Episode 1 Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey is a flagship institution.

It's at the centre of national life in this country.

Westminster Abbey is the Coronation Church.

The Abbey has been the place where people commemorate

the great men and women of our history.

Here was the origins of Parliament.

I think of the Abbey as being an upbeat place.

The most unusual phone call was from Michelle Obama's secret service.

On a standard day, we would probably process 1,000 people per hour.

Even though we are a massive tourist attraction,

-we still are very much a living church.

-Westminster Abbey

represents faith at the heart of the nation.

To think there have been people with their eyes turned in the same direction,

towards worship of God in this place, for over 1,000 years.

There's a feeling of a really Rolls-Royce musical set-up here.

Being the Queen's choristers, we really can't afford to let her down.

Quite a lot I see people crying.

When you sing, it brings tears of joy AND sadness.

I do wake up every day and think this is a fantastic place to be.

It's a thrill, even after 17 years.

Can you believe you've got that to look after?

There's a tremendous sense of being part of something

that goes back all those hundreds of years.

It's a magnificent building.

I feel like I'm part of history, just being here.

Westminster Abbey has stood by the banks of the River Thames

in London since the Middle Ages

and follows a cycle of worship

with traditions that stretch back to the birth of Christianity.

For the community who live and work here, upholding these traditions

and maintaining the quality of worship is their driving force.

Being in the Abbey early in the day is a marvellous experience.

There's a feeling of calm and peacefulness

and a real sense of prayer.

And you capture the essence of 900 years of worship in this place.

So it's a great privilege to be here early in the day.

But I have to do the washing up

and tidy up some books from morning prayer.

Then I'll have some breakfast.

BELL RINGS

For over 160 years,

Westminster Abbey has run a small boarding school

for around 30 boys between the ages of eight and 13,

who live full-time within the Abbey grounds.

INSTRUMENTS TUNE UP

They all have two instrumental practices a day.

And this first one is done all together after breakfast

before going over to the Song School.

And the second practise we timetable during the course of the day

so there's just six boys practising with the director of music.

But at this point, yes, they're practising in every nook and cranny.

Hence the cacophony of sound.

Good morning, Form 2. Can you go and get your books, please?

Between 9:30 and 3:30, the boys here study like any other schoolchildren.

This is the Form 1 classroom.

At the moment we're looking at the different parts that make up the UK.

So at the moment we're concentrating on the different flags

and how they go together to make up the Union Jack.

And also how the Wales flag

isn't represented. Which we all thought was a bit unfair

because the Welsh dragon

is the most exciting flag, we've decided, overall.

The reason the boys are here is that they've been chosen to sing

in the Abbey's world-famous choir.

The Abbey started as a Benedictine monastery

and it goes back to the first millennium, in fact.

Nobody knows exactly when a monastic community first began here,

but it goes back certainly beyond 960.

The rhythm of our life now is very similar to the monastic rhythm,

which was based on the monks coming to sing.

They sang, they didn't say things.

There's a feeling of the same kind of daily rhythm of work going on.

Let's do some of these to a lip trill with an R...

Every year there are over 1,500 services at Westminster Abbey,

and every week in term-time, eight of them are sung by the choir.

Being a chorister of

Westminster Abbey is a bit like being part

of a huge family with 31 boys because we're all so close.

THEY SING SCALES

It's amazing singing in the Abbey

when people have sung here for years and years and years.

It's carrying on a legacy. It's very daunting.

Westminster Abbey is a flagship institution

because of its position.

It's in London, it's right next to the Houses of Parliament.

It's right there at the centre of public life,

national life, in this country.

The music of the Abbey is part of the main mission of the Abbey,

as we call it, which is worship.

Maintaining that rhythm, that continuity,

at the highest level we can, is our responsibility,

and specifically mine, as Director of Music.

It's a fantastic place to work. Every day's different.

You come in, you don't know

what you're going to do. I can't plan a day.

15 full-time staff have the formidable task

of maintaining this historic monument.

Early in the morning this time of year you might get a severe frost.

The lead can be very slippery

so you might have to wait till sun comes up

because it would be like a skating rink up here.

If it gets blocked up, then it overflows inside the building

and we can get quite a bit of damage on the stonework.

Any of the terrific ceilings we've got here can be quite badly damaged.

At the moment we're on Henry VII's chapel roof.

And, at this time of year, it's not too bad.

Not a lot of rubbish at the moment.

But in the autumn you get a lot of leaves from all the plane trees.

You get an awful lot of rubbish most of the year from those.

And it's a non-stop job.

Like thousands of churches across the world,

the Abbey follows a daily pattern of worship

which reflects the Christian belief that Christ suffered, died and rose

from the dead to give eternal life to those who believe in him.

Let's pray for the life and work of the Abbey.

ALL: Amen.

The Abbey is governed by a body called the Dean and Chapter,

made up of five senior clergy and a lay executive.

