We basses have a lot of “down time” at rehearsals for Stella Natalis.  We do not sing as much as the other parts, and when we do it’s in the main pretty straightforward.  So there is a lot of time for our minds to wander……………

While the Sopranos, Altos and Tenors were perfecting their parts last night, I mused on the overall message which Jenkins might be trying to convey in this intriguing piece.  Carlos joined in the musing at the interval, and we agreed that although many of the individual items are about joy and celebration, the key message is one of peace.  The deepest words are in Cantus Triquetrus, reflecting on threesomes – for example the Christian Trinity, the three main Hindu Gods, and the three Abrahamic religions.  He seems to be proposing a peace based not on passive respect between people of different backgrounds, but one based on active acknowledgement, engagement and understanding.  So it is no co-incidence that his next work after Stella Natalis is called The Peacemakers.

After the vehemence, vulgarity and violence of many political campaigns this year, of which Brexit and the US Presidential elections are perhaps the prime examples, it seems a particularly appropriate message for the end of 2016.

But that’s just my view.  I wonder what other Choir members make of this piece, and I wonder what our audiences will make of it when they hear it on December 3rd and 4th.