I have a very dear friend who is a theologian and she told me once that the church bells fly away on the night of Good Friday (presumably after the Easter vigil was done), only to return on Easter morning.…
Tag: J.S. Bach
Music for a Quiet Lent: Friday, April 10 – Good Friday
Good Friday is a day of tradition and ritual for me. I usually get up early after my Maundy Thursday service the night before, to sing a morning service at Wesley, then help lead the Way of the Cross around…
Music for a Quiet Lent: Monday, April 6
As we are approaching Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, the Lectionary is following John through the last days of Christ’s life, and so today we get Mary anointing Jesus’s feet with perfume and wiping it away with her hair. This…
Music for a Quiet Lent: Sunday, April 5 – Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday
OK, get ready for a big sing today, because one of the churches I sing at calls this Palm Sunday and the other one calls it Passion Sunday, and, reflecting my habit of racing around madly between services on the…
Music for a Quiet Lent: Tuesday, March 24
If my Anglican lectionary is to be believed, today is the Feast of the Archangel Gabriel. I’m not sure what to do with that in a Lenten context, but I see that one of the Psalms for the daily Mass…
Music for a quiet Lent: Sunday, March 22
As of Friday, all the churches I sing at have closed down, to help protect communities from the spread of the virus. It’s the right decision, but it makes me sad nonetheless. I find it hard to even conceptualise Lent…
Advent Calendar Day 22: Jauchzet! Frohlocket! – JS Bach
From quiet joy to drums and drama! And yes, I’m just taking you on a tour of my favourite composers now. But if that isn’t something you like, what on earth are you doing here? This piece is a total…
Advent Calendar Day 19: O Little One Sweet *and* Schlafe, mein Liebster – JS Bach
I knew I wanted some Bach in this bracket, but I couldn’t decide whether to go with O Little One Sweet, which is a standalone carol, or Schlafe, Mein Liebster, the lullaby from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. But then I realised…
Advent Calendar Day 25 – Schlafe Mein Liebster (JS Bach)
Oh, you didn’t think we were going to get to Christmas with more Bach, now did you? Of course we weren’t. This is a rather gorgeous alto aria from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, which is basically a lullaby for the baby…
Advent Calendar Day 14 – O Little One Sweet (J.S. Bach)
Did I mention that I’m really, really into Bach at the moment? The fact that this is the second bit of Bach you are getting in this Advent Calendar might be a clue (and it’s not the last, either –…