The Dean and spiritual leader is the Very Reverend Dr John Hall.

We live in a curious way,

in a place like this,

with linear development

but also with cyclical or circular development.

Every day has its round of worship, every week has its round of worship.

On Friday, we remember the passion of Our Lord every Friday.

Sunday, we remember the resurrection of the Lord every Sunday.

So it has that round effect during the course of a week

and during the course of a year.

Today is the Feast of Candlemass which marks the end of Christmas

and the start of a new season in the Christian calendar.

This is the Dean's cloth of gold cope,

it's the best cope that we have.

We have gold for festival days, and today is Candlemass,

which represents the last official day of Christmas,

when Christ was presented in the temple.

It was made especially for our Dean because he's well over six foot tall

and some of our other copes don't quite fit him very well.

Candlemass is a lovely service in itself, I always feel,

where you light candles and think of the light of Christ

shining in the darkness.

What we actually are remembering, though,

is the presentation of Christ in the temple, 40 days after his birth.

So the 2nd of February is 40 days after the 25th of December.

And it's, in a sense, the culmination

of our remembrance of Christmas time.

We probably get about 200 to 300.

But the trouble is, with services like this, it's very unknown.

So it's always better to cater for more than less.

One of the joys of being a church musician is being aware

of the changing seasons of the Church's year

and the fact there is a personality to them.

So the personality of Candlemass,

as the slightly poignant end of the Christmas season, technically,

and the beginning of Lent, where things change quite dramatically,

that's a rather nice thing to be aware of, and I think to capture.

It's nice, it's like the changing seasons of autumn becoming winter

and winter becoming spring.

In a sense, this is the Church's equivalent of that.

Can you find the Candlemass sheet now?

-Have you done any of this yet? BOYS:

-No.

-OK.

So, page one.

Who would like to have a go at intoning this? Andrew.

# Behold our God

ALL: # We come with mighty power

# To give light to the eyes of his servants

# Hallelujah... #

Candlemass is an ancient feast when traditionally,

beeswax candles were blessed for the coming year.

The daily services at Westminster Abbey are open to the public.

At this one, the congregation gathers in the dark

by the Great West Door to wait for the blessing.

The source of everlasting light,

bless these candles for your servant's peace.

SINGING

It's the end of the Christmas period,

and now we turn away from Christmas

and we're beginning to face towards the next great moment

in the Church's year, which is Lent and Easter.

As well as being the Abbey's spiritual head,

the Dean is also responsible for a world heritage site

whose buildings need constant attention.

Architect Ptolemy Dean has just been appointed Surveyor of the Fabric,

the man in charge of upkeep.

One of the things that's immediately apparent

when you suddenly take responsibility for these buildings

is the scale of them. Look at the scale of it!

Acres and acres of lead roof.

So it's an incredible task.

A huge responsibility just to keep the building going.

I've never stood here before, but turn your head

and look at what beholds thee. Westminster Abbey.

Can you believe you've got that to look after?

One of the things I've got to do is the quinquennial survey.

That's a really big task, that's the condition of the building.

It's carried out every five years, hence quinquennial.

And I'm looking forward to it, actually,

because it means you have to go over every single bit of the building

and work out what needs to be done.

For instance, look at this. This is a classic bit of cement.

Botched on to keep the profile of the mullion, but it's so hard.

It's so impermeable, and it's poor quality repairs,

particularly of the mid-20th century.

They were so excited about using modern materials

to repair old buildings of course they didn't realise

these modern materials are incompatible chemically

and minerally. And of course the reason it comes off in one's hand

is because the moisture has got behind the cement and just trapped

and so broken down the surface of the softer stone underneath.

The first person to hold the post of Surveyor of the Fabric here

was Sir Christopher Wren, who built St Paul's Cathedral.

Ptolemy, have you got anything to wear?

I have.

You have actually got something?

I have got the robes.

Following in Wren's august footsteps,

Ptolemy Dean is about to be installed as the 19th Surveyor,

and is preparing for a ceremony dating back to the 16th century

and the reign of Elizabeth I.

It culminates in the Dean giving him his own seat in the Quire stalls.

Mr Dean, I present to you Ptolemy Dean to be admitted

and installed as Surveyor of the Fabric of this Collegiate Church.

Then I'll say, "The ancient and distinguished officer

"of Surveyor of the Fabric to which you, Ptolemy, have been appointed,

"comes with great privilege and responsibility.

"It is your duty to care for the fabric and ornaments of this Abbey

"so these stones may speak to all of the beauty of God's holiness.

"Are you willing to accept these duties?"

To which you answer?

"I am and will perform them by the help of God."

Excellent.

And then I say, right hand,

"I, John Robert Hall, Dean of this College, admit you, Ptolemy Dean,

"etc, to the office of Surveyor of the Fabric and place you in

"the stall assigned to you in the Quire, in the..."

Do I say that here or do I take him up first?

