May 2009

Music is the Universal Language of Mankind

The Very Revd Dr Philip Knowsles, Dean of Cashel

In 1995 I became Dean of Cashel Cathedral and and Rector of four parish churches. My first experience of the Cathedral choir was to hear them lead the liturgical music and hymnody at my institution. I remember on the occasion two aspects of the sermon preached by the late Bishop of Cashel & Ossory, the Rt Revd Noel Willoughby. who said ‘Your new dean doesn’t quench a fire with petrol’ and ‘he will lead you and if you don’t sing he will make you sing’.

Well, I am in a happy cathedral where people pull together and I am fortunate to have a team ministry of the Dean, the Hon. Vicar Choral, three retired rectors, and four diocesan lay readers. This means I can concentrate on being in my cathedral church and in my four parish churches on a rotation basis.

Music is the Universal Language of Mankind The Very Revd Dr Philip Knowles, Dean of Cashel In the Cathedral, the choir robe only for special occasions, such as Harvest Thanksgiving, the annual Civic Service, Christmas Day, Easter, and for greater ceremonies such as the Enthronement of a Bishop. We feel we like the regular Sunday service to be less formal and also to cater for the congregation. In fact we would call it the parish family worship, but on the grander occasions we have full procession with the Dean, his verger, clergy, lay readers, robed choir — and it looks the part in our cathedral which was built in the Georgian architectural style and opened in the year 1784. A year later the Samuel Green organ was built and Handel’s Messiah was performed.

The year 2009 is the bicentenary of the death of Archbishop Charles Agar, and Cashel town will be ‘pulling out all the stops’ to make the weekend of 10 to 21 July memorable. The weekend will include a recital by the Tipperary Singers, with the Cathedral Choir and other artists. The Cathedral will be filled with flowers and photographs of the Rock of Cashel, the Cathedral through the ages, and deans and families associated with the Cathedral.

Cashel Cathedral has a scholarly music and liturgical tradition. Indeed there was a choir of eight originally (the Vicar’s Choral) as shown on the Seal of the Cathedral, which displays an organ, organist and eight singers. They were paid to sing the daily services and had to keep strict rules; there was a sense

of collegiality. However, the story is different today. We have a choir of twelve (7S, 2A, 1T, 2B). We do our best and people are complimentary about the sound we make. We cannot afford to be too ambitious so we tend to keep things simple. We sing Anglican chant in parts, and the psalms in unison, leaving harmony to the hymns, motets and simple anthems. A hymn that is rarely sung by the congregation is sometimes used as an anthem. We have recently adopted Singing Psalms, which allows for greater flexibility and congregational involvement.

The rota of services in the Cathedral is: 1st Sunday: Choral Eucharist (sung Gloria, Sanctus, Psalm, Agnus Dei); 2nd Sunday: Morning Prayer; 3rd Sunday: Informal Service based on the Liturgy and led by the school choir (the choir sit in the congregation). 4th Sunday: Traditional Matins. There is an early (said) Holy Communion.

Music in the parish churches depend on congregational singing. Dundrum Church has the modern recorded music — which is popular, as has also Tipperary Church (however, this scribe plays the lovely Telford organ when he is on duty in Tipperary). Clonbeg Church in the Glen of Aherlow has a fine harmonium and a good and faithful organist — Doris Pearson. Magorban Church has a fine harmonium but it is only played when the Dean takes the service; however, the congregational singing in Magorban is always robust.

Basically we do our best, value our music, and praise God.

knowlesph@iolfree.ie
 

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