Your Custom Text Here
Arun Choral Society were delighted to present a cheque for £3,200 to the DVLCC. This tremendous amount was raised from our retiring collection at our concerts of the past year. Thank you to everyone who donated.
Rehearsals are well underway for our next performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius.
Save the date. 27th February 2027 Come and Sing Verdi’s Requiem at Broadwater Baptist Church, Worthing. More details to follow soon.
We would like to offer a huge THANK YOU to everyone who came along to Arundel Cathedral on Saturday 21 October to hear us perform Hadyn's The Creation with the wonderful Sinfonia of Arun and superb soloists Jessica Wise, Dominic Lee and Owain Gwynfryn.
We had an amazing time performing for you and have been delighted to receive so much positive feedback from so many of you. We really are very appreciative for your ongoing support.
If you attended our performance, we would love to hear what you thought! We’d be really grateful if you could spend a couple of minutes to complete a short audience survey by clicking the link below…
Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you at our next performance, our Christmas Concert at 7.30pm on Saturday 9 December 2023 at Arundel Cathedral!
Arun Choral Society is currently hard at work rehearsing for our next concert, Haydn’s The Creation, which we will perform in the stunning setting of Arundel Cathedral at 7.30pm this Saturday 21 October 2023. Dr Joe Paxton will be directing, and we are delighted to be joined by the 40-piece Sinfonia of Arun and three superb soloists Jess Wise (soprano), Dominic Lee (tenor) and Owain Gwynfryn (bass). Tickets are on sale now from www.wegottickets.com/arunchoralsociety or via email at boxoffice@arunchoralsociety.co.uk.
With only 5 days to go before we perform The Creation, here’s the final instalment of our membership secretary Dee’s fascinating blog for your interest and enjoyment. We look forward to seeing you at our performance on Saturday!
☜ Go to the previous instalment of Dee’s blog here
On the morning of the seventh day, Uriel sings about the beautiful dawn whilst the first humans, Adam and Eve, walk hand-in-hand admiring the beauty of the world all around them. The chorus of angels agrees and remind them that this is all thanks to God “for ever blessed be his power”.
Adam then sings enthusiastically about the stars and the bright sun, and the angels again interrupt and instruct the sun to praise God whilst on its course through the sky. Eve then sings about the moon and stars, and Adam sings about the “mighty elements” and the “dusky mists and dewy streams”. The angels again remind the two to praise the name of God our Lord: “great his name, and great his might”. Eve praises the plants and fruits, and Adam praises the huge variety of animals and birds. They then both extol all the creatures to praise the Lord. The angels join in too and encourage every living thing to praise their God who created them.
Now that they have sung God’s praises, Adam invites Eve to follow him and offers to be her guide. Eve meekly accepts. They sing a lovely duet of love, acknowledging that enjoyment of this lovely place is only possible with the other by their side. Everything is perfect, yet Uriel strikes a small warning note that they will only stay happy “if not misled by false conceit” or if they “more desire to know, than know ye should”!
But the dark shadow of evil quickly passes by the couple unnoticed, as they only have eyes for the beauties of the Garden of Eden. The chorus of angels invite all to: “Sing the Lord, ye voices all. Magnify his name thro’ all creation. Celebrate his power and glory, let his name resound on high. Praise the Lord. Utter thanks. Jehovah’s praise for ever shall endure. Amen! Amen!”
And God said, “Let there be beauty!” And there was music! Not my words, but how true this is, whenever we listen to inspiring music such as is found in Haydn’s magnificent The Creation!
If you have enjoyed reading this blog and are feeling inspired, why not come and join us at Arun Choral Society and learn to sing this wonderful work and many other amazing works? Or alternatively, come and enjoy listening to this inspiring work at our concert at 7.30pm on Saturday 21 October 2023 at Arundel Cathedral!
Deirdre Tilbury, Membership Secretary, Arun Choral Society 2023
Tickets for Arun Choral Society’s performance of Haydn’s The Creation are now on sale from www.wegottickets.com/arunchoralsociety or via email at boxoffice@arunchoralsociety.co.uk.