-You normally take him up first.

-I think I take you up first.

I take you by the hand and lead you, and you turn round.

No, no. Turn round.

Come back. It's going to be like a do-si-do.

Take the right hand.

You turn back, and then I push you forward.

-Oh, OK.

-And you walk forward. Go on.

CHOIR SINGS

I, John Robert Hall, Dean of this College, admit you, Ptolemy Dean,

to the office of Surveyor of the Fabric

and place you in the stall assigned to you in Quire,

in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

It's a wonderful privilege to be here.

And, like all privilege, you don't want to mess it up.

And you realise you're adding on to something

that's absolutely in the forefront of the national identity.

It's something that everyone's looking at, watching all the time.

It's a daunting privilege.

Ptolemy Dean has taken a vow which harks back to monastic times

when Dunstan, a future Archbishop of Canterbury,

founded a monastery here. His community

lived by the Rule of St Benedict,

who founded a religious order in Italy in the 6th century.

When King Edward came to the throne in 1043, he couldn't leave

his turbulent kingdom to pay homage to the Pope in Rome.

So the Pope ordered him to build a church to St Peter,

the founder of the Catholic Church.

He chose to build it on the site of Dunstan's monastery by the Thames.

One of the wonderful things about the history of Westminster Abbey

is Edward the Confessor, who's our saint and who's here.

And of course he was King of England until 1066.

And he rebuilt the Abbey, glorious Romanesque building,

the biggest building in the land I should have thought at the time,

as well as building his palace here.

So he lived here, beside the Abbey, rebuilt the Abbey,

brought more monks here, so it was a very great and wonderful building.

And Church buttressing state, state buttressing Church,

no doubt Church challenging state, state challenging Church.

But here, together, at the heart of our national life.

And that's how it always has been, since the 11th century.

200 years later, in honour of Edward the Confessor,

Henry III rebuilt the Abbey,

and much of the building we see today dates from his reign.

At the heart of the complex is the Chapter House,

which has a remarkable place in British history.

The Abbey's archaeologist, Professor Warwick Rodwell,

has spent many years studying it.

The Chapter House at Westminster is unique,

and unlike any other Chapter House in an abbey.

Because this served two roles.

It wasn't just the place where the abbot and monks met every day -

which is what a Chapter House is for, the meeting room of the abbey -

it was also a meeting room for the king.

And the king held his council here.

And he began to build this, probably in 1249.

It was finished by about 1253.

Thereafter, it began to serve as a chamber

in which the King's council met.

And so, here was the origins of Parliament.

This is the place where what we call today the House of Commons

first began to meet under the king, in the 1250s.

And the king or abbot would have taken up his position here,

in the centre, facing west, ready to address his audience.

Or, in the case of the abbot, address the monks.

The architecture all around us on a day like this,

with the sun coming in, lighting up the wall paintings on all sides.

Imagine it not in its muted state, that it is today,

but everything glowing and sparkling with paint, gilding and tapestry.

It is one of the great architectural wonders of Europe.

By the time of Henry VIII, the business of parliament had outgrown

the Abbey and had moved to the Palace of Westminster.

Henry's reign proved a cataclysmic time for the Catholic Church.

When the Pope wouldn't grant him a divorce, he broke with Rome in 1534.

He made himself the head of the Church in England

and ordered the destruction of Catholic monasteries.

Henry spared Westminster Abbey

because so many of his ancestors had been crowned and buried here.

His daughter, the Anglican Elizabeth I,

supported the Abbey's unique status.

And since 1560, a Dean - a Church of England cleric -

has been in charge.

This is the long gallery, the Deanery,

which was built in the 14th century, originally,

although there was a fire in 1941 so some of it has been rebuilt.

But this is where the Abbot of Westminster lived.

And since 1560, it has been the home of the Deans of Westminster.

I'm the 38th Dean.

One of the earliest of them is Gabriel Goodman, who's here.

He came from Ruthin, in North Wales.

He was Dean through most of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

So he was the first person to be appointed Dean

who had not actually been a monk here beforehand.

He was very close to the Queen's private secretary,

the Cecil family, so he was certainly an advisor

and consultant to the Queen.

It's lovely for me having so many of my predecessors around.

They give me a sense of the extraordinary history of the place

and my small role in it here, early in the 21st century.

The ties between the monarchy and the Abbey went so deep

that in 1560, Elizabeth I re-founded the Abbey

as the Collegiate Church of St Peter and Royal Peculiar.

It means in various ways that I'm not responsible

to any bishop or archbishop, that's the first thing.

Most parts of the Church of England

owe their allegiance to their diocesan bishop

and, through their diocesan bishop, to the archbishop.

But the Abbey is a Royal Peculiar, and outside the diocesan structure.

It's outside the provincial structure

of bishops and archbishops.

Essentially, I'm the spiritual and moral leader of the Abbey community,

and answer to the Queen.

