Platinum Jubilee Festal Choral Eucharist – Pentecost Sunday

You are warmly invited to join us for some wonderful music and to share a light lunch to mark the Platinum Jubilee and celebrate Pentecost at the 11am Choral Eucharist on Sunday 5th June.

We are delighted to announce that the choir will be joined by the St Bride’s Orchestra to perform the aptly-named ‘Coronation’ Mass in C K317 by Mozart to celebrate the Queen’s own coronation seventy years ago.

We are also taking this opportunity to celebrate with a bring and share lunch after the service. If you would like to contribute something, please feel free to do so but don’t worry if you don’t have time; there will be plenty on offer as lunch is also being generously supported by the Guild of St Bride. If you do intend to bring something, it would be helpful if you could let the office know on stb@stbrides.com.

All are welcome to join us to raise a glass and share food to mark the Jubilee and Pentecost and to give thanks for our own wonderful community.

Download Order of Service (pdf)

This service will also stream online on this page at the same time as the service in church, and on our pages at Facebook, YouTube and SoundCloud.

 
 
Mozart’s ‘Coronation’ Mass

The Mass in C K317 was one of Mozart’s first compositions after taking up the post of court musician to the Archbishop of Salzburg in 1779. It was first heard on Easter Day that year.

Although Mozart had been renowned throughout Europe as a child prodigy, he was still unusually young, aged 20, to take up such a prestigious appointment, and he was clearly keen to make a good impression. The Mass has elements of ceremonial music, with a large orchestra including both woodwind and brass, but is nevertheless short enough for liturgical use – it also contains one of Mozart’s most sublime melodies in the soprano solo at the start of the Agnus Dei, which is reminiscent of the aria Dove sono from The Marriage of Figaro.

The title ‘Coronation Mass’ was not used until a number of years later. Mozart was working in Prague and asked for the score and parts of the Mass to be sent to him for performance as part of the celebrations for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia in 1791 and hence its nickname arose. The piece was repeated at the coronation of his son, Francis I, the following year.