RIP Charles Paterson

 

Today I had a long day driving to Boxgrove, near Chichester in West Suffolk for the funeral of my singing friend Charles and back again afterwards.

Although we were both at Cambridge, Charles was four years ahead of me and we didn't meet until I joined the Tudor Singers of London, in which we sang first tenor together. He was much the better musician, but I like to think our voices blended quite well and I enjoyed many a concert singing alongside him. We kept in touch through the regular St Michaels Singers/Tudor Singers reunions, most recently last year (see here).

Charles was originally from Ipswich and somehow we never managed to meet up when he was in the area visiting his family. I never did manage to tell him he shared a surname with my maternal grandmother either. Drat!

The funeral was a splendid occasion, full of celebration rather than mourning and there was a huge choir (almost as many as in the congregation) to sing the music he had chosen for his funeral... and what a great selection too. Here are some recordings of the pieces...

William Croft's funeral sentences, performed here at the Funeral service for His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh. 

Edgar Bainton's beautiful anthem "And I saw a new heaven", performed here by The Sixteen. It has one of the most wonderful tenor lines to the words of "And god shall wipe away all tears from their eyes".

And then the Nunc Dimittis from Herbert Howells' Collegium Regale evening service, with a superb tenor solo, performed here by the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge.

I was delighted to be able to, along with 7 other Tudor Singers (including Peter, who I had not seen for maybe 40 years), take part in the singing and celebration of Charles' life. Condolences to Susan and the rest of the family.

We will be singing some of his music at our next reunion in Southwell in 2025. I look forward to that, but I am sad Charles will not be singing with us.