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Serenity of Soul
Serenity of Soul

Sat, 06 Jul

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Keble College Chapel

Serenity of Soul

An inspiring programme of spiritual music for choir and organ, including Rejoice in the Lamb (Britten) and Lo the full final sacrifice (Finzi). Also featuring works by Brahms, McDowall and Messiaen. Tickets available now.

Time & Location

06 Jul 2024, 19:30

Keble College Chapel, Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3PG, UK

About the event

Our upcoming concert promises to be a feast for the senses. In the uniquely resonant acoustic of Keble College Chapel, the City of Oxford Choir present “Serenity of Soul” - a sequence of beautiful music written in honour of the Lamb of God.

Britten’s famous cantata Rejoice in the Lamb, with its delightfully inventive text by Christopher Smart, is our departure point for a programme which brings together several musical expressions of the Eucharistic Feast. Brahms' moving Agnus Dei was unpublished in his lifetime, but the material was reused in the great motet Warum ist das Licht gegeben. Cecelia McDowall’s expressive Adoro te devote, with its haunting reminiscence of the Allegri Miserere, combines with a sequence of French motets by Dupré (O salutaris hostia), Messiaen (O sacrum convivium) and Laloux (Tantum ergo).

In celebration of their anniversary years, we include the communion motet Let all mortal flesh keep silence by Edward Bairstow (b. 1874) specifically written for a resonant space such as Keble, and the well-known Three Motets by Charles Villiers Stanford. The programme concludes with a second extended anthem commissioned, like the Britten, by the important patron priest Walter Hussey for St Matthews Northampton. Lo! the full final sacrifice by Gerard Finzi, a setting in translation of Eucharistic hymns by Thomas Aquinas, includes many of the most memorable melodic moments in the cathedral tradition of sacred music. We hope to see you there!

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