Schola Cantorum
Ampleforth’s reputation for outstanding choral music is well known and continues to flourish. The Schola Cantorum was established in 1970 at the request of Basil Hume to help preserve the singing of music written for the Roman Catholic Church, along with the best examples from other traditions, in the context for which it was written: the celebration of Mass. This remains at the very heart of the Schola’s mission. In addition, the choirs sing meditations at key moments in the Liturgical Year and are joined by professional soloists and orchestras for oratorios. There biennial performances of Handel’s Messiah at Christmas and Bach St John Passion during Lent along with alternating performance of Fauré and Duruflé Requiem near the Feast of All Souls.
The choir is made up exclusively of students with no support from professional singers. The Monastic Choirmaster sings with the choir and assists in the instruction of plainsong.
The Choir tours regularly and has most recently returned from a tour to Rome where they sang in St Peter's amongst other places. They make regular visits to London for performances and sing in York Minister and Westminster, Ripon and Durham Cathedrals.
History of the Schola Cantorum
The celebration of anniversaries provides us with a chance to spend time reflecting and in the case of this
most significant occasion, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Schola Cantorum in its present
form, we are able to look back with pleasure and with gratitude to those who had the vision, to those who
supported that vision and carried it forward, and to those who have served with such dedication in the
choir's ranks over the years.
1900 - 1970
Apparently there was a good choir in the days of Fr Clement Standish (beginning of 20th cent), and then
under Fr Bernard McElligott, who moved to a parish in 1927, leaving Fr Laurence Bevenot to carry things
on. The Journal reveals quite a lot of detail about what they sang (especially at Holy Week) but nothing is
known about what the sound was like.
There was a choir at least until the War (1939) with one young singer showing the dedication that later
generations modelled by forgoing boxing training, with results destructive of any ambitions he may have
had in that line. His brother arrived in 1949 to find a choir that sang the Litany of Our Lady on Saturdays
(to fauxbordon Anglican tones), but this soon evaporated, perhaps because Fr Austin (who took over in
1950) was more interested in orchestras.
When Philip Dore came in 1958 (after Fr Austin went to St Louis) Fr William, Headmaster, asked him to
set up a choral society as its absence had been one of the criticisms in the 1956 Inspection. Fr Austin had
tried with parts of the Messiah in 1956, but there were a lot of philistines about at the time. Philip Dore
started with the B Minor Mass but he also seemed to favour orchestral work more than the choral.
Members of the Community used to sing double choir tenor and bass music whenever they had a chance,
and some juniors used to do it for fun of an evening. At that time there were also some boys in the school
who wanted to sing and this group met for the first time on 17 November 1965 to sing madrigals and
four-part hymns, moving on in time with the help of Fr Adrian - then Choirmaster - to became a 'church'
choir. They performed motets and the litany on a small scale and they sang the Bevenot Liverpool Mass at
Easter 1970 which was televised. They were very keen to keep it a boys only group.
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