Privileged
It’s been a week when that word has seemed very apt.
Firstly, I had the good fortune to experience Chelsea Flower Show without all the crush and company of the crowd. Yes, I had work to do, but it was fun, because any opportunity to look closely at small, self-contained masterpieces of theatre, art and design is welcome around here and to do that with like minded colleagues makes it all the more enjoyable.
Then yesterday, having waited so patiently for our turn in the queue, Avening WI and friends were invited to join The Purcell Club on one of their amazing musical tours of Westminster Abbey.
We’re fortunate that their Chairman is a former resident of the village, but that didn’t offer any privileges when it came to queue jumping and two or three years after expressing our interest, the invitation came.
My Hero and I enjoyed a really magical evening. After dinner in the Cellarium, we gathered in the Cloister and together with one other group, we went into the quiet Abbey and took our seats in the Nave where we were welcomed by a member of the Abbey clergy. He introduced himself as a Gloucestershire boy and someone responsible for organising “one or two services here”. He handed over to our narrator, Vanessa, who added the small point that those “one or two services” happened to include the recent Coronation! The Abbey is England’s most important church and has been the site of every coronation since William the Conqueror. Immediately, we were given a sense of the immense history around us. As we took our seats, we’d stepped around the tomb of David Livingstone, someone we’d learned about at school but of whom we seldom hear much these days.
No photography was permitted within the Abbey which was actually a good thing. Rather than try to capture all the small details in a snap or two, we could simply sit back, listen and savour the details. Oh my word, there were quite a lot of small details too!! Thankfully, there are images shared by others, attributed beneath each one.
Having heard Vanessa’s introduction and a brief history, the gentlemen of The Purcell Club - all former choristers of the Abbey - sang the first of several pieces of sacred music and with the sound of their voices still hanging in the silent Abbey, we moved on to our next stop, the Quire. Here, we took seats on either side and heard more about the Abbey’s history, about the people who had played key roles in its construction and of those who lie beneath its floor. Once again, the choir concluded this chapter with music before we moved on with Vanessa to the area in front of the High Altar, noting as we went how the light shining through the brightly coloured Queen’s Window was highlighting the rather sour expression on William Gladstone’s face.
The Queen’s Window, the work of David Hockney amandabhslater, CC BY-SA 2.0
Our tour continued, taking us to places which would normally be closed to visitors, where Vanessa would offer so many rich details about the people whose life and work surrounded us. I wished I’d been able to scribble everything down, to note every last story and name, if only to remember it all afterwards. Thankfully, someone had a far better memory than I have and I found their report here.
The Cosmati Pavement 14GTR, CC BY-SA 4.0
I will remember the rich colours of the Cosmati Pavement, the soft glimmer of the gilded High Altar and the incredible sound of the choir as they sang of the Battle of Agincourt by the feet of Henry V as we stood by the Shrine of St Edward the Confessor.
The Shrine of St Edward the Confessor with the tomb of Henry V through the archway with the wooden gate amanderson2, CC BY 2.0
We sat in Henry VII’s chapel gazing upwards at the fan vaulting and carved stonework “lace”., hearing about the Order of the Bath with the banners and helms above our heads, appreciating the fifteen minutes freedom we had to look around. So much to see…so little time! Just nearby were the tombs of Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Mary, Elizabeth 1 - if only my memory allowed, this would be an incredibly long list!
Henry VII Chapel JRennocks, CC BY-SA 4.0
The gentlemen choristers were available to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for the Abbey and to point out their personal favourite details too. Those few short minutes were soon over however and it was time to gather in Poets Corner in the company of Geoffrey Chaucer, WH Auden, Spenser and Lear, whose Owl and the Pussycat is a current favourite.
Moving on through musicians and composers (giving a special nod to Henry Purcell with a performance of one of his works of course) and stopping to listen again by the tomb of Charles Darwin and a group of scientists, including Stephen Hawking, we returned to the nave and took our seats for what was a grand finale: a wonderful performance of part of Vierne’s Organ Symphony No 1, played by the Abbey Organist. Vanessa drew the evening to a close with the words taken from the Tomb to the Unknown Soldier, where the gentlemen choristers had gathered to sing. As the Abbey lights dimmed, they began the Kontakion for the Faithful Departed, a particularly moving conclusion to a wonderful evening.
With a brief stop at the Coronation Chair - minus the Stone of Scone, which has returned to Scotland - we gave our thanks and I took one last look into the Abbey as we went back out into the Dean’s Yard.
Amazing.
What a great way to end a lovely week; one where probably our greatest privilege was neither of those very special events, but one which we both consider to be the most important one of all.
We spent the evening and babysat with our grandson for the first time!
