Epiphany Singing Retreat Repertoire
The choral repertoire for Epiphany is almost as rich as for Christmas, and produced some of the most ground-breaking music of all time. This is a chance to work in an intimate chapel setting with Sir John Rutter, a ‘king’ of Epiphany, on his work “Arise, shine”, written for this season for the Choir of Westminster Cathedral.
“Epiphany is possibly my favourite musical and liturgical season – so rich and yet often neglected by church musicians exhausted by Christmas. This is the season of stars and wise men; both will be present (actually and musically) during our weekend course, which will also capture some of the mystery and magic of this ancient feast.”
Dr Edward Wickham, Artistic Director
Over the course of the weekend we will have the opportunity to work on a core repertoire of sacred works suitable for our daily evensong and compline services. In addition, we will be selecting works for smaller consorts from the madrigal, part-song and close harmony repertories for more informal music-making sessions.
Repertoire
Compline at Sidney Sussex
Evensong 1 at Gonville & Caius Dir: Matthew Martin
Evensong 2 at Magdalene College Dir Christopher Gray
William Crotch Lo! star-led chiefs
Psalms:
Sung Grace for our Formal Dinner: Oculi omnium (Wood)
Wassailling
Trad arr Vaughan Williams The Gloucestershire Wassail
We may also sing “Here we come a-wassailing”, found in Carols for Choirs
All music will be provided; but you might like to buy your own copy of The Oxford Book of Tudor Anthems (compiled by Christopher Morris; Oxford University Press) and Madrigals and Partsongs (ed. Clifford Bartlett; Oxford University Press) which are widely used in our courses.
UK/US note values
If you’re wondering what a ‘crotchet’ is, there’s a useful chart here!
Online warm-up
Don’t worry if you’re feeling a little rusty – try Edward’s “dusting off the cobwebs” video. You could also practice singing along with a Youtube video by one of the Cambridge choirs.
Enjoy!