Five centuries after Elizabeth I granted this unusual status,

there's some unfinished business between the Abbey and the Crown.

These are the statutes which have just been given

to the Dean and Chapter by the Queen.

They, are as it were, the bylaws or the constitution

by which the Abbey is to be governed. And the reason

that we've been given them now is that when Queen Elizabeth I

established the Abbey as a Collegiate Church in 1560,

she did that by producing a charter

which laid out the type of foundation

that she wanted there to be here.

That charter said that there would be statutes

which would lay out in more detail how the Abbey was to be governed.

Those statutes were drafted, but were never signed by Elizabeth I.

And so they've never actually had legal validity.

This has been an issue for the Abbey over the centuries

from time to time, and finally, at the beginning of the 21st century,

we have had statutes presented by the monarch.

At the bottom there's this huge great seal, which represents

the Queen's signature, which gives them the authority

and means that they are legal and valid statutes.

This document is the latest addition to the Abbey's archives,

which date back to the founding of the monastery here by St Dunstan

over 1,000 years ago.

This is an example of one of our earliest charters.

It dates from...around 962.

It's a grant from King Edgar,

who's named here, giving land to the monastery

in the very early days of its foundation.

And among the witnesses who've signed at the bottom

is Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.

So we have this extraordinary range of documents

from over 1,000 years ago, right up to the present day.

# Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium... #

OK, just, "Voluisses sacrificium."

So it comes away from the accent and back to the next one.

'Tomorrow's Ash Wednesday and that means that, as part of the Mass,'

when the congregation are ashed,

when they receive a cross of ashes on their head,

we sing the Miserere by Allegri.

It's been sung for generations in the Vatican.

It used to be a secret piece nobody was allowed to transcribe.

But modern editions have been made in the last half a century.

It's become a real sort of contemporary classic.

No doubt because it has this very distinctive high C,

sung by a solo treble, over and over again,

several times in the course of the piece.

So that, inevitably, becomes a focus, for the boys especially,

because it's very exciting for them. I try to downplay that,

but it's really impossible to repress that.

Every week there's about three solos that come up in canticles.

But the Allegri solo is quite special

so that's the tough competition between all of us.

The choristers perform with 12 professional singers,

called Lay Vicars.

Every year, on Ash Wednesday, two men and two boys are chosen

to sing in a quartet in the musical centrepiece of the service.

To decide who will get the coveted high solo part,

the music staff have to run a selection process.

Let's have a look at page four. Amplius.

OK, let's hear Andrew on the top line

and Matthew on the second line down for this.

Here we go.

# Amplius lava me

# Ab iniquitate mea... #

I think the difficulty with singing this piece in this competition

is that every year we do this piece and so it gets...

You try and improve from the year before

and this year I think we're trying to do better than we did last year.

Last year we tried to do it better than the year before.

If you want to be doing the Allegri, you need confidence...

-And a high voice.

-And a high voice, yes.

I'm hoping to get the solo,

to be the top part. It's quite high.

I am hoping I'm going to get it.

Well, I'm in contention with Matthew, so...

So it's really up to the choirmaster.

# Et a peccato meo... #

# Et a peccato meo... # Just let it flow on there, please.

And...

# Et a peccato meo... #

No, that's not coming out, is it?

'Andrew is terribly keen to do it,'

and he's so keen that when we've run through it in the rehearsals,

he's doing something -

I think what he's doing is just stopping the air flowing

through his voice, and so the notes don't come out,

and that becomes a vicious cycle for a singer.

If they stop the air flowing and the voice stutters a bit,

then a boy, who is not as experienced as an adult singer

at countering this, will tend to tense up even more

and that stops the air flowing even more.

It becomes even more of a problem.

Now, I'd like to hear Bede and Luciano, please.

And...

THEY SING

-Fine. So, Bede, you were late going up to the C as well.

-Ah.

A little more counting is needed in your case, but it's very good.

I think... Let's send off, then, Andrew and Ben and Bede,

and Hugh and Matthew and Luciano,

off to rehearse with Mr Ford.

We're going next to door to rehearse more of the Allegri solo,

where a few boys try out,

and then we all learn the solo and whoever sounds the best

we choose for the solo.

Let's try everybody just so we get a sense of the words,

and then we'll split you up in a minute.

Once they've mastered the Latin words,

the boys are divided into pairs to sing the high and low solo lines.

THEY SING

Make sure you're lifting a little bit more on those dotted notes, in...

What bar is it? The fourth bar, top of that line. More lifting there.

If you're going to be up in the organ loft, to make it clear downstairs,

we need to overemphasise things, so more lifting there. Just once more.

'It's just mainly the high part getting that top C. If you're...'

older than the younger boys, it's going to be harder for you

because your voice is nearer to the breaking point.

'You need to be aware that you're not locking your jaw,'

because sometimes if you get nervous, you lock your jaw

and the sound gets sort of jammed inside your throat

and then it comes out as a feeble sort of moan-noise.

