The Tallis Scholars, Monks (and Nuns)-for-a-day on BBC Radio 3

The Tallis Scholars are waking up early this morning to begin chanting all the hours of the traditional Divine Office (including Prime!), starting with Matins at 1 a.m. London Winter Time (falling back a week before we do in the USA):

As part of Radio 3’s “Capturing Twilight” season, throughout the day the Tallis Scholars, world renowned for their exquisitely pure tone and shimmering choral sounds, evoke the ancient Christian tradition of the Divine Office. Starting just as the clocks change back to Greenwich Mean Time at 1am, they sing settings of words and psalms associated with each of the eight offices, or Canonical Hours, across the day. This daily ritual of Christian devotion was created in the 6th century by St Benedict, and remains familiar in monasteries and convents around the world today. The Tallis Scholars director Peter Philips introduces each of the offices at roughly three-hour intervals, beginning with Matins, then Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and ending with Compline, reflecting the time of the day with Latin chant interspersed with polyphony from across the centuries. Music includes chant melodies by Hildegard of Bingen, settings of prayers, motets and canticles by Renaissance composers such as Thomas Tallis, Orlande de Lassus, John Sheppard and John Taverner, sitting alongside more recent works by Arvo Pärt, John Tavener, and Igor Stravinsky.

You may see all the Offices and their London times here. Peter Phillips of the Tallis Scholars describes his planning for the day's performances: evidently, these Hours are not celebrating either today's feast of Christ the King according to the 1962 Roman Calendar (which would be entirely appropriate since the Tallis Scholars have included Prime, eliminated during the post-Vatican II revision of the Divine Office) or the Thirty-First (31st) Sunday of Ordinary Time according the 1970 Roman Calendar and revised Liturgy of Hours!

In the course of describing his choices he mentions that he wanted to feature the music of Saint Hildegard of Bingen during the minor hours, sung by the women of The Tallis Scholars:

Some decisions were made before the actual music was chosen. I decided the Offices of daylight (slightly depending on where you are and the time of year) – Prime, Terce, Sext and None – should be sung by women, and should include music by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen. Eventually I had to leave Terce out of this neat arrangement, but the other three and Matins are introduced by her music, the one at Matins which launches our cycle, entitled In principio, is one of the great compositions of the pre-polyphonic period. In our broadcasts the women then sing all the chant, including the psalms, as the men do in the other services.

The BBC Radio 3 website should make all the episodes of this day of Gregorian Chant, Polyphony, and other liturgical music styles available to listen to after their broadcasts.

Image Credit (Public Domain): Illumination from Hildegard's Scivias (1151) showing her receiving a vision and dictating to teacher Volmar.