text:
St Helen, Empress, in the 1962 Missal
As I noted in an earlier post, I have seen the propers for feasts for the whole of England and Wales pasted into the back of old Libers, but I have never seen the chants for feasts specific to particular dioceses, or groups of dioceses. I was delighted to discover, then, that one of these, St Helen, Empress (18th August) is included in the supplement for the United States of America, which is included in the on-liber Liber Usualis scanned by the Church Music Association of America. I have uploaded a booklet of these chants to the LMS website; they can be downloaded as a pdf here:
http://www.lms.org.uk/resources/gregorian-chant/chant_proper_booklets/st_helen
The feast of St Helen is a 3rd Class feast in Liverpool and Salford, and St Helen is the co-titular of Brentwood Cathedral, so it is celebrated in that Cathedral as well (First Class). St Helen, the finder of the True Cross and mother of the Emperor Constantine, was, of course, said to be a British princess. Britain played an important part in her son's life, since he was proclaimed Emperor at York; he went on to vindicate his claims in the ensuing civil war, and make Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Evelyn Waugh's historical novel 'Helena' is a thoroughly enjoyable re-telling of St Helen's legend.
If anyone has information about other diocesan feasts, or the chant settings of any other diocesan feasts, please let me know! I am anxious to find
Bl Adrian Fortescue (Birmingham diocese, 11th July)
Our Lady in Porticu (Cardiff and Menevia, 17th July)
Bl Hugh More (Nottingham, 1st September)
St Hilda (Westminster, Birmingham, Clifton, Northhampton, Nottingham, 17th November).
Others I have found I will publish in due course.
Posted by Joseph Shaw at 10:13 1 comment:
Propers of National and Diocesan Feasts in the 1962 Missal
I have spent some time recently researching feasts proper to England and Wales in the 1962 Missal. There are feasts proper to the whole of England and Wales: nine, to be exact, including St George (April 23rd) and the Martyrs of England and Wales (May 4th). There are also, listed conveniently in the Baronius Press hand missal, pages and pages of feasts not in the Unversal Calendar of the Latin West, and not celebrated in the whole of England and Wales, but still celebrated in certain dioceses in England and Wales.
These feasts become problematic when they have special texts composed for them. The texts themselves are not difficult to find - diocesan supplements for the altar missals exist, and they are all there in the Baronius Press missal - but when the text need to be sung, one needs to have the chant setting. And these do not seem to be widely available, if at all.
Of the feasts of the whole of England and Wales, a full 'missa propria' was composed for 'BB Joannis Fischer et Thomae Morus': that is, Bishop John Fisher and Thomas More, when they were beatified in 1886; the feast was originally celebrated on 4th May. This Mass, 'Deus venerunt gentes', stayed on 4th May when SS Fisher & More were canonised and moved to July 9th (getting a new Mass formulary), and 4th May became the feast of the Blessed Martyrs of England and Wales. I have found it in the English Benedictine supplement included in a 1908 Schwann Graduale and a later Solesmes Graduale, both of which I have been able to scan. It is a 3rd Class feast.
Here is the Introit being sung by the Schola Abelis of Oxford; there are more videos of the propers of this Mass here.
As a service to readers I have uploaded a booklet of these propers to the Latin Mass Society website, and you can download them here:
http://www.lms.org.uk/resources/gregorian-chant/chant_proper_booklets/proper_chants_for_4th_may
Bishop Fisher and Thomas More were canonised in 1935, and I have found their new Mass pasted into the back of an old Liber Usualis I own, with an Imprimatur dated 1936. Even more conveniently, it is to be found in the Graduale Romanum's appendix 'Masses for Certain Places', including the Gradual scanned by the Church Music Association of America. Here is this Mass:
http://www.lms.org.uk/resources/gregorian-chant/chant_proper_booklets/chants_for_ss_fisher_and_more
All sorts of things can be found pasted into the back of old Libers, or loose within its pages: St Joan of Arc, St Joseph the Workman, and other things obviously added to the calendar since the date of the printing of that particular Liber. Clearly these little booklets were made available when the Mass texts and melodies were published. What I have never seen, however, in an official supplement or pasted in somewhere, are the proper chants for diocesan feasts, in cases where these are not simply borrowed from other feasts and commons. I shall be posting about some of these later.
Second Biennial Meeting of the Gregorian Chant Network
Nearly two years ago, on January 30th 2010, the GCN was launched at a meeting at the London Oratory, attended by representatives of about two dozen chant scholas and a number of people involved in singing or teaching the chant. We agreed at that time to have such a meeting every two years.
The launch meeting was widely reported and was addressed by Colin Mawby, the distinguished composer and former Director of Music at Westminster Cathedral.
The next meeting is now well in preparation, and will take place on Saturday, 18th February 2012, at the London Oratory (the St Wilfrid Hall and the Little Oratory). It will be addressed by James MacMillan, another Catholic composer deeply concerned about, and practically involved in, chant. The Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Mennini, will join us and lead Vespers in the Little Oratory.
The meeting is an internal meeting of the GCN and as such it is invitation only. The directors of all our affiliated choirs and scholas are automatically invited, as are representatives from our 'supporter' organisations: the Latin Mass Society, the Association for Latin Liturgy, the Schola Gregoriana, Una Voce Scotland, and the St Catherine's Trust. Others involved with the chant have been invited as before. Anyone with a Catholic choir or schola can naturally get an invitation by affiliating.
For those who have received invitations, don't forget to reply!
Introducinng the Juventutem London Schola
The Juventutem London Schola, in the sanctuary at St Patrick's Soho Square.
The Juventutem Movement is an international movement of young people attached to the Traditional Mass, a phenonemon observed by the Holy Father when he wrote that 'young persons too have discovered this liturgical form, felt its attraction and found in it a form of encounter with the Mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist, particularly suited to them.' The movement has groups in a number of towns and cities around England, and a particularly active one in London.
One of the features of the group is a particular love of Solemn Mass, ie Mass with celebrant, deacon and subdeacon. It should always be remembered that, although Missa Cantata and and Low Mass are indispensible elements in parish life, it is Solemn Mass which is the normative form of Mass, giving it the full honour which is its due. Solemn Mass in the Extraordinary Form is extraordinarily beautiful, with many ceremonies which are cut down, or omitted, in Missa Cantata. Obviously a choir is necessary for Solemn Mass, and after some experimentation and development (including a couple of Masses accompanied by the Schola Abelis, who had travelled from Oxford for the occasion), the London Juventutem group has now established a schola of its own, which even has a blog.
Polyphonists at the LMS Pilgrimage to Aylesford, with the Juventutem London Schola.
Its director is Matthew Schellhorn, a professional pianist and the Latin Mass Society Representative for Southwark North. The Juventuetem Masses are monthly, on the last Saturday of each month, and alternative months are sung with polyphony. The core of the choir is however a small chant schola, led by Matthew and drawn from the young congregation. They can also on occasion sing elsewhere, and did so at the LMS Pilgrimage to Aylesford. They have joined the GCN and have been added to the list of affiliates and the map.
The chant schola singing during communion at Aylesford (at the back of the photo).
Juventutem London is now established at St Mary Moorfields, 4-5 Eldon Street, EC2M 7LS, and their next Mass will be there at 6.30pm on December 23rd.
Get in touch with them by email: juventutemlondonschola@gmail.com
New roving Schola for the South East: Anglorum Chorus
Our Lady of Willesden. The shrine image is carved out of a medieval timber from the ancient shrine, and crowned by Papal mandate. One of England's great medieval shrines, it was re-established in the 20th Century.
Christopher Hodkinson, well known as a leading member of the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge, has founded a new schola, the Anglorum Chorus. This sings at both the Extraordinary and Ordinary Forms of the Roman Rite, and is based in the South East, though they will go anywhere where travel expenses are available.
One of their first Masses was for the Latin Mass Society Annual Pilgrimage to Willesden on 29th October. They have also sung for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
The schola has joined the GCN and been added to our list of affiliates and the map. You can use this email address to contact them: anglorum.chorus@gmail.com.
From the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society
News of their next conference, and a report on their last one.
PMMS Annual Conference 'Music and Death before 1650', Oxford, 10 March 2012
Next year's Annual Conference will take place in Oxford at the Faculty of Music (St Aldate's) on 10 March 2012. The event is co-organized by Elizabeth Eva Leach, Owen Rees and Catharine Bradley and will focus on the theme of 'Music and Death before 1650'. Speakers will include, among others, Margaret Bent, Fabrice Fitch, Leofranc Holford-Strevens and Owen Rees.
Further particulars will be made available soon on the PMMS website (www.plainsong.org.uk), the PMMS Facebook group and the newsletter – so watch this space!
'From Text to Performance: medieval vernacular music in the 21st century', Birmingham University, Barber Institute, 26 March 2011
The 2011 annual PMMS conference, organised by Mary O'Neill of the Centre for Early Music Performance & Research, as its title implies centred very much around questions of musical performance informed by scholarship; as such, it followed a workshop held at the Barber Institute on the previous day which unfortunately only a few conference participants had been able to attend.
Benjamin Bagby of Ensemble Sequentia opened the symposium with a presentation on his current project of performing the Beowulf epic, describing his attempts to reconstruct or re-imagine how this poem might have been sung. He described his experimental reconstruction of an early medieval Anglo-Saxon harp, its possible shape, range, tuning, and number of strings, based on observations of medieval mode, iconographic evidence, and deductions from the physical characteristics of wood and gut; this was complemented by observations on metre, rhyme, declamation and rhetorical aspects of the poem itself which informed the melodic shape and phrasing of his realisation. A demonstration of a section from the epic in which all these elements were brought together concluded the presentation.
Bagby's presentation was followed by two papers on troubadours and trouvères; Peter Ricketts approached the topic from a philologist's perspective, providing insights into his vast experience as an editor of medieval Occitan poetry and his occasional contacts with musicologists and performers attempting to come to terms with a repertoire much of which survives without musical notation. He deplored both the lack of real collaboration between textual and musical scholars in editing this repertoire and the lack of communication between philologists and performers, often leading to egregious errors in pronunciation, style, and mode of delivery. In her paper 'From the scribe to the listener: some issues in Old French, Occitan and Galician-Portuguese song', Mary O'Neill approached the same topic from the musical side; she pointed out even where musical notation does survive (which is the case for the Galician/Portuguese cantigas, far less so for Occitan poetry), one principal issue remains unresolved: while the pitches are straightforward to transcribe, the rhythms in non-mensural notation remain open to substantial interpretation by musicologists and modern-day performers. By giving a survey of previous and current approaches to this issue, she demonstrated how far scholarship still is from providing a robust underpinning to the practical execution of this repertoire.
After lunch, Uri Smilansky took a source-based approach to the question of performing 14th-century song in his paper entitled 'Thinking, doing, feeling: ars subtilior and expression in medieval music'. Drawing on his own experience as a performer, he argued that there is much more to be gleaned from the page of a polyphonic music manuscript than pitches and rhythms; in particular, he demonstrated impressively how rhythmic-melodic gestures, in the way they occupy both musical space and the space on the written page, 'translate' the expression of the poetic text in a way which is immediately comprehensible to both performers and listeners. A counterpoint to this presentation was provided by Ian Rumbold who gave an overview over the repertoire of secular polyphony in the 'St Emmeram' codex (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 14274) of c. 1440; Rumbold described the way in which German and French song, originals and contrafacta, local and international repertoire rubbed shoulders in this highly idiosyncratic collection of the German priest and scholar Hermann Pötzlinger.
The day was brought to a close by John Potter's observations on 'Finding a voice: a medieval singer in the 21st century'. Postulating a disjunction between musicologists who were, in his view, searching for absolute historical 'truth', and performers who were searching for artistic viability in the present, he charted his journey from a practitioner of 'historically informed practice' via his work on 19th-century singing styles to his recent and current experiments in the 'Being Dufay' project with the composer Ambrose Field where he had performed re-composed and re-imagined songs (and fragments of songs) by Guillaume Dufay for voice and electronics. Like the day as a whole, Potter's presentation and the spirited discussion which followed it demonstrated how even after more than half a century of 'HIP' (and a discourse between scholars and performers which has been going on for much longer), much work is still to be done – some of it even fundamental – in finding truly common ground between the study of music and its performance.
Thomas Schmidt-Beste
Chant Training in London
The Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge will run a course of chant evenings at the
Farm Street Church,
114 Mount Street, London W1,
at 6.30 pm each Tuesday from 27th September to 13th December, except 15th November.
Directed by Dr. Peter Wilton, B. Ed (Hons), M Mus., Editor of chant for the Office of Vespers for Westminster Cathedral Choir..
Practical instruction includes: Music of the New English Missal, Chant performance, Music for the Mass and Daily Offices, English and Latin texts.
Anyone able to sing in tune is welcome, with or without chant experience.
£5 per evening, or £50 for the term. Enquiries to: Mr. G. Macartney, Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge, 26 The Grove, Ealing, London, W5 5LH 020 8840 5832 (answerphone when out).