The first thing I'm going to do now is talk to Martin, my colleague

who took the various candidates out, and see what he thinks,

because he will have heard them closely,

and he'll have a recommendation or two, I imagine.

Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent -

a time for reflection and self-denial

in the build-up to Easter. Traditionally,

churches reflect the sombre mood of the season

and in the Abbey, the vergers - lay employees - are busy

making changes to its appearance.

'The practice is that we cover all the gold

'and all the elaborate things.

'Here at Westminster, all we do is cover up the Last Supper scene'

on the main screen, and we put another section at the top.

Ben, can you just go to your right?

Yes, please. Yes.

Keep going.

-Does that look all right?

-Yes, that's great.

'We only get to really be up here on the day before Ash Wednesday.

'It's quite a privilege to get this fantastic view'

which not many people get of the Abbey.

'It's all part of the cycle of our worship'

and the Church year, and today's involved not only the high altar,

but all the altars - you can see the shrine altar from here.

That's lost its colour,

and the same for all the other altars in the Abbey.

There's no colour - they're reminders of Christ's crucifixion,

the implements used at his crucifixion - the spear, the sponge,

and again it's a reminder of, as Ian said, how solemn a time it is.

The cross has to go behind the hanging.

Ow!

One of the reasons why you have to do it at night

is it's not very dignified

when you see people having to climb over the altar.

It's all a stage, life is all a stage.

The choristers' religious education

is overseen by Minor Canon Michael Macey.

Today he's explaining the significance of Ash Wednesday.

I'm hoping you boys will never sit in a pile of ash...

..especially not in your school uniform!

But if you do, you'll discover how uncomfortable it is

cos it gets EVERYWHERE and it upsets you.

And that's the purpose, of the ashes on Ash Wednesday, to upset us.

We're trying to remind you, when the ashes go on your forehead,

of your baptismal promise to turn away from sin and to turn to Christ.

Let us pray.

ALL: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven...

At Song School, the process of choosing the soloists

for today's service continues.

Gradually they cut away boys,

so, like, today myself and Bede didn't get the solo

but then only two boys can get it.

But, still, I'm sure it'll sound brilliant.

I can see you've got your hands here but I can't see any movement,

which is fine for this part of the phrase

but when you get to the next one you're going to be a bit stuck.

Make sure there's a physical movement,

you can feel it going in all the time.

So right from the start of the phrase,

soon as you take that breath and in all the way.

OK, let's move onto the next bit, so next line down.

MUSIC: "Miserere mei, Deus" By Gregorio Allegri

'For that high line we'll have either Andrew or Ben.

'They're both natural performers,

'they both enjoy the feeling of singing on their own.'

We often find that boys really want to do solos,

or verses as they're often called.

But when it actually comes to it, they freeze a bit

because they're not used to that sort of exposure.

But then there are others, and Andrew and Ben are among them,

who really thrive, I think, on doing things on their own.

It's getting quite close to the service.

We've whittled down the number of boys

who might be singing the solo this afternoon,

which is partially for their own sanity,

so they're not worrying about it all day at school.

They're not sure who's going to be singing it.

The congregation begins to arrive for the Ash Wednesday service,

and the lay vicars join the boys for a run-through.

At the last minute, Robert Quinney can finally announce

who has got the solo parts.

'Ben will sing the top part and Matthew will sing the part below.

'They're both very reliable singers and they perform well,

'and Ben clearly wants to do it.'

Martin felt that those two were certainly the top people.

To achieve the maximum acoustic effect,

Ben and Matthew will sing with the adult soloists in the organ loft,

high above the congregation.

'The good thing about doing it then, it's at the beginning of a rehearsal

'so I can simply send them off and get on with some other music.'

So there'll be no kind of reaction from the other boys.

They'll just have to sort of get on with their work.

So if any of them are disappointed,

they're professional enough to understand

that we simply have to choose the person who'll do it best.

'Everyone likes doing solos,

'but the main thing is, because we're a choir,

'we sing together and we're sort of one big team.'

'Because it's such a small community,

'you almost don't want to push your best friend out of the limelight,

'you just accept that it's going to be you next time, hopefully,

'or you'll get another chance.

'It's not the end of the world if you don't get that particular solo.'

MUSIC: "Miserere mei, Deus" By Gregorio Allegri

'They did well. They seem to be pleased with it.'

If they're pleased with it then there's no point my saying,

"Didn't you think the tuning was a bit off on occasional notes?"

because they have a sense of achievement

and they did achieve something quite considerable.

They stood up and did it in a confident way

and under a lot of pressure.

And not just the normal amount of pressure

but with cameras rolling as well,

which does add an extra frisson to things.

'What motivates me to be here is to write services

'so that people can engage with God.

'That's the purpose of any priest and that's what I love doing.

'I'm very lucky that I have fabulous resources.'

