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My Experiences Attending Evensong at Kings College,
Cambridge
The entrance to Kings College can be either from the west via the busy
street into the courtyard or from the east as seen from the River Cam
November 11, 1997
By: Rev. Larry D. Ellis
The Prelude
Tonight I heard something new - new to me. At 4:45 PM we queued (stood in line)
to enter the chapel at Kings College, Cambridge, England for Evensong. We were
numbers 31 and 32 in the line which within the next thirty minutes grew to well
over 200 persons. Through the stain glass windows we could see the lights on
inside the chapel. They dimmed around 5:10 and a television production crew
carried out a great deal of television equipment. People were talking with each
other as we visitors were standing in line. The bell at the gate chimed five
times at 5:00 PM. At 5:15 PM the bell atop the chapel began to strike. I counted
10, 20, 30, 50 and then the line began to move up as people entered the chapel
for the service. At the 100th peal, we entered the chapel and I could barely
hear it continue to ring.
As always before, when I entered the building, I was uplifted in a way that no
words can adequately describe. The very high stone fan vaulted ceiling captured
my full attention. There I was torn between the high vertical lines, the arched
struts reaching into the heavens, and the circular, conical vaulted stone
ceiling.
The chapel organist began a very pensive prelude. The melody was not familiar to
me, but its style was congruent with the majesty of all else around me. We were
slowly led through the opening in the screen given by Henry the 8th and his
temporal wife, Anne Bolyne, under the organ to the sacred end of the chapel. We
passed by the large brass lectern and the choir seats, each one illuminated by
the light of a single white candle surrounded by a clear glass flue. All
worshipers quickly arrived at their seats and opened the book containing the
order of worship. We had a booklet that told of the specific service music for
each service, a Psalter, a service booklet and an anthem book. This was a lot to
hold, but it was manageable since I am, after all, an Episcopalian.
The Introit
As soon as we were seated the choir of men and boys and clergy processed into
their respective places, without any fanfare whatsoever. It was as if they
wanted to in no way disturb those many persons who were kneeling in prayer.
Following the completion of the organ prelude and a few seconds of silence, the
cantor began the sung portion of the service. For the next 45 minutes we heard
heavenly music sung by the choir. We heard the three lessons read by a young man
who must have been eight or nine years old. He spoke elegant English, but not
very forcefully. We recited the creed and prayed silently. Nothing was fast
paced. Nothing moved slowly. The choir magnificently chanted the entire 32
verses of Psalm 134. The musical dynamics reinforced the text phrase by phrase.
As the Magnificat, Nunc Dimetus and anthem were sung, the far removed organist
never missed a single nuance of a single phrase. He or she was not visible from
the ground floor. After the completion of the last note and the silence
following the 4-8 second reverberation no one would even dare to take a breath
or cough. The pitches sung by the choir were perfect. The choir pronounced their
t's, k's and p's so clearly that the building reverberated with the
percussiveness of these sounds which were always in perfect synchronization.
Stephen Cleobury stood to one side of the choir to conduct, seemingly to avoid
being "center stage". Several times as I listened to the words of these
magnificent text, I had to wipe away the tears from my eye because of the
incredible work that God has done and is doing and for whose work we were then
offering thanks together.
The Recessional
As we turned to the last page and the cantor sang and the choir responded,
silence fell on the room. Then as the candle- light flickered the organist
started another piece and the choir and clergy recessed followed by all of us.
This moment had now moved on in my life, but will never be forgotten.
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Copyright © 2008 Worship and Church Music
• Denver, CO |
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