Aldeburgh Festival Singers: Sacred and Profane

Vigorous and serene; Sacred and Profane. A choral concert featuring one of Britten’s most lively and surprising works, performed at dusk in the beautiful Blythburgh Church.

Britten’s Sacred and Profane is one of the energetic, characterful pieces from his late period, composed only a year before he died. As the title suggests, very different styles and moods jostle against each other across the piece: the sacred numbers intricate and contemplative, the earthy medieval texts sometimes startlingly profane.

This brilliant piece sits at the centre of this choral programme, further exploring the concept of sacred and profane.

Aldeburgh Festival Singers
James Burton conductor

Britten:: A Hymn to the Virgin (3’)
Weelkes:: Hosanna to the Son of David (2’)
Weelkes:: When David heard (5’)
Weelkes:: Hark! all ye lovely saints (4’)
Weelkes:: Death have deprived me (3’)
Britten:: Rejoice in the Lamb, Op.30 (16’)
Britten:: Antiphon, Op.56b (3’)
Wilbye:: I am quite tired with my groans (1’)
Wilbye:: There where I saw her lovely beauty painted (4’)
Wilbye:: Sweet honey-sucking bees (5’)
Wilbye:: Weep, weep, mine eyes (5’)
Britten:: Sacred and Profane, Op.91 (14’)

This year marks 70 years of the Aldeburgh Festival at Blythburgh Church. To find out more about this special connection, read more in An Angel in Blythburgh Church.