Got a great building - people want to come here -

and we've got a fabulous choir, great organists

and organ. So I've got good raw materials to work with.

Michael Macey is in charge of planning services at the Abbey.

He masterminded the details of the service

for Prince William's marriage to Catherine Middleton.

The Dean, he's in charge of all at worship

but he's busy with other things so he devolves responsibility to us

and we therefore write the services, choreograph them,

and make sure they happen.

Make sure that all the clergy are told what to do

and where to go, and make sure the services happen.

Our next big service is the Commonwealth Day Observance,

on 12 March.

And that service, the Queen will be in attendance, as is custom

and...it's a big service

where all the Commonwealth nations are represented.

It's a celebration of the Commonwealth.

We're quite far advanced in the service.

We've got the structure, we've got all the participants in line,

so we know we've got Rufus Wainwright and Hugh Masekela.

Rabbi Alan, how are you this morning? It's Non here.

'One of the main things I've got to do today

'is to follow up on the letters that I've sent out

'inviting the faith leaders.'

Those letters went out earlier this week and, for the first time ever,

we're having not only them join us for the service

but we're going to have a very informal lunch beforehand

because it's a... It's a unique moment

to gather a number of faith leaders together

to discuss matters that may be pertinent to them.

So, today I'm going to be following up with some phone calls

just to give further detail for those who may not have been invited before

and also to check people's dietary requirements, to be honest with you,

because, obviously, we want to ensure that everybody's very comfortable in being here

and that what we're giving them to eat is appropriate for them.

We've got the royal family coming, I believe the Queen.

Beforehand we go round aiding the police,

searching for anything that may pose a threat.

Oh, well, they can come, they can stagger down

so that you've got the contrast of colour, then.

#..the fourth, the fifth

# The minor fall, the major lift

# The baffled king composing Hallelujah... #

To be able to sing in Westminster Abbey,

solo, just me and the piano,

following the Queen's message,

it's a big moment for me, so I'm very honoured.

Omar, four pieces of high staging, please, and four boards.

I'm from South Africa, my name is Hugh Masekela,

I don't know how I got invited!

But we tried to do a solemn kind of song

and they said no, they didn't want any solemnity

so we had to come with something lively.

There's a sing-a-long at the end.

So we hope people at the end will, you know, repeat what I sing to them,

and hopefully the Queen too.

I think we're miles ahead of schedule...

ORGAN BLARES

Wasn't expecting that!

I think we're ahead of schedule, but we'll wait and see.

This is a really significant occasion.

It is an interfaith occasion

and it's an occasion at the heart of our national life, and of the Commonwealth.

And it's one that brings us all together,

and where we can recognise the reality

and importance of God in our life.

We feel very privileged that we are the catalyst

of that gathering of communities.

We're linking with peoples around the world.

I mean, what can be more uplifting than that, really?

And I think we all appreciate the fact that this is an opportunity

to make those connections and pull people together as a family, really.

As well as the faith leaders, the service is attended

by Commonwealth High Commissioners

and youth representatives from each country.

'I actually feel quite honoured to be here,'

among the 50-something countries, part of the Commonwealth.

People are coming from far and wide

This is such a historical place and to come here,

and be part of such a historical event,

and, also, it's, like, the Queen's Jubilee year,

so it shows that people from religions, all different cultures,

ethnicity, races can all come together as one nation.

'It means a lot to be representing my country

'because I actually am in London on a Commonwealth scholarship.'

I'm benefiting from one of the opportunities

that the Commonwealth gives to members of Commonwealth states.

'Human progress, respect of human rights -

'that actually drives us

to come from all those different faiths.

You know, to converge here in Westminster Abbey

and I think it really gives a very powerful message of unity.

As Head of the Commonwealth

and Supreme Governor of the Church of England,

the Queen attends two or three services a year here,

and her former Lord Chamberlain is now an advisor to the Abbey

on matters of national importance.

'The Abbey, to the Queen, and to the royal family,'

means an immense amount.

Let's recall that her father, of course, was crowned here,

her own coronation, her own marriage,

and numerous other occasions.

Whenever the Commonwealth comes up...

the Queen almost lights up with interest.

Virtually every time has attended that service,

with the Duke of Edinburgh.

I think that, without the role of the Queen over the last 60 years,

I do sometimes wonder whether the Commonwealth

would have held together at all.

The Queen sort of somehow epitomises it.

Brings it all together.

And it's the Abbey that brings this about, and shows this,

and demonstrates this in its annual service.

'I'm sitting up here following with the Abbey's Twitter account.

'Observing what's going on. I was here earlier taking pictures'

of behind the scenes. That's generally how I use Twitter.

I provide an insight, to the world, of what's going on,

which is quite fitting for today's theme, which is connecting cultures.

So I'm using technology in the way that it was designed to be,

to connect people around the world to what's going on inside the Abbey.