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
New Guide for Scholas for the EF
The Latin Mass Society has just added to its website a comprehensive guide to singers of when to sing what pieces of chant, and how long they have before they disrupt or delay the Mass.
It includes the two videos I posted earlier, showing the sequence of events leading up to the singing of the Sanctus and to the Agnus Dei.
The guide, while not infallible, has been pored over by a number of singers and rubricists, and it is to be hoped that it will prove useful to singers less familiar with the Extraordinary Form (the Traditional Mass) when called upon to accompany it, and even those who wish to confirm their instincts. It increasingly happens that a parish choir is asked to provide singing for a traditional Requiem or a Mass for some special occasion, and while mastering the chants is one issue exactly what they are expected to do and when is quite another!
See the Guide here.
Chant and Metrical music go head to head
This is fascinating: a systematic comparison with the same texts set to standard modern melodies in modern notation and to chant melodies. It really illustrates the difference between the spirit of the two.
I challenge anyone to deny that the chant versions are more prayerful.
When to sing the Sanctus and Agnus Dei in the EF
Processing some videos of a recent Mass with the Schola Abelis of Oxford, I thought of creating a couple of clips illustrating something which can be confusing for singers not used to the Extraordinary Form (the Traditional Mass): exactly when you should start singing the Sanctus and, particularly, the Agnus Dei.
These videos illustrate it nicely, partly because my (extremely rudimentary) camcorder was nice and close to both the schola and the celebrant. This is a Solemn Mass; a Missa Cantata, without deacon and subdeacon, is exactly the same in terms of the short sung dialogue between the priest and the congregation (the latter led by the schola), which preceeds these chants.
I was once in a chant schola which was singing alongside a separate polyphonic choir. We were in the nave and they were in the choir loft. Not being familiar with the sequence of events, they actually failed completely to sing the Agnus Dei...
In the video the priest uses the 'Most Solemn Tone'; this is one of the more unusual tones. For the 'Common tones of the Mass' see the Liber Usualis from p98.
The priest is Fr Aldo Tapparo, Parish Priest of St Anthony of Padua in Headington, Oxford. This splendid Mass was in celebration of his church's 50th Anniversary. The deacon was Fr Anton Webb and the subdeacon Br Nicholas Edmonds-Smith, both of the nearby Oxford Oratory. I've put up more about this Mass here.
I have been working on a 'Guide to Scholas' to cover the whole of Mass, explaining what they should sing and when, which I hope will be ready to go onto the LMS website soon.
Chant in Cambridge 22-23rd June
Wednesday 22 June - Thursday 23 June, 2011
St Catharine's College, Main Court and Chapel
THE HOURS: A 24-Hour Celebration of World Sacred Music
with Sound Installation by Jonathan Green and Edward Wickham
about THE HOURS:
The Hours is a 24-hour collage of sound and live performance devised by Jonathan Green and Edward Wickham, in association with award-winning vocal ensemble The Clerks.
The Hours celebrates the impulse to pray and to praise; an impulse shared by the faithful of all the world religions, and one which has inspired the finest art, literature and music.
Drawing on the universal poetry of the Psalms, The Hours presents multifarious sounds, voices and music in a tapestry which is at times abstract, and at times intensely direct and human.
The sound installation provides the backdrop for live performances by Cambridge-based groups; including a 'Come and Sing' event open to singers of all ages, ability and experience. In the final hour, the diverse elements of the collage coalesce into a live performance featuring Taverner's sumptuous Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas, whose dense, polyphonic lines have previously been heard fragmentarily.
"one of the most inventive early music groups around" Musical Opinion
"a new side of early music'" Daily Telegraph
• The Hours sound installation will run continuously in Main Court throughout the 24 hours.
• Performances by Chela/Buska (Georgian choir); Harmonia Alcorani (Muslim choir); chant from Jewish and Hindu traditions: details to be confirmed
1900-1930: The Hours launches with the office of Luminaria
sung by the St Catharine's Girls' Choir and Egyptian soprano Merit Ariane Stephanos;
featuring the World Premiere of a new work melding Western and Middle Eastern chant by Jonathan Green.
2100: Performance by Kol Echad (Jewish Community Choir)
2130: Performance by Chela (Georgian Choir)
2200-2245: Compline for the eve of Corpus Christi (Gregorian chant)
0200-0330: Matins for Corpus Christi (Gregorian chant)
0700-0730: Lauds for Corpus Christi (Gregorian chant)
1630-1715: Global Harmony: a 'Come and Sing' session of sacred songs from different traditions
led by Rowena Whitehead and Talking in Tune Singers
Everyone is welcome, whatever your previous singing experience to add your voice to the rich and inspiring harmonies.
1800-1900: Final concert: Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas by John Taverner
sung by award-winning vocal ensemble The Clerks
Admission to all aspects of The Hours is free.
You can register your interest in the Come and Sing event in advance by contacting music@caths.cam.ac.uk;
you can also simply join in on the day.
Tickets for the final performance (limited) can be reserved by contacting music@caths.cam.ac.uk.
Portsmouth Chant Course concludes
From Neville McNally:
The Gregorian Chant Course concluded with a memorable final Workshop on Saturday last at St John's Cathedral, Portsmouth.
The day followed a similar format to the previous 7 Workshops with participants dividing into 2 groups under the direction of Abbot Cuthbert Brogan OSB and Christopher Hodkinson. The participants prepared the chant for Mass of the Vigil of Pentecost which was celebrated by Abbot Cuthbert and sung to a very high standard.
At the beginning of the day everyone was given a Final Questionnaire, which was a follow-up to the Questionnaire issued at the first Workshop. For those who have participated in the Course and were unable to attend the final Workshop, but who would like to comment, I enclose a copy of the Final Questionnaire. Once completed, please return it to me as soon as you can.
The Workshop concluded with a discussion forum which gave an opportunity for questions and answers. Plenty of points were raised which included comments on the Course, ideas for continuing practice of the chant and how to reach a wider and younger audience. There was also a lot of interest in participating in a future course.
Finally, gratitude was expressed to Abbot Cuthbert and Christopher for their contributions to making the course such a success; and to the Cathedral Administrator, Canon Hopgood, for allowing us to use St John's Cathedral and Hall.
If you would be interested in a similar course in the future, then please contact us:
gregorianchantnetwork@gmail.com
Chant day in York Sat 9th July
Church of St. Mary, Bishophill Junior, York. YO1 6EN
In this half-day workshop, in the oldest church in the City of York, we will learn and sing some of the most beautiful hymns, antiphons & psalms in the repertory of Gregorian Chant. We will immerse ourselves in the history, sound, technique and language of this ancient musical style, working toward an authentic and beautiful performance of Compline [The Night Office] at the end of the day.
All materials (scores and helpful resources) are included in the cost of the day. Beginners and more advanced singers are welcome. Registration Fee: £6.50 – £5.00 for Students. It would be helpful if you could register in advance, as this will give us an idea how music & other source materials to prepare!
To register please contact us at mike.4b@ntlworld.com or telephone (01904) 341853.
Pope Benedict: more on Sacred music
The Holy Father has written a letter to the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music on the occasion of its centenary. As well as reiterating the 'primacy of Gregorian Chant' he makes a point familiar to readers of his book 'The Spirit of the Liturgy':
[W]e always have to ask ourselves: Who is the true subject of the liturgy? The answer is simple: the Church. It is not the individual or the group that celebrates the liturgy, but it is primarily God's action through the Church with its history, its rich tradition, and its creativity. The liturgy, and thus sacred music, 'lives from a correct and constant relationship between healthy traditio and legitimate progressio'...
There is more on the Vatican Information Service blog; I can't find the letter on the Vatican website yet. It is frustrating not to be able to see the whole letter.
Pope Benedict, and St Bernard, on Sacred Music
I came across this section of a speech Pope Benedict made on September 12, 2008 at the Collège des Bernardins in Paris.
"For prayer that issues from the word of God, speech is not enough: music is required. Two chants from the Christian liturgy come from biblical texts in which they are placed on the lips of angels: the 'Gloria,' which is sung by the angels at the birth of Jesus, and the 'Sanctus,' which according to Isaiah 6 is the cry of the seraphim who stand directly before God. Christian worship is therefore an invitation to sing with the angels, and thus to lead the word to its highest destination.[...] From this perspective one can understand the seriousness of a remark by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who used an expression from the Platonic tradition handed down by Augustine, to pass judgement on the poor singing of monks, which for him was evidently very far from being a mishap of only minor importance. He describes the confusion resulting from a poorly executed chant as a falling into the 'regio dissimilitudinis,' the 'zone of dissimilarity' [...], into a remoteness from God, in which man no longer reflects Him, and so has become dissimilar not only to God, but to himself, to what being human truly is. Bernard is certainly putting it strongly when he uses this phrase, which indicates man's falling away from himself, to describe bad singing by monks. But it shows how seriously he viewed the matter. It shows that the culture of singing is also the culture of being, and that the monks have to pray and sing in a manner commensurate with the grandeur of the word handed down to them, with its claim on true beauty. This intrinsic requirement of speaking with God and singing of Him with words He Himself has given, [texts of Sacred Scripture] is what gave rise to the great tradition of Western music. It was not a form of private 'creativity', in which the individual leaves a memorial to himself and makes self-representation his essential criterion. Rather it is about vigilantly recognizing with the 'ears of the heart' the inner laws of the music of creation, the archetypes of music that the Creator built into his world and into men, and thus discovering music that is worthy of God, and at the same time truly worthy of man, music whose worthiness resounds in purity."
It is an internal quotation from an article discussed by Fr John Zuhlsdorf, which notes, alas, that the Holy Father has not, so far, done much in the musical field as Pope, despite his evident interest in the matter and the powerful things he has said about it.
Colin Mawby on censorship of music for the new Missal translation
This is part of the talk he gave at the Gregorian Chant Network weekend course, 9th April this year.
Report on Spanish Place workshop
I was able to attend the 'advanced' parts of two days of the three-day workshop in St James' Spanish Place in London, led by Dom Yves-Marie Lelièvre, Choirmaster at the Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes, France.
A group of about 20 singers attended all or part of the advanced singers' sessions with Dom Lelièvre, in which he introduced propers for the Masses and Vespers which were to be sung. He approached it from the Graduale Triplex, but showed us photocopies of the manuscripts upon which the Triplex is based. He also discussed the history of the modern chant editions: the 1908 Vatican edition of the Graduale Romanum, and the Antiphonales of 1912 and 1932. New editions, based on the research which has built up over the last century, are now finally appearing.
But above all we sang the pieces. Dom Lelièvre is an engaging teacher, with a complete mastery of the Gregorian canon and great sensitivity to its interpretation. His approach places the text first: he urged us to understand the text and pray it from our hearts as we sang. The melodies serve the text, and not the other way round. His interpretation was the opposite of mechanical and rigid; some issues simply depend on the accoustics of the church, for example. We had to watch his marvellously expressive hands while we sang - ideally, he said, we should know the piece by heart.
Not only was it a very interesting two days from a musical point of view, but it was a great gathering of singers from all over the South East of England and even overseas. It was organised with great efficiency by Candy Bartoldus who directs the choir at Spanish Place.
Canterbury Chant workshop
See www.gregoriansociety.org or email contact@gregoriansociety.org
1. Saturday 21st May: 12.00 St Dunstan's Church, St Dunstan's Street, Canterbury CT2 8LS
'The Angelus, the Ave and the Salve' for St. Dunstan. rehearse in the church at 11.30, sing at 12.00. The service lasts about 10 minutes. Cost: free
2. Saturday 28th May: Workshop day with Philip Duffy (Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge) on the First Vespers for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary from English sources the 13th century Worcester Antiphoner and the Hereford Breviary. 10-5.30 at St. Thomas's Church, Burgate, Canterbury CT1 2HJ; includes a visit to Canterbury Cathedral Archives for a talk on mediaeval music manuscripts and a small exhibition of documents.
We will sing the Vespers in St. Thomas's Church at 5pm.
Cost members £15, non-members £30.
Further information on website www.gregoriansociety.org. or email contact@gregoriansociety.org
Workshops with Dom Yves-Marie Lelièvre
Dom Yves-Marie Lelièvre is the Choirmaster at the famous Monatery of Solesmes; this is an opportunity to hear what he has to say about chant, based on the latest scholarship, in workshops at St James' Spanish Place.
Gregorian Chant with
Dom Yves-Marie Lelièvre, Choirmaster
Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes, France
St. James's Roman Catholic Church, Spanish Place
Dom Yves-Marie Lelièvre will be lead instructor of a Gregorian Chant Workshop at St. James's 5-8 May 2011. Participants will be singing under his direction.
Everyone is welcome to attend the following:
5 May (Thursday): 5.00 pm Vespers and 8.30 pm Compline
7 May (Friday): 8.30 am Mass, 5.15 pm Vespers, and
8.30 pm Compline
8 May (Saturday): 1.15 Sext , 4.30 pm Vespers and
6.00 pm Mass
Advanced workshop sessions are full, but spaces may be available for the Friday (10 am-12 pm) class on singing Liturgy of Hours and Saturday beginners class.
For more information: Contact Candy Bartoldus (cbartold@gmu.edu) or call the Rectory at 020 7935 0943.
Propers of National and Diocesan Feasts in the 196...
Second Biennial Meeting of the Gregorian Chant Net...
Colin Mawby on censorship of music for the new Mis...


