Long echoes
A letter in The Spectator, 25th July 2009
Sir: My old friend Peter Phillips (Arts, 18 July) observes that 'St Paul's Cathedral in London has such a long echo that a composer might want to build in extra rests for the sound to clear', but uncharacteristically errs when he goes on to say: 'I can't think of a single piece that obviously takes this into account.'
There is just such a piece, by the 18th-century composer, cuckold and drunk Jonathan Battishill, who had been a boy chorister at St Paul's. His fine setting of Isaiah lxiii 15, O Lord, look down from heaven, was written for the cathedral and derives its most striking effect from dramatic pauses at the agonised entreaty 'Where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me?' Readers who frequent quires and places where they sing will know that in today's parishes this. . . er, passage is usually. . . well, bowdlerised.
Richard Abram Wanstead Park, Essex