It's a real success for the Abbey -

particularly because we launched the Twitter account on Commonwealth Day,

in 2009, with great success.

And so we're continuing to do that at special services when we can.

SINGS IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE

I know you can do that and join me and shout out to the world.

# Come on sing, hey! #

-ALL:

-# Come on sing, hey! #

# Come on... # HE SCREECHES

LAUGHTER

Beautiful.

# Come on sing...

# Home

# Home

# Whoa, yeah, yeah, yeah

# Yeah! #

APPLAUSE

I am just going to check if any of the artistes are still up this end,

which I think I can just see one, and say thank you,

and try and clear people out the church so I can go home!

Oh, today was such a beautiful day. Sunny and bright.

Felt like being in Grenada!

Take care.

Sir! Thank you very much indeed!

You too?

'It went really well. It went really well.'

Only slightly long.

Maybe four minutes or five minutes longer than it should have been...

but we try to be absolutely precise.

I'm allowed to be annoyed with myself...

but no-one else is!

It's not quite over for me yet.

It will be over once I've got a gin in my hand!

Then it'll be over.

For the choristers, services, concerts and state occasions

are all in a day's work.

Today, they're responding to a personal invitation

from the Prime Minister that arrived out of the blue.

Just make sure you can see me, or you won't be in the picture.

'Well, we're in 10 Downing Street, surprisingly.

'Last week we were invited to sing a few short pieces'

for some annual faith gatherings in 10 Downing Street,

by the Prime Minister's office.

And, obviously, this is a wonderful thing to do

and we're just going to sing two short pieces for the faith leaders.

The Prime Minister will be present, then they will

have a little tour of 10 Downing Street.

Now they have drained the refreshment table of its contents, I need to...

I need to sort of get them sorted out for their positions.

That's what I'll do now.

OK, boys, could you listen up, please?

I need to tell you the layout of the room

that we're going to be singing in.

I feel quite surprised that the Prime Minister

invited us to sing to the faith leaders

because I thought the Prime Minister,

he doesn't really have time to do this sort of thing,

inviting choirs over to sing.

Good morning, everybody. A very warm welcome

to Number 10 Downing Street

and particularly welcome is James O'Donnell

and the choristers of Westminster Abbey,

who are going to sing two pieces -

one of which of I think is a world premiere.

Over to you.

# Ubi caritas et amor

# Deus... #

'We were told on Friday.'

I never expected, I don't think any of us ever expected

to be coming to 10 Downing Street.

'It's just amazing.'

# Deus ibi est

# Congregavit

# Congregavit nos in unum... #

To be singing a solo in front of the Prime Minister, I felt...

It was, I felt, actually, quite nervous about doing it.

I mean, because there were lots of important people in that room

and if I mucked it up I'd...get very embarrassed.

# Amen. #

APPLAUSE

'The Prime Minister said that we sang very well

'and he was actually quite pleased to see us there,

'and it was an honour for us to be there with him.'

'I thought Downing Street would be a bit boring, actually.

'Just all politics and stuff.

'But it's actually quite shocking how big'

and how cool it is.

There's always the chance that something will come along

that we're not expecting and we have to be ready for that.

Downing Street lunches, daily services and great state occasions

are all part of the cycle of life at the Abbey.

# Zadok the priest... #

Next year, the nation will celebrate 60 years

since the Queen's Coronation here,

when she was anointed in a sacred ceremony to serve the people.

To mark the occasion,

the Abbey is planning to display the newly restored

700-year-old Coronation Chair in a more prominent position.

It was made by order of King Edward I in 1300,

and has been used in coronation ceremonies ever since.

This is one of the, I think, most pressing conservation challenges,

that faces the new Surveyor of the Fabric,

is how this fantastic Coronation Chair gets to be properly displayed.

The Coronation Chair, historically, used to sit facing the altar,

at the eastern end of the Abbey. It has been moved about.

In the 19th century it was covered in glutinous brown varnish

and, as you see, it's just been restored.

All these incredible carvings have been scratched in

by the students of Westminster School over the years,

so graffiti's nothing new.

There are still traces of incredible gold paint.

Actually, it is a remarkable survival

and you just think that the Queen was crowned here,

anointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury,

in the presence of God and her people,

to serve the ruling of the country.

It's incredible that it's here, really. All those...

And Queen Victoria sitting there.

And, I mean, I had my installation here

and walking down the Quire to the Dean was terrifying enough -

imagine coming down and being the King, organ playing.

Quite frightening.

Just...coming out of this wooden box.

Unfortunately, anything you do in Westminster Abbey,

there's never a clear wall,

everything has got plastered with monuments.

So if you were to move the Coronation Chair here,

you might be tempted to move this monument to a different location

so that the chair would sit against a screen wall.

So one of the things we have got to do

is to work out whether this monument can be moved.

If it COULD be moved, then the chair would sit quite nicely here,

looking out towards the nave.

