How Great, How Fall'n info

Christopher Best

composer ~ educator ~ performer ~ writer

How Great, How Fall'n (2004)

Torre Abbey

"How Great, How Fall’n created a lot of interest from both audience and performers alike. [It] was exactly the type of new music that JAM prides itself on supporting...."
(Edward Armitage, Chairman)

The once proud medieval monastery of Torre Abbey in South Devon, built in 1196, now survives only as prostrate walls and a confusion of weathered headstones and burial chambers.

On the fractured arch of the chancel I found an 18th century stone plaque; a dedication to the abbey ruins by the Reverend Joseph Reeve, which has itself become a ruin, so badly weathered down its right hand side that only parts of the text remain legible. The elements had somehow bridged the six hundred year divide between the observer and the observed, leaving me acutely aware that our own endeavours will all too soon be eroded to dust.

Though hallowed m....
The friendly Abbey still....
Here meek religion’s ancient temple....
How great, how fall’n the (mournful?)....
Of sacrilege, behold....
Nor blush to drop the (tributary?)....
Here stood the …. here, on....
The dome extended there the....
The shatter’d …. with....
The yawning arch....
Sad striking remnants....
To pity now might move the....
Lo, sunk to rest, the wearied ….. (sleep?)
While o’er his urn the gloomy ....…weeps
Here silent pause, here draw the ….. sigh
Here musing learn to live here learn to die
................................................ Rev ....
................................................ A.D. 1790

The heavily weathered stone plaque at Torre Abbey

How Great, How Fall'n was composed in response to a call for works from the John Armitage Memorial Concert Trust. It was one of only three compositions selected for performance that year. The premiere took place at Church of St Brides, Fleet St, and was subsequently heard at Church of St Mary, Cambridge and Church of St Cuthbert, Edinburgh.

Rehearsing at the Church of St Brides, Fleet Street, London

The extract included here is from the St Brides premiere on 18th March 2004, with the following forces:

Claire Seaton: Soprano
Andrew Watts: Alto
Dan Ludford-Thomas: Tenor
Michael Wallace: Baritone
Daniel Hyde: Organ
Onyx Brass
The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald: Conductor
Edward Armitage: Producer
Daniel Wiener: Recording Engineer

Fullscore: 30pp £17 incl P&P Purchase
Set of 9 parts (P.O.A.): Hire or purchase
View sample
Listen

Updated September 2009