We can't get away from cancer. We hear about it on the news, we hear about it from family and friends, we read about it in books, and we see it on TV shows. It's everywhere. It's one of society's biggest plagues.
The difference between cancer cells and healthy cells is the way they interact with the rest of the cells in the body. Cancer cells produce their own kind and do not help the body in any way, but in fact are fatal to it.
Healthy cells interact with one another and do everything in their power to fulfill their purpose. They do not worry about themselves, they do their jobs. In contrast, a cancerous cell only interacts through consuming other cells and transforming them into energy in order to produce more cancer cells. Cancer cells are completely self-serving.
Researchers have proven that essentially anything and everything can cause cancer. Everything from the foods you eat, to the X-rays you get (Ironically enough to improve your health). The list of cancer causing entities is so long it's nearly impossible to compress into one list, but we know the standouts like tanning beds, electronics, chemically processed foods, poor diet regime…etc.
What most people don't realize is that cancer may be caused by something other than what we eat, or what we do. It is caused by how we as a society live. The Universe is doing its best to show us how self-centered and selfish we have become.
How many people do we know that claim to be part of a church, synagogue or mosque? However, they spend very little time practicing. Many believe that they follow the Universe's will, but also claim that it never speaks to them. How then can you follow directions that you do not receive?
Your spirituality can be an underlying factor in the development of your cancer. It is the Universe's way of pointing out to us that our spiritual habits are not condoned or conducive to our faith.
Not contributing, or donating any skills or talents to local or spiritual organizations.
Spend NO time listening for personal directions from the Universe.
Not looking for any spiritual input.
Taking others' time and energy, and using it to produce other non-spiritual, self-centered things.
Buying nice things and hoping that the Universe never challenges them on anything.
Spending time watching sporting events, yet never exercising their own spiritual muscles.
Basically, they do not behave like "healthy" cells in the Body, they behave like cancer cells.
The solution is simple. Be mindful of the things you do, the way you act and the things your say. You just have to decide whether you will be a healthy, active, and contributing spiritual cell, who enriches the body by being a part of it or be a cancer cell leeching the life out of those around you.
We all know negativity breeds more negativity, and this includes our spiritual and bodily processes. It can poison the body and mind and lead you down a destructive path. Finding breath and positivity through your faith and giving back is a great way to revitalize a tired mind and boost those healthy cells.
If you find yourself exhibiting any of the spiritual cancer causing habits, take a moment to reassess, re-activate, and re-purpose your life.


