Music in A Time of Transition at Saint Thomas Church
"The boy’s voice is so compelling to us because it’s like the caterpillar, the butterfly or it’s like the rainbow. Why are we fascinated by those things? Because we know they’re about to change into something else." - Jeremy Filsell (from Gramophone Magazine)
Music is a continuum. It spans time and place. And nowhere is that more evident than St. Thomas Church, where I've been attending concerts, recitals and choral evensong services for more than two decades. For those who aren't familiar, St. Thomas - situated just up Fifth Avenue from the far-more-famous (yet musically inferior) St. Patrick's Cathedral, is one of New York's musical crown jewels, thanks largely to the Choir of Men and Boys, widely regarded as the leading Anglican choral ensemble in the U.S., and one of the finest in the world. (St. Thomas also possesses New York's best pipe organ, the Miller-Scott Organ, whose design was overseen by the late St. Thomas (and former St. Paul's Cathedral) Organist and Director of Music John Scott.)
Integral to the sustained excellence of the boys choir has been its residential choir school, which offers a fully immersive education combining rigorous academic, liturgical and musical training. Founded in 1919 by St. Thomas' (and former York Minster) choirmaster T. Tertius Noble, it is one of only three such institutions remaining in the world, along with the Westminster Abbey Choir School in London and Escolania de Montserrat in Barcelona. Alongside a live-in faculty, the 28 choristers are provided with full room and board - not to mention all of the cultural amenities NYC has to offer - at a fraction of the actual cost.
But apparently, the school has long been a financial drain for the church, consuming nearly a third of its $14 million operating budget; long gone are the days when an Astor or Vanderbilt could open up their prodigious wallets and just write a check to cover the cost. After considering a number of undesirable options - up to and including closing the choir school - the vestry, St. Thomas' governing body, decided to outsource the academic component to the Professional Children’s School (PCS) while continuing to offer musical and religious instruction in a residential setting.
Which begs the question: how much will outsourcing the choristers' education to a private day school actually save? Some have gone so far as to claim that the change isn't about finances at all, but rather an attempt to deprioritize the boys choir - St. Thomas' flagship ensemble - in order to make the music program more diverse and inclusive, in line with the rest of contemporary society.
"As we transition to a new collaborative Choir School model," Rector Carl F. Turner wrote in January, "the Vestry of Saint Thomas Church will be making changes to its musical program, including the provision for a separate girls’ choir, a choir of professional men and women, and an expanded form of the Noble Singers through an outreach project to local children."
For Jeremy Filsell, St. Thomas' current director of music, that was apparently a bridge too far: in January, he announced that he would be leaving St. Thomas at the end of the school year. In official communications, the decision was portrayed as a mutual decision between Filsell and the vestry, who felt that a "fresh musical vision was required." Insiders, however, have suggested that Jeremy resigned in protest over what he saw as the dismantling of the choir school.
Filsell, himself a former chorister, has long been a vocal advocate of the choir school model, with its cloistered environment that lends itself to the intense training and discipline required of the choristers, who sing 4-5 services each week, in addition to frequent concerts.
‘It takes the boys three years to garner the skills they need," Filsell told Gramophone Magazine last November, reflecting on the dynamics of the choir school model. "You switch them around and put them next to somebody who might be firing on all cylinders - they fire at different stages... You have that tiny window in a boy’s life when they are singing at the best in the treble range and they’ve got the musical skills to exercise it."
Filsell also makes no bones about his preference for the particular sound of treble voices, which are specific to boys between the ages of 8 and 14 (or whenever their voices happen to change). "They can move me to tears at times," he says. "There’s a quality to it which, at certain moments, can just thrill you to the core – you can seemingly perceive in a moment the increasing spiritual and artistic transformation of a boy."
Filsell is the fourth director of music I've known at St. Thomas, following the celebrated tenures of Gerre Hancock (1971-2004), Scott (2004-2015), and Daniel Hyde (2016-2019), who left to become the Director of Music at Kings College, Cambridge. Filsell will be succeeded this fall by Richard Tanner, currently Director of Music at the UK's Rugby School, who no doubt attracted the attention of the vestry though his work with choirs for girls and mixed adults. In his first note to the congregation after "answering the call," Tanner spoke about the need to "expand to preserve...by broadening the church’s musical outreach.” Hmm.The debate over the future of the music program at St. Thomas took a back seat last night, as Filsell led the Choir of Men and Boys in his final concert as director, with a stirring program of mostly-British hymns and anthems. In brief yet forceful remarks beforehand, Rector Turner thanked Jeremy for being, "a fierce and faithful advocate the choir of men and boys...which will remain a priority at St. Thomas." Let's hope so, as once it's gone, it will be gone forever.
Branded "An Ode to St. Cecilia," several of last night's selections had a connection to the patron saint of music, bringing to mind St. Thomas' sui generis mission statement: "To worship, love and serve Our Lord Jesus Christ through the Anglican tradition and our unique choral heritage."
Herbert Howell's bright, sparkling "Hymn for St. Cecilia" was followed by Palestrina's ethereal "Cantantibus Organis", an antiphon for the Feast of St. Cecilia ("While the musicians played, Cecilia the virgin sang in her heart only to the Lord.") Hubert Parry, best known for his setting of the coronation anthem "I Was Glad", was represented with a selection from his Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, featuring a solo for bass (Brian Mummert).
Two solo organ works were played on the Miller-Scott remote console, which was placed before the altar in full view of the audience. Associate Organist Nicolas Haigh performed Britten's sole work for organ, Prelude and Fugue on a theme of Vittoria, while Filsell stepped down from the podium to play Peter Hurford's colorful suite Laudate Dominum with polish and flair, a reminder of the multivariate talents required of an Anglican music director. (Filsell is also an accomplished concert pianist.)
The centerpiece of the program was Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, a longtime staple of the Choir. A cantata in five parts set to a text by 18th century poet Christopher Smart that celebrates music, nature and cats, among other things, it was quintessential Britten: charming and haunting, with more than a hint of mystery and wonder.
Stephen Paulus' sweet, soft "Music, When Soft Voices Die," was set to a somber text by Shelley about how music - like love - remains in our memory long after the last notes fade. The concert ended with Parry's rousing anthem "Blest Pair of Sirens" another choir favorite featuring a glorious closing crescendo.
Despite the warm ovation at the end, I was impressed that Filsell didn't linger for any extra bows. He simply followed the choir out in formation, just as he and his predecessors have always done for more than a century now. Which says less about Jeremy's humility than it does about his awareness of his place in the continuum.
"You have the challenge to make your life as meaningful and purposeful as you can possibly make it" Filsell said to Gramophone, "to influence people with the gifts that you have found in the most positive and enriching fashion. That’s the search for God, for me... What was Palestrina doing? He was creating this elegant, beautiful counterpoint, which was as far as he could aspire to beauty, to the divine. And that’s what we all do, in a different way."
Godspeed Jeremy, and welcome Richard. We'll be listening.