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Christmas concert
As 2025 draws to an end, Christ’s Hospital Choral Society is looking forward to welcoming you to their Christmas concert on December 20th in the Chapel at the school.
There will be a selection of carols, some less known and some firm favourites to join in with. Being surrounded by 400 people all singing is a very exciting experience!
The choir’s centrepiece of the evening is Gerald Finzi’s ‘In Terra Pax’. It has gentle and most melodious movements surrounding a middle full of excitement. Very nearly exactly one hundred years ago, in 1925 Finzi had been invited to spend New Year’s Eve with other artistic friends in a cottage on Chosen Hill in Gloucestershire. They spent midnight outside, in a sharp frost and under a star-filled sky, with church bells were welcoming the new year. The sound filled the valley from the Severn to the hill villages of the Cotswolds (giving him what is referred to as his Hilltop Epiphany). This moment inspired him to compose ‘In Terra Pax’, yet he did not finish and perform it for a further 30 years. The music suggests the church bells, and tells the story of the moment on that hill, cleverly linking it to the first Christmas. Unlike the title suggests, the lyrics are in English.
Finzi (1901 – 1956) is known for a variety of completely different reasons, from the lyricism of his music and his love of poetry to his work to develop amateur music making and supporting the creativity of others. On a totally different level, he was passionate about growing different varieties of apples, thereby saving a number of rare varieties!
After the concert the school’s wonderful Dining Hall will be open for drinks and mince pies.
There will be a selection of carols, some less known and some firm favourites to join in with. Being surrounded by 400 people all singing is a very exciting experience!
The choir’s centrepiece of the evening is Gerald Finzi’s ‘In Terra Pax’. It has gentle and most melodious movements surrounding a middle full of excitement. Very nearly exactly one hundred years ago, in 1925 Finzi had been invited to spend New Year’s Eve with other artistic friends in a cottage on Chosen Hill in Gloucestershire. They spent midnight outside, in a sharp frost and under a star-filled sky, with church bells were welcoming the new year. The sound filled the valley from the Severn to the hill villages of the Cotswolds (giving him what is referred to as his Hilltop Epiphany). This moment inspired him to compose ‘In Terra Pax’, yet he did not finish and perform it for a further 30 years. The music suggests the church bells, and tells the story of the moment on that hill, cleverly linking it to the first Christmas. Unlike the title suggests, the lyrics are in English.
Finzi (1901 – 1956) is known for a variety of completely different reasons, from the lyricism of his music and his love of poetry to his work to develop amateur music making and supporting the creativity of others. On a totally different level, he was passionate about growing different varieties of apples, thereby saving a number of rare varieties!
After the concert the school’s wonderful Dining Hall will be open for drinks and mince pies.
Saturday 20 December
The Chapel at Christ’s Hospital School West Sussex RH13 9LJ
The concert starts at 7.30 PMPrices £12.50 or £17.50 to include mulled wine and mince pie.
Concessions for under-16's
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