text:
KENNEDY, KERRY ANNOUNCE $9.9 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS TO MASSACHUSETTS BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING INSTITUTIONS
BOSTON, MA – Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry announced today that 50 grantees at seventeen biomedical research and research training institutions in Massachusetts have been awarded a total of $9,902,161 in federal funding. The funds come from the National Institute of Health through a program in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support biomedical research projects that will stimulate the economy, create or retain jobs, increase student-teacher training opportunities in all aspects of biomedical research, and make significant scientific progress in the next two years.
Senator Kennedy said, "I commend these outstanding research institutions in our Commonwealth for their success in obtaining this well-deserved funding. Their innovative research in biomedicine is vital to the health care and security of our nation."
"These investments to biomedical research facilities across Massachusetts will save lives, create jobs and ensure that our state remains a world leader in medical technology. I'm incredibly pleased that the NIH has once again recognized the cutting edge work being done by so many of Massachusetts' medical institutions," said Senator John Kerry.
The National Institutes of Health currently support scientific research in 3,000 institutions in all fifty states. For more information on the programs supported by the NIH through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, please see http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/. The recipients of the grants, the purpose and the amount of the grants are as follows:
Student/Teacher Training Opportunities, $50,510
Studies on the Apoptosis Inducing Factor in Cardiac Apoptosis, $519,223
Studies on Innate Immune Mechanisms of Motor Neuron Injuries, $255,000
Studies on Purinergic Thromboregulation, $737,500
Studies on Thrombospondin 4 A1, $711,148
Studies on Molecular and Informatics Methods for Whole-Genome Mutational Profiling,
Student/Teacher Training Opportunities, $8,125
Studies on the Dual Role of IL-16 in Dysregulated Growth of CTCL Cells, $357,577
Studies on the Effects of Mechanical Forces on Lung Injury and Repair, $496,539
Boston Biomedical Research Institute
Waltham, MA
Studies on Early Growth Response Protein-1, $500,653
Studies on the Role and Mechanism of Negative Costimulatory Pathways in Experimental
Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis, $443,333
Children's Hospital Boston
Studies on Circuit-based Therapy for Rett Syndrome, $255,750
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Forsyth Institute
Studies on the Association of Telomere Length with Colorectal Cancer and Adenoma, $81,750
Studies on the Inhibition of T-Cell Responses by Bacteria, $417,059
Studies on the Regulation of Chronic Viral Infection by Co-inhibitory Pathways, $422,938
Studies on the Plasticity in Airway Smooth Muscles, $500,103
Hearthstone Alzheimer Care, LTD.
Studies on the LPA Pathway in Lung Fibrosis, $465,876
Studies on the In Vivo Profiling of Glial and Neuronal Activities in Psychostimulant Abuse,
Studies on How TorsinA Influences GABA Neuron Migration and Dopamine Neuron
development, $265,000
Studies on the Rational Design of a Cardiac Tissue Engineering Scaffold, $834,634
Studies on the Role of Glycocalyx in Mechanotransduction, $476,937
Studies on the Development of a Multivalent Vaccine for Mouse Reservoirs of Deer Tick
Pathogens, $322,000
Studies on the Role of Ndy1 in Epigenetic Gene Slicing and Stem Cell Biology, $322,336
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
Melissa Wagoner/Keith Maley 617-565-4472

