme: A Resurrection Festival.



One of the choral selections during Good Friday's Meditations on the Passion is Gregorio Allegri's Miserere (Psalm 51).

Click to read about Allegri's masterpiece and listen to a number of different performances.



On Good Friday at 5pm, the Quatuor Claudel-Canimex will perform the Joseph Haydn, String Quartet in E-flat, Hob. III/50-56, with a commentary by the Very Rev. Michael Pitts.
Click to listen Joseph Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ, Hob. XX/1, the original version for chamber orchestra, performed by the Ensemble orchestral de Paris, Armin Jordan conducting.





Click to listen to Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Stabat Mater dolorosa performed by the Taverner Choir, Andrew Parrott conducting.









Click for the possibility to listen to Johann Sebastian Bach, St. Mark Passion, BWV 247, performed by the Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, and the Cambridge Baroque Camerata; Geoffrey Webber, conducting.








Click to listen to an English version of Tomás Luis de Victoria, The Passion according to St. John, performed by the Renaissance Singers of Montreal, Donald Mackey conducting.








Click for the posssibility to listen to Johann Sebastian Bach: St John Passion, BWV 245, Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting.









Click for the possibility to listen to Johann Sebastian Bach: St Matthew Passion, BWV 244, in performances conducted by Otto Klemperer, Masaaki Suzuki and Helmuth Rilling.







Click to go to George Frideric Handel , Messiah: Part II & III, The Passion, Resurrection, & Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ, performed by James Bowman, countertenor; Robert Tear, tenor; Benjamin Luxon, baritone; the Choir of King's College, Cambridge; the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields; Sir David Willcocks, conducting.





The Trinity Church Wall Street Choir and the Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Andrew Megill, on Tuesday, March 24, 2009, performed Johann Sebastian Bach, Jesu Meine Freude, BWV 227; Dietrich Buxtehude, Membra Jesu Nostri; and Domenico Scarlatti, Stabat Mater, now available to watch online.

Click to open the programme with notes and texts in the original language and translation.

Click to watch and hear the concert. By reducing the size of the programme it can be placed below the video presentation so that the text can be followed as one watches.



The Exultet is the hymn sung to the paschal candle at the beginning of the Great Vigil of Easter.

Click for the full English and Latin text.

Click to hear the Exultet chanted in English by Fr. Tim Hepburn of the Emory University Catholic Center.

Click to listen to Hervé Lamy chant the Easter Proclamation in Gregorian.


Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Kommt, eilat und laufet / Come, hasten and run (Oster-Oratorium / Easter Oratorio), BWV 249, with a performance by Emily Van Evera, soprano; Caroline Trevor, contralto; Charles Daniels, tenor; Peter Kooy, bass; the Taverner Consort; the Taverner Players; Andrew Parrott conducting.
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