The Choir

Previously, indeed on the first Sunday of term, we had taken part again—after a year's interval—in the Epiphany Procession in York Minster. On the last Sunday of term, Passion Sunday, the Choral Society sang an excerpt from Part ii of Handel's Messiah, and a special service was devised round this, with appropriate lessons and hymns.

But the great event of any Easter Term is our Annual Confirmation, and the following boys were Confirmed by the Bishop of Selby in the School Chapel on Friday, 14th March :-

P. L. Bellwood, J. D. Birch, R. M. Botterill, K. Brown, H. C. Bulmer,

J. F. Cappleman, A. M. Carr, R. J. Catchpole, C. Charlesworth, P. B.

Clayton, G. R. H. Clemons, C. R. Clough, R. F. Coates, R. I. Collinson,

W. B. Crosskill, J. R. Dawson, M. W. Dennis, J. R. Dodsworth, R. C.

Eastwood, J. C. Fox, P. J. French, E. M. Gray, A. G. Hall, F. W. Hardy,

A. I. Harrison, B. A. Heap, C. G. Howat, J. B. Huzzard, A. J. Isherwood,

M. Kay, F. A. L. Kirby, G. C. J. Kirk, D. A. A. Lamb, J. R, J. Leishman,

R. G. Le Pla, P. R. B. Megginson, R. E. L. Micklethwaite, P. W.

Middlebrook, E. I. Moore, J. E. Moore, J. R. Moore, J. D. Morrison,

D. C. Parry, R. D. J. Pattison, M. T. Powell, A. G. Quarmby, T. J.

Robbins-Jones, P. S. Roe, J. W. Rudd, R. M. Scarth, W. T. Shaw,

D. J. E. Sherry, J. R. Shirtcliffe, A. G. D. Staines, R. M. Stork,

J. R. Tomlinson, E. H. N. Turner, R. N. Unwin, C. J. Vyle, T. Watson,

J. B. Wilkinson, M. Willstrop, R. N. Worsley; sixty-three boys in all.

D. M. Walker completed his course of Preparation, but was unfortunately prevented from being Confirmed by illness. He was Confirmed at Clifton Parish Church on 8th April.

Our visiting preachers this term have been The Dean of York and Canon Addleshaw, of York Minster, to whom we offer our grateful thanks for their help.

A special word of gratitude is due to the Chapel Monitor and his band of Servers, to whom we welcome a new recruit in R. D. Palframan. Even in the darkest days of January the Servers never failed. As during last Lent it was very good to see the regular attendance of a number of boys at the week-day Celebrations of Holy Communion. Those who were Confirmed made their first Communion on Sunday, 16th March—a great occasion.

THE CHOIR

The new arrangements for a separate Junior School service on weekdays mean that the Choir sings together less than it has hitherto, but this does not seem so far to have affected the standard of singing in the Sunday services.

After being unable to take part last year, we once more, this term, took the r6le of Everyman in the Epiphany procession in York Minster.

Two of the carols sung in this service—"The Noble Stem of Jesse" and "Ding-dong Ding"—were repeated on the two succeeding Sundays as anthems.

The other special service was the Memorial Service for His Majesty King' George VI when the Choir sang the introductory sentences of the Burial Service to music by Croft. Two anthems sung regularly in Chapel were rendered at Evensong during the term—Bairstow's "The King of Love" and "Insanae et Vanae Curae" by Haydn; while the School joined with the Choir on two other Sundays in singing Walmisly's setting of the Evening •Service in ID minor and Stanford's setting in B flat. The anthem "Oculi Omnium" by Charles Wood, new to the School, was also sung on one of the Sundays during Lent.

THE MESSIAH, PART 2

After tracing the Passion of our Lord with the help of Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" last year, it was decided this year to hear the story anew in Handel's "Messiah". Consequently on Passion Sunday we attended Chapel for a special service in which the lessons, hymns, and excerpts from Part 2 of the "Messiah" reconstructed for us the message of Passiontide. For this service the Chapel Choir was augmented; Mr. Wicks played the organ, and Mr. Waine conducted.

In a performance such as this it is necessary for a Choir to sing not only with confidence but also with feeling. Unless the meaning of the words is conveyed to the congregation then the singing loses its point. The confidence was forthcoming but in some places the appreciation of the words was missing, especially amongst the younger trebles. Occasionally—in the chorus "Surely He hath borne our griefs" for example—the words really were felt and the atmosphere became "electric", bringing the message of the words home to us of the present day, as if we were in fact not spectators but actors in the drama of the Passion.

There was only one aria, the prophecy of Isaiah "He was despised, rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief". It was sung by J. A. Sutton whose interpretation was one of the memorable parts of the service. His alto voice is powerful in the middle and upper registers but some of the lower notes only came with difficulty. His singing of "He hid not his face from shame and spitting" was particularly impressive. The recitative "All they that see Him" was the only other piece not sung by the chorus, and was sung in unison by a trio of the Choir tenors. What it gained in confidence it lacked in personal treatment; the risk of giving it to a soloist would have been well worth taking.

The School played its part in the service by singing four hymns. It is fitting that of the hymns we sing in Chapel, three of the bestloved ones should have formed part of this passion-tide service. 21