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This is a vocal and instrumental suite by John McCusker, performed by a brilliant line up of Britain's finest musicians. Originally commissioned by the PRS Foundation, the Scottish Arts Council and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, "Under One Sky" explores the many different traditions, genres and influences at work across the UK folk scene and incorporates them into 7 pieces of music. McCusker's hand-picked ensemble includes Graham Coxon, Roddy Woomble, Julie Fowlis, John Tams and Jim Causley featuring amongst the singers, while the instrumentalists include Iain MacDonald, Andy Cutting, Ian Carr and Emma Reid. Evocative music which shines especially on 'S Tusa Thilleas' sung by Julie Fowlis and 'Long Time Past/Lavender Hill' with lead from Roddy Womble. Excellent. Graham Radley.


text:
%% Notebook with self test script for xml_io_tools Package
% Created as part of package testing.
%%

%% Test reading/writing data structures without attributes
% *Create data structure without attributes*
tree=[];
tree.Double = -3.14e2;
tree.Complex = 1.23+i*3.21;
tree.Empty  = [];
tree.RowVec = -2:0.8:3;
tree.ColVec = [6;7;8];
tree.Matrix = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9];
tree.Sparse = sparse(2,3,-5);
tree.Character = 'Q';
tree.String = 'Single String';
tree.StringCellArray = {'Jack', ' Jill ', '', 'XML Chars: <&> ', 'Special Chars: !$^*()_+=-@#{}[];:,./\?''"'};
tree.CharArray = [' Jack'; 'Jill '; '<&''">'];
tree.Boolean = (1==2);
tree.Struct.Parent.Child1 = 1;
tree.Struct.Parent.Child2 = 2;
tree.EmptyStruct = struct([]);
tree.StructArray(1).CellArray = {'John', 3.14, 0:0.11:1, [], '', {'cell', 1, 'of cells'}};
tree.StructArray(2).CellArray = {1:5, 'Jack', sparse(eye(3)), 1+sqrt(-(5:7)), {}};
fprintf('Original Structure:\n');
gen_object_display(tree) % function by Ohad Gal with some minor corrections

%%
% *Write it to the XML file and display the file*
xml_write('test1.xml', tree, 'test');
fprintf('File Produced:\n');
disp(textread('test1.xml','%s','delimiter','\n','whitespace',''))

%%
% * *Read XML file*
% * *Write it again*
% * *Make sure both files are the identical*
tree2 = xml_read ('test1.xml');
xml_write('test2.xml', tree2, 'test');
t1=textread('test1.xml','%s');
t2=textread('test2.xml','%s');
if (length(t1)==length(t2) && all(strcmp(t1,t2)))
  fprintf('Files test1.xml and test2.xml are identical\n');
else
  fprintf('Files test1.xml and test2.xml are different\n');
  return
end

%% Test reading/writing data structures with attributes
% *Create data structure with attributes*
tree=[];
tree.Double.CONTENT = -3.14e2;
tree.Double.ATTRIBUTE.Unit = 'cm';
tree.Complex.CONTENT = 1.23+i*3.21;
tree.Complex.ATTRIBUTE.Comment = 'Complex Number';
tree.Empty.ATTRIBUTE.Comment = 'Empty';
tree.Array.CONTENT  = -2:0.8:3;
tree.Array.ATTRIBUTE.Length  = length(tree.Array.CONTENT);
tree.Array.ATTRIBUTE.Comment = 'Array of Doubles';
tree.Matrix.CONTENT = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9];
tree.Matrix.ATTRIBUTE.Size  = size(tree.Matrix.CONTENT);
tree.Sparse.CONTENT = sparse(2,3,-5);
tree.Sparse.ATTRIBUTE.Size  = size(tree.Sparse.CONTENT);
tree.Character.CONTENT = 'Q';
tree.Character.ATTRIBUTE.Comment = 'Single Character';
tree.String.CONTENT = 'Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society';
tree.String.ATTRIBUTE.QuoteBy = 'Mark Twain';
tree.StringCellArray.CONTENT = {'Jack', ' Jill ', '', 'XML Chars: <&> ', 'Special Chars: !$^*()_+=-@#{}[];:,./\?''"'};
tree.StringCellArray.ATTRIBUTE.foo = 'foo';
tree.CharArray.CONTENT = [' Jack'; 'Jill '; '<&''">'];
tree.CharArray.ATTRIBUTE.foo = 'foo';
tree.Boolean.CONTENT = (1==2);
tree.Boolean.ATTRIBUTE.means = 'false';
tree.Struct.Parent.Child1 = 1;
tree.Struct.Parent.Child2.CONTENT = 2;
tree.Struct.Parent.Child2.ATTRIBUTE.foo = 'foo';
tree.Struct.Parent.ATTRIBUTE.foo = 'foo';
tree.Struct.ATTRIBUTE.foo = 'foo';
tree.EmptyStruct.CONTENT = struct([]);
tree.EmptyStruct.ATTRIBUTE.foo = 'foo';
tree.StructArray(1).CellArray.CONTENT = {'John', 3.14, 0:0.11:1, [], '', {'cell', 1, 'of cells'}};
tree.StructArray(2).CellArray = {1:5, 'Jack', sparse(eye(3)), 1+sqrt(-(5:7)), {}};
fprintf('Original Structure:\n');
gen_object_display(tree) % function by Ohad Gal with some minor corrections
%%
% *Write it to the XML file and display the file*
xml_write('test1.xml', tree, 'test');
fprintf('File Produced:\n');
disp(textread('test1.xml','%s','delimiter','\n','whitespace',''))
%%
% * *Read XML file*
% * *Write it again*
% * *Make sure both files are the identical*
tree2=xml_read ('test1.xml');
xml_write('test2.xml', tree2, 'test');
t1=textread('test1.xml','%s');
t2=textread('test2.xml','%s');
if (length(t1)==length(t2) && all(strcmp(t1,t2)))
  fprintf('Files test1.xml and test2.xml are identical\n');
else
  fprintf('Files test1.xml and test2.xml are different\n');
  return
end

%% Another test of reading/writing data structures with attributes
% *Create data struct*
tree = [];
tree.StructArray(1).ATTRIBUTE.Num = 1;
tree.StructArray(1).CellArray.CONTENT = {'John', 3.14};
tree.StructArray(1).CellArray.ATTRIBUTE.foo = 'foo';
tree.StructArray(2).CellArray = {1:5, 'Jack'};
tree.StructArray(2).ATTRIBUTE.Num = 2;
tree.StructArray(3).CONTENT = {'Jim', 123};
tree.StructArray(3).ATTRIBUTE.Num = 3;
fprintf('Original Structure:\n');
gen_object_display(tree) % function by Ohad Gal with some minor corrections
%%
% *Write it to the XML file and display the file*
xml_write('test1.xml', tree, 'test');
fprintf('File Produced:\n');
disp(textread('test1.xml','%s','delimiter','\n','whitespace',''))
%%
% * *Read XML file*
% * *Write it again*
% * *Make sure both files are the identical*
tree2 = xml_read ('test1.xml');
xml_write('test2.xml', tree2, 'test');
t1=textread('test1.xml','%s');
t2=textread('test2.xml','%s');
if (length(t1)==length(t2) && all(strcmp(t1,t2)))
  fprintf('Files test1.xml and test2.xml are identical\n');
else
  fprintf('Files test1.xml and test2.xml are different\n');
  return
end

