Triduum III: Easter Vigil

For those choir members who had made sacrifices over Lent (chocolate and alcohol being among the top things being given up!) the end of Lent couldn't come quick enough. Well, it didn't exactly come as quickly as they might have hoped as the Easter Vigil lasted 2 1/2 hours! There is a lot to pack in: the lighting of the the fire, the singing of the Exsultet, the readings and psalms, the initiation rites - and that's all before we reach the preparation of the Gifts!

This liturgy also saw the debut of our new chamber organ, purchased for used in weekday services of Mass and Vespers which are sung each day during term time. The chamber organ was used both as a continuo instrument (Gabrieli's Jubilate Deo) and in alternum with the main organ (In Corea d'Axauro's Lauda Sion Salvatorem.) More on the organs in a future post.

Concluding the service a rather tired organist managed to find the energy to play Jehan Alain's Litanies: a work particularly well suited to the Easter Vigil.