St John the Baptist and St John Fisher

Shamefully copied from wiki, but I read it elsewhere, so it must be true.

In May 1535, the new pope, Paul III, created Fisher Cardinal-Priest of San Vitale, apparently in the hope of inducing Henry to ease Fisher's treatment. The effect was precisely the reverse, Henry forbade the cardinal's hat to be brought into England, declaring that he would send the head to Rome instead. In June a special commission for Fisher's trial was issued, and on Thursday, 17 June, he was arraigned in Westminster Hall before a court of seventeen, including Thomas Cromwell, Anne Boleyn's father, and ten justices. The charge was treason, in that he denied that the king was the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Since he had been deprived of his position of Bishop of Rochester by the Act of Attainder, he was treated as a commoner, and tried by jury. [ handy.] The only testimony was that of Richard Rich. [ What's wrong with Wales...?] John Fisher was found guilty and condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn.

However, a public outcry was brewing among the London populace who saw a sinister irony in the parallels between the conviction of Fisher and that of his patronal namesake, Saint John the Baptist, who was executed by King Herod Antipas for challenging the validity of Herod's marriage to his brother's divorcée Herodias. For fear of John Fisher's living through his patronal feast day, that of the Nativity of St John the Baptist on 24 June, and of attracting too much public sympathy, King Henry commuted the sentence to that of beheading, to be accomplished before 23 June, the Vigil of the feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist. His execution on Tower Hill on 22 June 1535, had the opposite effect from that which King Henry VIII intended. John Fisher's beheading created yet another ironic parallel with that of the martyrdom of St John the Baptist who was also beheaded; his death also happened on the feast day of St Alban, the first martyr of Britain.

Ut queant laxis

Singing it on Sunday.
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Do re mi Sunday

Next Sunday is The Nativity of St John the Baptist.
I say we all sing Ut queant laxis.
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Plans for SS P&P

Mm which version of Tu es Petrus to do on the 29th.
Anyone would think that text was important or something the way it keeps being repeated.

We will sing this and after the Salve Regina, 'God Bless our Pope.'
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Location:Chez Maestra di cappella

True to type

Horn players in an orchestra, by virtue of the fact people think it's a hard instrument, actually pretty easy compared to the violin IMHO, get treated with kid gloves by conductors..., unless they are horn players themselves and quite a few are.

Because most people don't like the idea of plucking notes out of thin air, which is basically what we do.


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Old and new at the organ

The back lighting is very handy for the Gloria at the Easter Vigil.

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Location:S Eugene et Ste Cécile, Paris

Feast of the Sacred Heart

Got to sing the Mass here, which is always a pleasure.

When I was in the infants, this feast was marked by Fr Koch buying the whole school ice lollies. Since my first summer at school was 1976, when it was a little hot, it was all the more exciting. I remember him opening the boot of his car and seeing boxes and boxes of lollies. The excitement!

That was after a visit here





where I slightly naughtily took my group into the temporary exhibition on Holst's The Planets. It's been put together by The Philharmonia Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen, who is into installations. It's great. We happened to be there as it got back to the beginning and started Mars. There was a percussionist, who showed the boys how to play various instruments. They got to bong the gong, play snare drum in the 5/4 ostinato, play bass drum and xylophone. Cool. Round the corner there was a cellist, who demonstrated col legno. There were also video thingies where you could conduct the orchestra. All the while the music played. They loved it. It was pretty empty too, so we had the attention of the musicians all to ourselves. If you are interested in the orchestra and in The Science Museum before mid July, definitely worth a visit.

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Location:St James's, Spanish Place