%% Show use of ItemName preference parameter in xml_read
% *First use default iterator 'item'*
xmlfile = fullfile(matlabroot, 'toolbox/matlab/general/info.xml');
tree = xml_read(xmlfile);
fprintf('tree.list: [%i struct]\n', length(tree.list));
gen_object_display(tree.list)
%%
% *Then, use ItemName = 'listitem' which matches iterator used in the file*
Pref = [];
Pref.ItemName = 'listitem';
tree = xml_read(xmlfile, Pref);
fprintf('tree.list: [%i struct]\n', length(tree.list));
gen_object_display(tree.list)

%% Test reading and writing of a large XML file
% *Read in a large Matlab file, and write it out*
% In order to get "nicest" data structure cell arrays were allowed when
% reading. Also in order to get output file in similar format as input,
% preference was set to avoid the 'item' notation.
xmlfile = fullfile(matlabroot, 'help/techdoc/helpindex.xml');
Pref = [];
Pref.Str2Num   = false;   % don't convert strings that look like numbers to numbers
Pref.NoCells   = false;   % allow output to have cell arrays
fprintf('xml_read timing: ');
tic; tree1 = xml_read(xmlfile, Pref); toc;

Pref.StructItem = false;  % do not use item notation with structures
Pref.CellItem   = false;  % do not use item notation with cells
fprintf('xml_write timing: ');
tic; xml_write('test1.xml', tree1, 'index',Pref); toc;
fprintf('tree: \n');
gen_object_display(tree1)
%%
% * *Read test1.xml file, that was just created*
% * *Compare the new data structures with the original data structure*
tree2 = xml_read ('test1.xml',Pref);
if (length(tree1.indexitem)==length(tree2.indexitem))
  fprintf('tree1.indexitem and tree1.indexitem have the same length\n');
else
  fprintf('tree1.indexitem and tree1.indexitem don''t have the same length\n');
  return
end
%%
% * *Write new data structures to the file*
% * *Make sure both files are the identical*
xml_write('test2.xml', tree2, 'index',Pref);
t1=textread('test1.xml','%s');
t2=textread('test2.xml','%s');
if (all(strcmp(t1,t2)))
  fprintf('Files test1.xml and test2.xml are identical\n');
else
  fprintf('Files test1.xml and test2.xml are different\n');
  return
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Cristian Tabarescovarrubias was born on December 15, 1994 in Los Angeles County, California.
His father's last name is Tabarescovarrubias, and his mother's maiden name is Covarrubias. If Cristian is still alive, he's now years old.


We have been delighted by response to The Little Painting Challenge. We have received thousands of entries from all parts of the country and all ages – from school children right through to those over 100 years old. There has been an incredible range of subjects, styles and techniques, and our judges Cressida Cowell, Helen Stalker and Andrew Tomlinson were overwhelmed by the quality of the work and how creative people had been on the relatively small space of a postcard.
We now reveal the winners, as chosen by our judges.
There were so many amazing entries that the judges felt that some of them deserved special recognition. The following gallery shows the 'highly commended' entries in each category.
The winners and highly commended entries along with 1000 of the best postcards will now go on exhibit at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. The exhibition is open from 1 May until 22 May in the Grand Hall.
Congratulations to the winners and well done and thanks to everyone who took part!
When does the Whitworth Art Gallery exhibition finish?
The Whitworth exhibition runs from 1 May until the 22 May.
Please note: The Exhibition will not be open on the 8 and 15 May.
Where can I find out more about Get Creative?
You can find out more about the BBC's Get Creative campaign here.
How can I find out if my postcard has been chosen for the exhibition at the Whitworth Art Gallery?
We have made every attempt to contact everyone whose entry is in the exhibition using the information that was provided on the entry form. This means if you haven't been contacted by the team then it is unlikely that your entry has been selected.
Can I have my postcard returned?
The period for requesting the return of entries has now closed. Unfortunately, we are unable process any requests for returns that arrived after 5pm, 11 May 2015.


text:
Gnome 2.26
It has to be said that Gnome is maturing into a very nice desktop environment, and the 2.26 release sees only minor tweaks here and there. Sadly, many of the key features boasted about on the Gnome Web site are skipped in the Ubuntu distribution of Gnome. You won't see the Empathy Instant Messenger, for example, unless you specifically install it. On the other hand, Ubuntu's IM choice of Pidgin is better right now, so this is a good thing. Evolution sees a few new additions, primarily in the area of Windows integration, although missing from Ubuntu's Gnome distribution is the all-new ability to import Microsoft Outlook PST files (the central database of messages). This seems to be because the libpst library is missing, but I haven't investigated any further. Still, this is a shame.
Cruft Cleaning
One of the features slated for 8.10, but postponed until 9.04, is the Computer Janitor program. This lives on the System, Administration menu. Unfortunately, it doesn't work in the beta, complaining that a package is missing, but I played with it in the alpha releases I've tested. It's purpose is to get rid of old packages, such as old kernel files that stick around when you upgrade. As far as I can tell, it's a GUI equivalent of typing sudo apt-get autoremove and sudo apt-get clean at the command-prompt. Beware, however, that it might be a little overzealous: in one of my tests using the alpha release, it considered no longer necessary a package I'd installed by hand (TrueCrypt). I had a little too much faith in it, and agreed to its deletion, only to have to reinstall the package afterwards.
Technically Brasero should be discussed under the Gnome 2.26 heading, because the program is officially part of the Gnome desktop experience. And like Gnome itself, Brasero is maturing quite nicely. The big change in Ubuntu 9.04 is that it has entirely replaced Gnome's built-in CD/DVD Creator, that formerly lived on the Places menu. In this beta release, there are two menu entries for Brasero on the Applications menu: one under Sound & Video, which starts the full Brasero interface, and one under the System Tools menu, that starts Nautilus in CD/DVD recorder mode. When the Write To Disc button is hit, after you've dragged across the files you want to burn, Nautilus hands over to Brasero to actually create the disc.
In his announcement of the 9.04 release, Mark Shuttleworth only laid down two demands that were of interest as far as end-users were concerned: faster booting and integration with web apps. The first nail has been squarely hit on the head, but the second seems to have been entirely ignored. Firefox doesn't have Google Gears installed, for example, and the interesting Prism project, that "wraps" online applications to make them appear like local apps, hasn't been integrated.
It doesn't even appear that the version of Firefox supplied is the exciting new 3.1 release--the version number supplied with the beta is 3.0.7 (although admittedly 3.1 is still in beta). Personally, I believe that online applications are going to become more and more important in future, so I'm disappointed that Ubuntu isn't making any progress in this direction. There's a real chance to make a stake on virgin ground here, and it's land that Microsoft and Apple don't even know exist yet. Still, here's hoping for the Ubuntu 9.10 release in October. (Until then, anybody wholly committed to the online application experience can use gOS, which takes Ubuntu and adds-in exactly what Shuttleworth requested.)
Should you upgrade to Ubuntu 9.04 when it's released? To be honest, I don't see any reason not too. But I also have trouble of thinking of reasons why you should. With each new release of Ubuntu, it's becoming harder and harder for me to make a genuine recommendation, and this is something that worries me. The only compelling reason I can think of making the upgrade to 9.04 is the faster boot times, and the possibility of experimenting with ext4 file systems. Other than that, you're perhaps better sticking with 8.10, or even the 8.04 LTS release, which despite being a year old, remains a strong and stable release that's perfect for most users. With the recent raft of bug fixes, it just gets better and better. I use 8.04 LTS on most of my computers.
Keir Thomas is the award-winning author of several books on Ubuntu, including Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference.


