Towards the end of August, some 50 choristers of the St Paul Choral Society led by the music director, Hugo Agius Muscat and accompanied by their organist, Elisabeth Conrad, were in Paris to sing and play in this wonderful European capital. Previous tours by this choral society were to London, Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck and Melk.
The choir first performed in the Église de la Madeleine, the easily recognizable Neo-Classical style church inspired by the Maison Carrée at Nîmes (one of the best-preserved of all Roman temples) and which has a celebrated pipe organ, built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in 1845; the next performance was at Église Saint-Sulpice which is only slightly smaller than Notre-Dame and thus the second largest church in the city and boasts of an organ which was also restored and enlarged by Cavaillé-Coll in 1857; the last event took place at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture, and which is among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world.
As Hugo Agius Muscat observed: "When I attended events at these major Parisian venues in the past, the experience was uplifting. You can just imagine how exhilarating it was to be performing in such churches to large and enthusiastic audiences."
At La Madeleine and Saint-Sulpice, the choir gave two concerts during which both the music director and the choir organist also performed solo pieces on the organ. At the former, the Maltese Ambassador to France, Vincent Camilleri accompanied by Tanya Bayona, were invited and both spoke highly of and commended the whole concert.
At Saint-Sulpice, the first half of the concert began with the choir singing in front of the altar; during the second half, the enthusiastic and appreciative audience was invited to proceed to the chancel, behind the altar where the choir and organists continued with the recital. On the final day of the concert tour, the choir sang during the evening Mass to a packed congregation at Notre Dame Cathedral.
Elisabeth Conrad, the organist, commented: "...it was incredible to have the opportunity, not only to perform in such magnificent venues, and to very appreciative audiences, but also to play on some wonderful instruments ‒ it is quite something to go from hearing about Cavaillé-Coll's organs to actually getting to play on them first hand."
The music chosen for these events alternated between a cappella anthems and others accompanied on the organ; the programmes consisted of works by Mozart, Palestrina, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Elgar, Rachmaninoff, Duruflé, Handel and Thompson.
Maltese composers featured in a considerable part of the concert programmes and in the whole of the Notre-Dame programme, with compositions by Agius Muscat, Azzopardi, Pace, Scerri and Vella being performed.
In all three venues, An English Mass by Joseph Vella was sung with choir soprano Anne-Marie Agius singing the solo parts. Ms Conrad and Mr Agius Muscat played organ solo works by Grech, Guilmant, Saint-Saëns and Widor.
The composers were not chosen at random: the titular organists at La Madeleine, one of the most important of Parisian churches, included Camille Saint-Saëns and Gabriel Fauré while C.M. Widor had composed his renowned Mass for two organs and two choirs, combining the Great Organ and the Choir Organ at Saint-Sulpice.
Widor, titular organist at Saint-Sulpice (1870-1933), is best known for his organ works and in particular for his 10 symphonies for this instrument. Mr Agius Muscat played a movement from one of these (Andante Cantabile (dolce) from Symphony No 4) during the concert.
After months of preparations, meticulous rehearsals, extra sessions, master classes, the three intense days of events finally came and went, seemingly in the magical twinkling of an eye but leaving glowing memories to last a lifetime.
If you are keen on singing in a choir, and preferably, but not necessarily, can read music, contact the director on [email protected] or look into the SPCS website at www.spcs.info to ask for an audition.