Solemn Eucharist

My Jesus,
I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love you above all things,
and I desire to receive you into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment
receive you sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace you as if you were already there and unite myself wholly to you.
Never permit me to be separated from you.
Amen.

Kenneth Leighton (1929-1988) always enjoyed writing for a specific performance or for particular musicians; consequently, composing this Sequence, a commission from the West Riding Cathedral Festival, must have given him particular pleasure. Not only was the Wakefield Cathedral Choir (in which Leighton’s musical career had begun as a choirboy) participating in the premiere, together with the choirs of Sheffield and Bradford cathedrals, but also All Souls is the dedication of Wakefield Cathedral itself. It was the setting for the first performance, on 14 October 1978, conducted by Jonathan Bielby.The text, taken from The English Hymnal, is a medieval plainsong Sequence (an addition to the liturgy often sung during Mass after the Alleluia on feast days) for the Feast of All Saints (1 November). Whilst composing the work, Leighton confided to his wife that he did not find it easy composing a text that related to death; nevertheless the result is a marvellously consolatory work cast in a span of five sections.The Introit begins with the choir softly intoning the word ‘Gaudeamus’, which blossoms lyrically before bursting into a choral fanfare. A flamboyant, quasi-improvisatory organ solo provides a link to a fast rhythmic section that rises to a climax at ‘in honour of All Saints’, and it fades with hushed awe at the ‘Son of God’ before the opening ‘Gaudeamus’ returns. The baritone’s sombre exhortation to ‘fear the Lord’ opens the Gradual, soon joined by lilting treble ‘Alleluias’. As other voices are gradually added to the texture, the music gathers momentum until they chime ‘Alleluia’ together, before a brief organ postlude.

The Offertory opens with quietly throbbing chords, the trebles’ serene melody expresses the wonder of God, and it concludes with a caressing cadence, whilst the voices enter in imitation, and a tranquil solo treble voice floats above. The Communion represents a profound sense of mystery. An ornate organ solo sets a mood of solemnity and the baritone joins to meditate on the peace the ‘souls of the righteous’ obtain after death. The choir voices steal in, and in an unaccompanied passage of harmonic intensity, the music rises to a fervent climax, only to die away in a cadence of balm.

Initially the Finale hearkens back to the opening of the sequence, yet it erupts into a paean of praise, with music of a celebratory character, heightened by rhythmically syncopated organ accompaniment. After a climactic ‘Alleluia’, the semi-chorus ushers in Issac Watts’s hymn ‘Give me the wings of faith’ (a melody by Orlando Gibbons clothed in the harmony of the Scottish metrical tune No 67), with the rest of the choir adding ‘Alleluias’. Finally the moment of grandeur arrives as in conclusion the congregation joins to sing the hymn.