Samsung, one of the largest Android smartphone and tablets producer in the World. To get most out of your Samsung device, download its latest USB drivers for Windows, that you will easily find here.
Galaxy A7 (2018) is one of the popular release of Samsung smartphone brand. The phone has a quite attractive design considering a lot of new features.
Oppo Find 7 was officially released in 2014, May including a lot of features. The phone has a quite stunning design.
Do you own Samsung E1207T? If yes, then you need to download the USB Drivers for your phone in order to connect it to your smartphone.
Galaxy Grand Prime was officially released in 2014, October. The phone made an entry in the market with a beautiful design and including a lot of features.
Galaxy Trend Duos S7392 made an entry in the market back in 2013. It was one of the popular phone of its age.
If you want to connect your Smartphone to a computer, then you need to download the drivers for your smartphone on your computer.
Samsung E1282T is a small budget phone that was launched in 2013, March. If you want to connect your phone to a computer, then download the required drivers for your Samsung E1282T and install it on your computer.


Since the city approved the demolition of the Deutsche Bank building two months ago, workers have only deconstructed two floors from the remaining 26 stories, raising doubts that the demolition will meet its latest deadline set for the end of 2010. If the demolition is not complete by then, it would cause further delays at other construction projects at the World Trade Center site. Officials at the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. said they are pushing the contractor, Bovis Lend Lease, to safely speed up work at The 130 Liberty Street project, but a timetable has not yet been set for completion. The building's demolition, which was initially expected to occur by 2005, has faced numerous delays, as the expected costs for the deconstruction have steadily climbed.


text:
Previous / Successful Le Mans race debut for OAK Racing Team Asia Next / Late heartbreak denies Brundle class victory at Le Mans
Le Mans / 24 Hours of Le Mans Breaking news
Audi goes 1-2 in the 82nd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans!
Nick DeGroot
Audi has done it again.
Audi has gone 1-2 in the 2014 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans! Fassler, Lotterer, and Treluyer earned the honor of winning this great race in the No. 2 Audi. Their sister car, the No. 1, brought home second, while the No. 8 Toyota fought back after an early crash to finish third.
#2 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro: Marcel Fässler, Andre Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer
Photo by: James Holland
This is the third overall victory at Le Mans for all three of those drivers. As a team, they also did it back in 2011 and 2012. For Audi, it's their 13th Le Mans triumph in the last 15 years; five in-a-row too! This one certainly wasn't easy for the Audi team however. Their No. 3 car was destroyed in an early crash while the other two spent extensive stays int the garage area before fighting their way back up the order.
Full Report on Audi/Toyota/Ferrari Crash
The No. 12 Rebellion brought home a very impressive fourth place finish with the LMP2 class winner finishing fifth overall. That would be the No. 38 JOTA Sport Zytek-Nissan team of Dolan, Tincknell, and Turvey. They finished ahead of the No. 46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Ligier-Nissan in second and the No. 36 Signatech Alpine-Nissan in third.
The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari took a commanding victory in the GTE Pro Class with Bruni, Vilander, and Fisichella. They crossed the line one lap clear of the No. 73 Corvette, which made a late charge. The No. 92 Manthey Team Porsche rounds out the podium in that class.
The No. 95 Aston Martin, which is the team the late-Allan Simonsen drove for last year, took the glory in the GTE Am class with a roster of his fellow countrymen in Poulsen, Heinemeier-Hansson, and Thiim as their pilots. They won from the No. 88 Proton Porsche and the No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari.
The No. 7 Toyota, which utterly dominated the first half of the event, met an untimely end as the Sun began to rise over Le Mans.
Toyota retires from race as Audi takes control
After the loss of the Toyota, it was the No. 1 Audi that took control, but they would encounter some mechanical gremlins of their own with three hours remaining, setting up a Porsche Audi fight for the win.
No. 1 Audi in trouble as the No. 20 Porsche takes over
The Porsche began to really fall off the pace at the end of the race, and eventually retired. To find out what went down in the final portion of this thrilling race, click HERE
Other Race Summaries
Summary For First Six Hours
Summary From Hour Six To Hour Twelve
Summary From Hour Twelve To Eighteen
Successful Le Mans race debut for OAK Racing Team Asia
Late heartbreak denies Brundle class victory at Le Mans
Los Angeles Clash
Entry list released for NASCAR Clash at the LA Coliseum
Remembering Alan Kulwicki: NASCAR's tragic maverick champion
Andre Lotterer
Porsche FE team keeps Lotterer, Wehrlein for 2022
London E-Prix II
Da Costa slams "sore loser" Lotterer after London FE clash
How Mercedes and Porsche can avoid a difficult second FE album
Team Joest
The epic finale to the Le Mans 'diesel wars' - 10 years on
The Le Mans-winning car that almost wasn't entered at all
Motorsport Heroes: Kristensen on his first Le Mans 24h win
Peugeot must race at Sebring or Spa for Le Mans 24 Hours entry
Champions sign up for 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual by Motorsport Games
Le Mans Le Mans
What could have been: When Carlos Sainz's Le Mans debut was scuppered
Third Toyota at Le Mans for Ogier "an option" for 2023
The remarkable fixes Toyota used to avert another Le Mans disaster
The 1-2 finish achieved by Toyota at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours was a result that will have surprised few, given its status as pre-event favourite. But the result was anything but straightforward, as worsening fuel pressure concerns required the team's drivers and engineers to pursue "creative fixes" on the fly. Here is the full story of how it reached the end without a lengthy pit visit
Inside the Le Mans finish too barmy for Hollywood
Team WRT has been at the forefront of GT racing for years and made a successful move to prototypes for 2021, capped by an LMP2 win on its Le Mans debut. It could've been even better had the race been one lap shorter, when its cars ran 1-2, but the stranger-than-fiction reality has spurred the team to reach greater heights.
Why Toyota's Le Mans victory was not as simple as it looked
Toyota scored its fourth Le Mans 24 Hours victory and a 1-2, with the #7 car of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez beating the #8. But although it looked straightforward from the outside, Toyota faced serious problem that had to be solved with some quick-thinking and ingenuity.
What we've learned from the Le Mans 24 Hours so far
The new dawn for the FIA World Endurance Championship has arrived at Le Mans, as Hypercars prepare to duel for victory in the world's oldest endurance race. Motorsport.com picks out the 10 things we have learned in the build up to the race.
Le Mans 2021: The team-by-team guide
After a two-month delay due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours is set to get underway with the start of the Hypercar era at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
The ex-F1 drivers making a name for themselves in LMP2 at Le Mans
Kevin Magnussen will make his Le Mans 24 Hours debut this weekend alongside father Jan in LMP2. But the Danes won't be the only ex-F1 drivers to appear in the hotly contested category this year.
Can Toyota's #7 crew break its Le Mans curse?
One Toyota, normally with the number 7 on the side, always seems to attract the bad luck in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez are hoping for a change in fortune this time around, but face significantly more unknowns than in recent years
How to prepare an amateur for Le Mans sensory overload
By Marco Seefried
The 23-car GTE Am field promises to be one of the most open in this year's Le Mans 24 Hours, with the added jeopardy of managing the enthusiasm of amateur drivers to boot, as Absolute Racing Porsche driver Marco Seefried explains


