Cathedral Christmas Choral Endeavours

The rising of the sun and the running of the deer

              The playing of the merry organ, Sweet singing in the choir

 Cathedral Choir October 2011 Presentation of award to member Anna Monahan

Christmas Vigil 2011 
Duo      Hush be Still                 Austrian Carol
             In a Manger                   Polish Carol
             Lo How a Rose               Praetorius
Choir  Silent Night,                   Gruber
            The Holy  City                 Weatherly /Stepehen Adams   soloist Tony Murray
            Carol of the Bells            Leontovich 
Duo    Ave Maria                     Caccini
           Don Oiche Ud i mBeithil  trad


Gathering Hymn  Adeste Fidelis
                               Away in a Manger         Andrea
                                Once In Royal David's City Duo +organ 
                                Mass parts Joncas, Lecot, Deiss, O' Carroll
                                Psalm: Tonight a Saviour has been born to us Ronan McDonagh cantor Helen Minogue
                                Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring Duo
                                Oh Holy Night    Cappeau/Adolphe Adam
                                 For Unto Us A Child is Born  Handel
                                 Hark the Herald
                                 Diadem

Cathedral delegation at ClareFM studio 23rd Dec

Quavers and semiquavers Helen, Gertrude

Christmas is inevitably a busy time for church choristers.  The Ennis Cathedral Choir has been associated with liturgy in St Peter and Paul's Cathedral for over a century beginning under the direction of Belgian musician, Charles, 'Mons' Nono who arrived in Ennis in 1859  and today is a 40 strong adult mixed voice choir, roughly of the proportions of 3:1 women to men. The choir is currently directed by Michael Hennessy with Leon Walsh as principal organist. The growth of the choir continued under the direction of Ernest de Regge who came to Ireland from Belgium after World War 1 and was choir director for about 35 years until his death in tragic circumstances in 1958 . The cathedral choir is a  welcoming ensemble for liturgically inclined  singers and musicians and  members are drawn from a range of nationalities, including French, German, Slovakian and Chilean .

Michael Grogan

I joined a delegation from Ennis Cathedral at  ClareFM studios to talk about the choir's seasonal  liturgical activities to John Cooke of Morning Focus the station's flagship current affairs magazine programme. My favourite moment in the interviews(links below) was  hearing Michael Cullinan talk about his experience of being in the choir from  the age of 9 years under Ernest de Regge.  No doubt, he could fill a whole programme with the changes within the cathedral milieu alone  that he has seen in the five decades  since.  Following the broadcast the delegation adjourned to the Food Emporium where we enjoyed coffee and buns compliments of  our host and gave an impromptu recital of seasonal repertoire. We were joined by Michael Grogan from Scariff who played some tunes on my viola. It was all -well very Christmassy with whatever inhibitions we might have had suspended by the buzz of goodwill and the oxygen of publicity following our radio encounter.

Coffee time carols at the Food Emporium

 Morning Focus studio secs to airtime

Gallery  Quartet: Roisin, Me, Michael, Leon

On Christmas Eve, I was joined in the gallery by violinist Roisin McMullin to play some duet arrangements of a carol selection as a prelude to the choral aspects of the evening vigil Mass .  With the invited guest soloist  indisposed, tenor Tony Murray stepped in to sing the solo parts of the traditional choral favourites. The Holy City is a great sing for the choir, the melody composed by Stephen Adams to words by Frederic Weatherly, best known for the  lyrics of the WW1 sentimental ballad, Roses of Pickardy.  Coincidentally, I note that  his near namesake Frenchman,  Adolphe Adam, wrote the melody for another big item on the programme, Cantique de Noel aka Oh Holy Night , a perennial favourite in Clare and the world over .

Tremendous Tenors Sean Ruane, and Tony Murray 

St Peter and Paul's Cathedral is a very elegant ecclesiastical space at any time but illuminated by candlelight and  adorned with the the symbols of Advent and Christmastide, it is a beautiful  seductive interior for all  to gather and encounter the concepts of friendship, community, gratitude and transcendence through the rituals of  liturgy and choral singing.


Clare Noel Canticles  For more on Clare's Oh Holy Nights

Remembering Clare's War Victims



 Armistice Day at Ennis Cathedral

                                                   

Killaloe March                                                  Ennis Brass Band  
Green Fields Of France Eric Bogle                 Sung by Bernie McNelis
Lament on uilleann pipes                                 Frank Whelan
Reading Micah 4
All People That on Earth Do Dwell               Organ  Cormac McGuinness
My Youngest Son Came Home Today             Billy Bragg  sung by                                                 
                                                                                Paula McNamara
Last Post                                                              Clodagh Power                                                     
Amazing Grace


Cure of Troy    Seamus Heaney                        read by Eleanor Feely

Wearing of the Geen                                        Ennis Brass Band     



Limerick Legion member

   Of all the stages of life, it is in leaving it that we most need the comfort of  rituals. Following on from  All Soul's Day when the  deceased of the parish were remembered*, there was a special Armistice Day service at Ennis Cathedral  remembering Clare's War Victims on 11 the November 2011.  There is no  tradition of formally commemorating  this occasion in the dioceses and this is only the 4th year of this service at Ennis Cathedral.
In our relatively peaceful age, war and it's effects  are far outside the range of experience of my generation. MC Dr. Joe Power  deputising for (Peadar McNamara) spoke about the effect of the war on family members and gave a  sense of perspective of  the impact of the war on the county.  While giving the number of war victims as circa 4000, Joe also made the chilling point that for every dead soldier, there were four who returned transformed by their injuries.  The rolling register of the war dead was displayed on a screen to uilleann pipe accompaniment and included an Arthur Considine from Clarecastle and Nurse Delia Davoreen  from Clare. 
 

Distinguished author and broadcaster, John Quinn evoked very vivid images of  a homesick poet and war victim, Francis Ledwidge both as an ordinary young boy and man but also an extraordinary one. Extraordinary indeed to think of the young poet receiving  a package containing his first published book of poetry amid the chaos of the war front. John quoted from the poet's work and letters home and also Seamus Heaney' Elegy to Ledwidge. He  drew a parallel with another broadcaster the late Cathal O Shannon who went to join the RAF at a young age .
Quinn’s acclaimed documentary on Francis Ledwidge, ‘The Helpless Child of Circumstance’, was broadcast in 1987 to mark the centenary of the poet’s birth.

The service was presided  over by Fr.Tom Hogan of Ennis  Cathedral and Rev. Bob Hanna of St Columba's Anglican Church with members of the Limerick branch of the British Legion present wearing their medals.  Clodagh Power's playing of the Last Post on cornet  perhaps best evoked the zeitgeist  of the day.
I caught up with John following the service and you can hear one of the most distinctive voices in  Irish  broadcasting in this recording.
The service was a fitting memorial for the thousands of Clare volunteers who perished or who were damaged  on European battlefields.

Broadcaster and author John Quinn comments on  Remembrance Day

HE shall not hear the bittern cry

In the wild sky, where he is lain,                                                                    

Nor voices of the sweeter birds,                                                                        

Above the wailing of the rain. 

            ************************************************************

    

 * I joined tenor Tony Murray and Nell Hanley in the organ loft on All Souls Day November 2nd.

Hymns included Abide With Me , Be not Afraid, Christ Be Beside Me. My selection on solo viola to accompany the litany of the dead was Airdi Cuain, Taimse im Chodladh, Be Still My Soul, Ag Chriost an Siol and Sliabh na mban. Always a privilige to add something to such an occasion

Carole Rumen's  Guardian article on Ledwidge   with reference to Heaney.

More photos of the event on www.ennisparish.com/gallery