News
ENLARGE
It is a Sunday night. A fading twilight glows through the high stained glass windows over the altar. Candle light dimly illuminates the nave of 150 year-old Trinity Church.
People from all walks of life are silently waiting to absorb some evening therapy in a timeless, mystical, musical way. The officiant, Father Christopher Seal can be seen dimly, seated alone and ready at the front.
At the rear of the sanctuary, a choir of 10 singers softly ascends the narrow wooden staircase to the choir loft. Now in a semi-circle, the choir stands quietly adjusting the music on their racks. The officiant is ready. The cantor is ready. The choir is ready. Over a deafening silence, the choir intones the opening Orason. The ancient office of Compline is underway.
What is the office of Compline? The word comes from the Latin, completorium, or completion. It is the last of the seven daily monastic offices, a short service of spoken or sung prayers upon completion of the day. It can provide spiritual peace for the rest of the night and hope for the new day.
Emerging from the mists of time, only the participants have changed. The first Compline was celebrated in the middle east around 379 A.D., and subsequently spread to Europe and the rest of the world.
Trinity uses a version of Compline adopted by 1662. Most of the service is sung and chanted. There is no sermon, no offering, little participation by the audience, no pressure upon the listeners to do anything but listen.
The magnetic, organic power of chant, the oldest form of choir singing, is holding sway. It even speaks to those who shun or are not part of organized religion.
There is something else going on too. In the cracks is silence, a rare commodity in our culture.
Within 30 minutes it is over. The final chanted 3-fold Amen fades away into the mystical sanctuary of our ancestors.
The members of the Trinity compline choir are talented, classically trained musicians with a love of singing chant and old music, much of it from the Renaissance. Some of the music is in four parts: alto, tenor, baritone, bass, with men on all but the alto voice.
There is no accompaniment, just the soothing sound of mellow voices laid bare before the Glory of God.
The next Trinity Compline service will be held on Sunday, May 30, at 7 p.m.
All are invited to attend, washed and unwashed, saints and sinners.
More information, schedule, and blog can be found on the choir's web site, trinitycomplinechoir.org.
Trinity Church is located in Nevada City at 202 High Street. Phone (530) 265-8836.
People from all walks of life are silently waiting to absorb some evening therapy in a timeless, mystical, musical way. The officiant, Father Christopher Seal can be seen dimly, seated alone and ready at the front.
At the rear of the sanctuary, a choir of 10 singers softly ascends the narrow wooden staircase to the choir loft. Now in a semi-circle, the choir stands quietly adjusting the music on their racks. The officiant is ready. The cantor is ready. The choir is ready. Over a deafening silence, the choir intones the opening Orason. The ancient office of Compline is underway.
What is the office of Compline? The word comes from the Latin, completorium, or completion. It is the last of the seven daily monastic offices, a short service of spoken or sung prayers upon completion of the day. It can provide spiritual peace for the rest of the night and hope for the new day.
Emerging from the mists of time, only the participants have changed. The first Compline was celebrated in the middle east around 379 A.D., and subsequently spread to Europe and the rest of the world.
Trinity uses a version of Compline adopted by 1662. Most of the service is sung and chanted. There is no sermon, no offering, little participation by the audience, no pressure upon the listeners to do anything but listen.
The magnetic, organic power of chant, the oldest form of choir singing, is holding sway. It even speaks to those who shun or are not part of organized religion.
There is something else going on too. In the cracks is silence, a rare commodity in our culture.
Within 30 minutes it is over. The final chanted 3-fold Amen fades away into the mystical sanctuary of our ancestors.
The members of the Trinity compline choir are talented, classically trained musicians with a love of singing chant and old music, much of it from the Renaissance. Some of the music is in four parts: alto, tenor, baritone, bass, with men on all but the alto voice.
There is no accompaniment, just the soothing sound of mellow voices laid bare before the Glory of God.
The next Trinity Compline service will be held on Sunday, May 30, at 7 p.m.
All are invited to attend, washed and unwashed, saints and sinners.
More information, schedule, and blog can be found on the choir's web site, trinitycomplinechoir.org.
Trinity Church is located in Nevada City at 202 High Street. Phone (530) 265-8836.