It doesn't matter how stressed I am from travelling, from missed busses, delayed flights, lost luggage or inevitable language barriers, I know exactly where to go to calm down and relax for a few days: the forest. It could be any forest really, as long as there is plenty of green and I can hear the birds sing; but the rain forest in particular has an instant soothing effect on me. To the point of listening to rain forest sound tracks when I'm stressing out at home. Loyal readers might have heard me going on about my love for this here and there.
The reason why I'm telling you this right now, is because I have once again returned to the great forests of South America on my recent 2-week jaunt to Ecuador and I was absolutely amazed. Although I wanted to go to the Amazon rainforest with all my heart and soul, I ended up in the cloud forest of Mashpi. The only real difference between a cloud forest and the rainforest is the altitude it's on – everything else is basically the same: the humidity, the bio-diversity, the sounds and the views. When Metropolitan Touring invited me to check out their flagship eco-lodge Mashpi Lodge in the cloud forest nature reserve of Mashpi, I didn't have to think twice. With the blink of an eye, my trip to the Amazon was postponed – cloud forest, here I come!
I arrived in at the lodge after a quick stop at the gate to watch a local coati next to the road – the first animal sighting, and already a mammal! Greeted with a refreshing cocktail I was quickly walked through the schedule for the upcoming days and checked into my room. Most guests don't just visit Mashpi Lodge on a highly basis, but book a package of either two or three nights which includes the room as well as all meals, daily activities and educating lectures about the local eco-system. I stayed for just two nights, but to be honest, the programme was jam-packed with excursions and food – it felt like a week in paradise. More about the activities later – but now, the highlight of the hotel itself: the room.
Every detail in my room was right – from the fruit basket with local treats and the modern furniture, to the softest bed ever with bed linen that deliciously smelled like the forest out there. There was a desk to work on at nights and a gorgeous bathroom with a rain shower. I stayed in one of the smaller standard rooms (although there was hardly anything small or standard about it), but also got the chance to look at one of the gorgeous suites of which there are three. They are just a little bigger, but have TWO 'glass walls' and a bathtub with panoramic views.
The rest of the hotel's interior matches the looks and decor of the rooms: massive floor-to-ceiling glass walls; a mix of white, grey, beige and pastel colour schemes; modern wooden furniture with cork details; grey floor tiles which reflect the light to make it look even brighter. If you don't want to hang out in your room (yeah right…), you can chill out in the hangout area next to the lobby, or the restaurant and bar area. The entire building is surrounded by the forest and wild gardens, and birds can basically be spotted from any angle. There is a gorgeous panoramic terrace, great for early-morning bird watching or a relaxing yoga session. The jacuzzi and spa area are open upon request. The coolest thing about the jacuzzi is, that there are no windows but only wooden panels and mosquito nets separating you from the forest.
Mashpi cloud forest is secondary forest, which means that the native trees have been cut down by the national and international forest and agriculture industry. Sadly, no tree in Mashpi is older than roughly 50 years – but is it not great to see what nature and bio-diversity can develop in just a few decades? The nature reserve of Mashpi made the reforestation and revitalisation of the forest possible. The Mashpi Lodge is part of a wider project aiming to extend the nature reserve on an even larger territory and restore more of the natural beauty of Ecuador's forests.
It comes as no surprise that the processes involved in running a hotel come with a massive ecological footprint – waste is unavoidable. The people at Mashpi Lodge however, try to minimize their footprint as much as they can. The hotel was built with as little impact on the local nature as possible and is managed super eco-friendly. The LED lamps help to reduce energy consumption, all water waste is treated biologically, and rubbish is being recycled and composted where possible.
The revenue of the lodge and donations by guests are a way to generate income for the Mashpi nature reserve, which is also publicly funded by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Production. One part of the project is also to support a Resident Biologist who works with a team to study the local wildlife and plants. While there are not so many mammals to be found in these forests, there are particularly high numbers of insects and birds present – some of which are endemic. During the guided nature walks organised by the lodge, you get to learn and see plenty of them. It is nice to see that the surrounding nature is the beating heart of the lodge – not the other way around.
80% of the lodge's employees are from the local villages and the hotel uses organic products available from local producers – and thereby creates jobs and a constant income for the communities! I met several of the young men training to become nature guides for the lodge and for them this line of work is not only a job, but also a way to share their traditional knowledge about nature and conservation, an opportunity to learn another foreign language (for some Spanish is the first foreign language, and then comes English) and potentially even a chance to enter higher education to study biology or tourism. They also all look a little bit like Greek gods… not that that really matters (no?).
All activities offered by the lodge are included in your stay, and are always accompanied by one head nature guide (who will speak very good English and studied biology or something similar) and an assistant local guide from one of the surrounding villages (who knows everything about every plant and animal of the forest and is particularly good at spotting them). The lodge provides each guest with a small backpack, a reusable water bottle, mozzy spray and a mozzy bracelet – all yours to keep. There are also wellies and walking sticks available to use for the walks. Here is a rough overview of possible activities.
Hard to see, but this is actually a tiny scorpio, which one of our miraculous guides spotted out of nowhere.
The Life Centre is is a research station, roughly 30 minutes walk from the lodge. There is a little flower garden outside, but the spectacular highlight is the butterfly garden on the inside. There are many different species of butterflies, large, small and in all colours, fluttering about or just hatching in the hatchery. There is also a terrace with great views over the surrounding hills and valleys.
Walking the other direction, back up the hill above the lodge, you will reach the hummingbird station, where bright red containers filled with sugar-water attracts huge numbers of hummingbirds; all sorts of different species. Most of them are green and look more or less alike, but there are also some odd outsiders with electric blue feathers, white feather-boots around their ankles or gorgeous long tail feathers.
Forget zip lining – if you ask me, it's all about moving slowly through the forest! Zip lining is great for an adrenalin rush, but if you are actually interested in what's going on in the canopy and getting views over the trees, a sky bike is the way to go. I had never experienced or heard of anything similar, and absolutely loved it! The sky bike at Mashpi Lodge bridges a little valley, first it goes downhill and from roughly halfway through the line you need to use your muscles to make it to the other end – a great workout. The views are gorgeous and I had never come that close to the flowers and epiphytes high up in the canopy!
The lodge is surrounded by a great network of trails which are used by the local population, the researchers and biologists, and of course, you. Some trails lead to gorgeous waterfalls, like this one below, which falls into a huge pool deep enough to jump into. Your guides will bring some lunch along as well which makes for the perfect picnic.
With a hotel so remote and isolated, it is important that there is a good restaurant to indulge in – the only other option to get food would be to hike to one of the closest villages (let's say 1.5 hours walk?)… Luckily, the restaurant at Mashpi Lodge is awesome and dishes out some of the best food I've tasted in Ecuador.
As mentioned, a lot of the used products come from the intermediate area of the lodge and food is very much prepared as fresh as possible. The dishes range from very traditional tastes of Ecuador to international cuisine and interesting fusion creations.
Breakfast is super fresh, with a chef show-cooking your eggs and all sorts of fruit juices. If you need to get up before breakfast times for an early walk, the bar will already be serving coffee and the kitchen is happy to prepare a brunch-pack. Lunch is served buffet-style, with loads of salads and small bites you can easily mix and match. Dinner is a la carte with 2-3 options of main courses, reaching from meat over fish to vegetarian. The bar offers fresh home-made lemonade free of charge, which is very yummy, but of course also alcohol drinks which are not included in the package price.
All in all, my stay at Mashpi Lodge was one of my favourite cloud forest experiences I've ever had. Compared to the cloud forest in Costa Rica, the temperature was a lot higher, and I hardly needed my jacket or jumper. The food was amazing and my room absolutely stunning. Despite of that, the luxury element of the hotel is more about the setting and exclusivity, not about the atmosphere or over-the-top-ness.
Of course, it's not a cheap trip to make, but what you get is undeniably special. And you support a project that does a lot in terms of nature conservation, and sustainable and local economy. Definitely worth every penny!
Disclaimer: I was invited to Mashpi Lodge by Metropolitan Touring. All opinions are my own.
What a view ... Amazing! Like living in the jungle, but with comfort.