The St Paul Choral Society recently became the first Maltese choir to perform at one of the world’s best-known and majestic churches: Notre Dame. Veronica Stivala went behind the scenes as she travelled with the choir on their Paris tour.

The prestige of performing at the grandiose Notre Dame de Paris properly hit me as I made my way through its imposing heavy wooden and iron doors, alongside the throngs of tourists queuing to see this gothic gem. While I was not performing, I had developed a certain attachment to the St Paul Choral Society (SPCS), with whom I had been travelling between for the past few days.

Words really cannot do justice to this magnificent Catholic church, but perhaps stressing that it took 200 years to be built can help one inch closer to comprehending its grandeur. As I walked down the lengthy aisles, past onlooking statues, stained glass windows and the famous flying buttresses, I could hear the uplifting sound of the choir practising before their performance for the Saturday evening Mass.

Founded in 1998, the SPCS has established itself as one of Malta’s leading choirs, having performed with big names such as Joseph Calleja and at prestigious venues such as St Paul’s Cathedral in London and the Stephansdom in Vienna. Their repertoire is wide and spans from the 16th century to the present day. This year saw them travel to Paris, performing also at two other top venues: Église de la Madeleine and Église Saint-Sulpice.

After the Notre Dame rehearsal, I was lucky enough to be able to descend into the cathedral’s reserved area as this was where the choir spent some downtime before their performance. Even the hidden underground rooms are a gem, complete with winding staircases, dramatic gothic beams and mystical stained glass windows. After a mere half an hour of respite and a quick vocal warm up, the choir ascended again to wow the congregation in a truly uplifting Mass.

Under its music director, Hugo Agius Muscat, and accompanied by organist Elisabeth Conrad, the choir sang works by Francesco Azopardi (Virgo Prudentissima), Carmelo Pace (T’accogliam Pane Celeste) and parts of Joseph Vella’s An ‘English’ Mass. This Mass has an interesting story to it because, even though it was composed just some 30 years ago, it lay dormant for the past 15 years or so.

Singing at Mass at Notre Dame.

When Hugo decided to revive it, he was surprised to find that the Gloria was missing from the printed score. When he asked Joseph about it, the latter indicated that it had been lost. Remembering that the Gloria was one of the finest parts of the Mass, the music director set about searching for it in his own records and eventually traced the faded photocopy from which he used to play in the past, and restored the score.

And so the 60-strong choir not only brought this wonderful composition back to life this year to Malta, but to hundreds of visitors to churches in Paris this August. The music was met with very positive feedback, the most tangible perhaps being that from a choir mistress who asked for the music of the Mass.

Catherine Constans, who coordinated the choir’s performances was enchanted by the SPCS’s recorded music, but attending their concerts in Paris “was beyond expectations. The public, the sacristans of La Madeleine, Saint Sulpice and our régisseur to Notre Dame, are unanimous on the quality of the choir’s performance”.

The beauty of the organs helped inspire our performances

Catherine sang the praises of all the choir members who performed with pride and confidence. “The choir’s inner strength and work on their voice – both individually and together as a choir – their passion and kindness, emanated in each song,” she said, adding how she especially liked their interpretation of the Cantique de Jean Racine (at La Madeleine) which was “light, subtle, and whose nuances they let shine through”.

The appreciative audiences (the choir had a large following at all three events) included Malta’s Ambassador to France, Vincent Camilleri, accompanied by Tanya Bayona, who attended the first concert at the Église de la Madeleine. Speaking about his experience, the ambassador said:

Eglise de la Madeleine

“It was an honour to be present for the choral concert by the St Paul Choral Society at l’Église de La Madeleine. The choir’s brilliant singing of works by Maltese composers Francesco Azopardi, Carmelo Scerri, choirmaster Hugo Agius Muscat and Joseph Vella together with those of Handel, Fauré and Elgar, drew the applause of the highly appreciative audience that packed the church. This was one of those memorable events which makes one proud to be Maltese.”

Tanya enjoyed this first concert so much that she returned the next day for the concert at Église Saint-Sulpice.

I, honestly, cannot decide which of the three concerts I enjoyed most. Each was unique, both because of the venue and the repertoire. This included works by Mozart, Palestrina, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Elgar, Rachmaninoff, Duruflé, Handel and Thompson, some anthems sung a cappella and others accompanied on the organ.

Other Maltese composers’ works were performed, namely by Agius Muscat, Francesco Azopardi and Carmelo Scerri. A word also has to be said about the works chosen specifically in relation to the titular organists, who included Camille Saint-Saëns and Gabriel Fauré.

The quality of the organs at Saint-Sulpice allowed C.M. Widor to compose his Mass for two organs and two choirs, combining the great organ and the choir organ. Elizabeth and Hugo also played organ solos, performing works by Luigi Grech, Guilmant, Saint-Saëns and Widor.

While my experience as a spectator and listener was truly memorable for me, I do not think it comes quite close enough to those who were actually involved and I leave the last few words for the music director.

Hugo says the opportunity to perform at such elite venues “was a tremendous one” for which he prepared both himself and the choir as much as possible, going so far as to research the buildings, their acoustics and the specifications of their organs, so that the choir could put their best foot forward on the day.

“All churches were awe-inspiring, but in each case, after the initial emotions had died down, we got to work, finding the best singing layouts possible, warming up as well as we could and delivering good performances which engaged the audiences effectively, judging by the positive reactions we received and the prolonged applause. Not to mention constant photography and filming,” he says.

When it came to the organ solos, both Elizabeth and Hugo were very much taken with the beauty of the organs at their disposal. “This helped inspire our performances. I am proud of what we all managed to achieve.”

The SPCS welcomes new talent, especially men and young sopranos. The choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings in the undercroft of St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, Valletta. If you are interested, get in touch with the choirmaster by calling on 7970 5692 or by sending a message through, www.facebook.com/StPaulChoralSociety.

www.spcs.info