Solemn Eucharist

Above: Come, gracious spirit, heavenly Dove (Hymn 512) and lead us. The descent of the Holy Spirit is often portrayed as a dove, as we have in the image above from the Baptism Window of Saint Thomas Church. You can also see the dove in the left panel of the reredos in the Chantry Chapel, at the top of the scene of Christ’s baptism by John. If you have not yet been baptized into the Body of Christ by water and the Spirit, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Included in this Solemn Eucharist are hymns sung by the congregation and choir, additional music sung exclusively by the choir, lessons, prayers, a sermon, a Rite I Mass, and lots of incense. All baptized Christians are welcome to receive Holy Communion. Details of the service may be seen in the leaflet, which is posted at the bottom of this page, where you will also find links to the webcast during and after the service.

►The Rector speaks about Pentecost in his weekly audio message. 

Music notes: Christopher Tye (c. 1500-1572) was one of the most colorful of England’s composers in the sixteenth century. He was a lay clerk at King’s College Cambridge before becoming Magister Choristarum at Ely Cathedral in 1543. He later took holy orders and ended his days in the Cambridgeshire parish of Doddington-cum-Marche, where he was described as ‘Doctor Musicae non tamen habilis ad predicandum’ (‚Äúa Doctor of Music, not however very skilled in preaching‚Äù).

Tye’s Missa Euge bone is thought to have been part of the submission for his Cambridge doctorate (later ‘incorporated’ at Oxford). The antiphon on which the work is reputedly based has been lost, yet there are several motifs which occur regularly throughout the work, most probably taken from this original melody. The English influence is evident in the high writing for trebles, and the rich and varied textures, yet the syllabic word-setting and extended imitation are both continental in style.

Jonathan Harvey, along with his compatriot Sir John Tavener, has drawn considerable inspiration for his compositions from scriptural material. Other influences on Harvey have included Britten, Tippett, Messiaen (with whom he studied) and the electro-acoustical experiments of Boulez and his followers at IRCAM in Paris, where some of Harvey’s compositions have originated. ‘Come Holy Ghost’ was composed for the Southern Cathedrals Festival held in Winchester Cathedral in 1984 and is dedicated to Martin Neary. The work takes as its theme the ancient chant ‘Veni creator spiritus’ which burgeons into a set of variations, during the course of which the chant becomes fragmented and transfigured, culminating in a dramatic representation of the events of Pentecost as portrayed in Acts 2:4. Out of this seeming chaos, the work resolves with a serene statement of the Doxology in plainsong.

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