Arun Choral Society is currently hard at work rehearsing for our next concert, Haydn’s The Creation, which we will perform in the stunning setting of Arundel Cathedral at 7.30pm on Saturday 21 October 2023. Dr Joe Paxton will be directing, and we are delighted to be joined by the 40-piece Sinfonia of Arun and three superb soloists Jess Wise (soprano), Dominic Lee (tenor) and Owain Gwynfryn (bass). Tickets are on sale now from www.wegottickets.com/arunchoralsociety or via email at boxoffice@arunchoralsociety.co.uk.
With only 2 weeks to go before we perform The Creation, here’s the penultimate instalment of our membership secretary Dee’s fascinating blog for your interest and enjoyment. Check back next Monday when we will be publishing the final part of Dee’s blog…
☜ Go to the previous instalment of Dee’s blog here
At the beginning of Part 2 of Haydn’s The Creation, the angel Gabriel describes God’s great work of populating the Earth with all the animals both on and beneath the land, under the sea and in the sky. She sings a majestic solo about the birds of the air; her soprano voice soaring as high as the eagle’s flight “on mighty pens uplifted” and of the songs of the lark, the nightingale and the cooing “tender dove”. Gabriel has great fun imitating the cooing of the doves, and the flute players beautifully imitate the song of the nightingales.
Raphael joins in with his deep, bass voice and sings about the creatures of the oceans and sea: the “great whales” and the “finny tribes filling each wat’ry deep”. The Earth is now teeming with life, and the three angels take turns to sing about how beautiful it all is. Gabriel sings about “gently sloping hills”, while Uriel sings about “the cheerful host of birds; and as they flying whirl, their glittering plumes are dy’d as rainbows by the sun”. Raphael joins in and sings about the swarms of fish “flashing through the deep” and the immense Leviathan. Then all three angels sing in harmony about this marvellous creation. The excitement of marvelling at the richness of life on Earth is too much for all the angels, and they burst forth with another song of praise “The Lord is great!” with such fervour that Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel are compelled to join in too. The combined harmonies are enthralling.
Raphael then relates how God created all the creatures of the land, the “tawny lion”, the “flexible tiger” and the horned stag, the noble steed, the great herds of cattle and the flocks of sheep, great swarms of insects and not forgetting the most important if most lowly of all “creeps with sinuous trace, the worm”. Haydn has great fun in this song and shows his versatility and mastery of music by writing a special section for each animal’s characteristic movement which makes the song interesting for orchestra and audience alike.
Raphael sings about the richness of life on land which is trod by heavy beasts on the ground, and here Haydn plays a joke on his audience by surprising them with the unexpected deep notes of bassoons and a very low-sounding contrabassoon. The Universe with its stunning variety of life on Earth seems complete. But Raphael realises the work is incomplete, for there is no creature who can truly appreciate the beauty of the work and praise God for it. But he is mistaken, for God had not finished his work. For on the sixth day Uriel tells us that God created an image of himself whom he called Man, and also a companion for Man whom he called Woman. Uriel sings a wonderful air extolling all the wonderful attributes of this noble creature. The sixth day is coming to an end and Raphael declares that the work of the creation is finally finished, and God is well pleased with his work. The angels too look at the marvels of this new creation and cannot help but agree and sing to God in praise: “Achieved is the glorious work; the Lord beholds it, and is pleas’d”.
God breathes life into these two humans and into all of life on Earth, and they thrive in his presence. Gabriel and Uriel sing optimistically. But Raphael sadly warns that when God turns his face away, they are terrified and “Thou tak’st their breath away, they vanish into dust”. This brief moment of sadness is dispelled when Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel then sing joyously, “Thou sendest forth thy breath again, and life with vigour fresh returns”. And now the perfect work of the creation is finally complete, all the angels burst forth in an ecstatic chorus of hallelujahs and praise to God that “achieved is the glorious work”.
Go to the next instalment of Dee’s blog here ☞
Deirdre Tilbury, Membership Secretary, Arun Choral Society 2023
Tickets for Arun Choral Society’s performance of Haydn’s The Creation are now on sale from www.wegottickets.com/arunchoralsociety or via email at boxoffice@arunchoralsociety.co.uk.