Christus surrexit by Jacob Handl (1550-1591) sung by The Compline Choir
Today is Easter Day. Christus surrexit is an anthem by Renaissance composer Jacob Handl, as sung by The Compline Choir on Easter 2019 during a service at St. Mark’s Cathedral here in Seattle.
Every Sunday night for over 65 years, The Compline Choir has been singing the *Office of Compline in the beautiful acoustic of St. Mark’s Cathedral. I joined the choir in September 2012, and sing Compline every Sunday night at 9:30pm. But today, I will not be singing with my fellow choir members. Due to the Coronavirus, public church services have been cancelled and we are only allowed to sing to an empty cathedral with one or two singers on a part. The choir will be broadcast on radio and online, but we will not be able to sing with our usual number of 22 singers this Easter Day. It’s a difficult time for all choirs and people who typically gather to worship on Sunday. I hope this anthem will bring you joy on this special day.
Compline has developed a lasting popularity of almost mythical proportions, unlike any other worship event in the Pacific Northwest. The service continues to attract a diverse congregation upwards of 300 people, who come to sit in the quiet and dimly lit nave, to listen to words and music, and to be renewed and comforted by this ancient liturgical office. Classical KING-FM 98.1 estimates that 10,000 or more listen to weekly radio or internet broadcasts. The reasons behind the success and popularity of Compline are difficult to pinpoint. The choir sang to an empty church at first. However, a congregation blossomed in the 1960s—during the age of the flower children—when Eastern religions began influencing Western thought, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.
https://www.complinechoir.org/about/history/
*Compline is the last of the daily Divine Hours, which are also called the “offices”, and known, especially inside Benedictine monasteries, as the “work of God” or Opus Dei (not to be confused with the group of the same name). In Christian monasteries, monks or nuns chant up to eight of these offices during the course of a day, and Compline is recited at the end of the day before going to sleep. https://complineunderground.wordpress.com/about/
Song a Day 2020 