Another challenge is how to light it, because above us,

on that window sill, there's an enormous great monument.

So, yet another monument you have to negotiate around.

The Abbey's conservation and building projects

are always set against the cycle of Christian worship.

It's Holy Week - the high point of the Church's year.

This is one of great and beautiful treasures of the Abbey -

this is the Litlington Missal,

that was commissioned by Nicholas Litlington,

who was one of the great 14th-century Abbots.

And this is the most significant page of the book,

and it tells the story at the heart of our faith, as Christians.

The story of Holy Week and Easter.

The big image, here, in the middle,

is the image of Jesus on the Cross dying for our salvation.

There are angels with chalices, cups, catching the blood from his wounds.

And obviously that links directly

to the idea of the Eucharist, the bread and wine,

which become the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ

and feed us, as Christians, and enable us to follow in his way.

But just around the edge we have the story of Holy Week,

starting on Maundy Thursday night.

The arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane,

then when Jesus is scourged,

then he's carrying his Cross,

and now he's died on the Cross,

then he's laid in the tomb.

So, this is now Good Friday evening.

Then Holy Saturday, which is important for us -

it's a moment of waiting, as it were, between the death of Jesus

and the glory of Easter -

so, between Good Friday and Easter Day.

And here finally this lovely image,

this is the crucified body but now raised from the dead.

So it's at the heart of our story.

The festivities begin the night before Easter Sunday,

with the Easter Vigil.

The Easter Vigil is, I think,

one of the most powerful, dramatic services of the year.

Let's just go from the word "Gloria", please.

'We celebrate the Resurrection with the Gloria, which we've not sung'

for 40 days of Lent.

Two, three, four.

# Gloria

# In excelsis deo... #

We sing a Hallelujah, which we haven't sung during Lent.

The word "hallelujah" is not sung during Lent.

So, suddenly, all these things which were taken away from us,

since Ash Wednesday, are put back

in a dramatic and very conspicuous fashion.

Three, four...

For the Easter Vigil service,

James O'Donnell has chosen a piece of music

written for the Abbey by Jonathan Harvey.

The Harvey is a very different piece to our repertoire

because, unlike other pieces, there's talkative bits in it.

Shout!

THEY SPEAK

The shouty bits are much better now.

They should make people smile, I think.

They should be kind of like an outburst of joy.

'Musically, the great thing is to capture that drama'

and capture that, that, that, that sort of...

..enormously cosmic thing, the bursting of Christ from the tomb.

'This is Holy Saturday.'

We're preparing now for Easter Day.

The flowers are there, beside the high altar.

The Lenten array is coming down and the altar frontal will be going on,

so we're getting ready for all the glory and joy of Easter.

We're now fully dressing the altar because Easter Eve, dare I say,

it's a bit like having a dinner party,

you get all the best stuff out.

We work on figures from last year.

So last year we had about 400 communicants for the Easter Vigil,

with probably a congregation of 600.

So we work on those numbers and probably tweak it a bit.

We haven't been caught out but we've become more aware

that there's people that need gluten-free wafers.

So the round ones are the normal, standard wholemeal

but the little white square ones are actually gluten-free.

The service begins with the lighting of a new fire

and the lighting of a candle FROM the new fire.

A candle that represents Christ shining again in the darkness,

the risen Christ, and we begin with bells,

and with the organ making a great sound

just to say, you know, in sound,

we have the celebration of Christ's resurrection.

Hallelujah! Christ is risen.

ALL: He is risen indeed. Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

ORGAN PLAYS

# Gloria!

# In excelsis deo

# Et in terra pax hominibus

# Bonae voluntatis

# Laudamus te

# Benedicimus te

# Adoramus te

# Glorificamus te

# Gratias agimus

# Tibi propter...

'As the piece was commissioned, actually, for Westminster Abbey,

'the big sound is supposed to fill up the church'

and bounce off the walls,

so you can hear it right at the back of the church.

# ..gloria Dei Patris

# Amen. #

Some are very small, and there are two large eggs.

Sort of dodo size, I believe.

Dodo?!

THEY LAUGH AND CHATTER

So...are we ready? On your marks...

..get set, GO!

'The end of an extraordinary sequence of Holy Week and Easter,

'Maundy Thursday, Good Friday'

then last night the wonderful Vigil Service

and now the Abbey packed once again, vast crowds of people.

It's amazing how many people want to come and celebrate the joy of Easter.

Over the next few months, the cycle of life at the Abbey will continue,

with a wedding of one of their own...

When we had conversations with the Dean he said we would

be very welcome to be married here.

Butterflies are slightly swirling round my tummy.

..auditions are being held for new choristers...

There's a lot more to being in a choir like this than just singing.

..and the Abbey receives a historic invitation from the Pope

to sing in the Vatican.

You're engaged in a mission of vastly greater importance

than you can possibly imagine.

The Pope inviting us, it's going to be amazing.

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