Eilmer!
| Type of post: | Choir Documentation |
| Sub-type: | No sub-type |
| Posted By: | K James |
| Status: | Current |
| Date Posted: | Tue, 2 Jan 2024 |
The Story of Eilmer in Music – from March 2001
The following is an edited version of a 2001 article to whet your appetite. It was written by Chris Jager In response to the first performance of “Eilmer” in March 2001. It reflects the audience’s obvious enjoyment of Mike Scanlon’s witty imaginative script and John Hughes’ evocative use of medieval musical allusions and delicious harmonies.Malmesbury Singers and Malmesbury Abbey Choir
Much of the best art has a universal appeal. You hear a piece of music that you enjoy, or watch a play, and you want to share the experience with others. My main feeling leaving the Abbey on March 31 after attending the world premiere of Eilmer! by Mike Scanlon and John Hughes, was that it was a work that would merit repeated hearings, but how many opportunities would there be? The applause at the end showed how much those present had enjoyed it, and the main reaction was when can they do it again?The story of Eilmer is special to the people of Malmesbury. Try explaining to someone about the flying monk, and it tends to be treated with disbelief. However even an incomer like myself has no problem accepting it as true. William of Malmesbury could not possibly have invented the bit about Eilmer realising that he needed a tail to stabilise himself.
The performance was given by Malmesbury Singers and Malmesbury Abbey Choir, conducted by John Hughes, with Janet Barton playing the organ and Julia Poynton on the flute. The principle parts were sung by Andrew Oxley (Eilmer as a young boy), Dick Jowitt (Eilmer), lain Duffin (Abbot of Malmesbury) and Jane Henderson (Abbess of Bath). In addition Megan Mills and Tony Royle provided an amusing interlude as a couple of drunks. There was even a chorus for the audience, divided into four parts, that was rehearsed by John Hughes before the performance proper started.
Mike Scanlon used the bare details of William’s account to devise a story that was plausible, very witty and at the same time had a serious message.
At the start Eilmer as a boy introduced us to the story, telling how he contemplated human flight. Then after a dance for flute and piano, the monks and nuns sang of their dedication to God, and how an obedient life would lead to rewards in Heaven. Then we heard the Abbot remonstrating with Eilmer about how sinful his plans to fly were, that man was meant to stay with his feet firmly planted on earth. Eilmer nevertheless believed that man was destined to fly one day, and he could be the first.
The Abbess of Bath then arrived and outlined the “discoveries” her community had made, such as turning metal to gold, and announced that she was off to Rome to present her findings to the Pope. When faced with these claims, all the Abbot could do was tell her about their own pioneer, the monk who was preparing to fly, much to the Abbess’s scorn.
So Eilmer was granted permission, and in the centrepiece of the work he gave instructions as to how to prepare his wings, and looked ahead to possible success or failure. With a surreal touch, the Abbot now became commentator describing the build-up through a megaphone. However before Eilmer launched himself, there was a dream sequence in which he, and then the chorus of monks and nuns, imagined themselves on a magic carpet.
We were then brought back to reality with the commentary of the actual flight itself and its sudden end after a journey of a furlong. This was accompanied by appropriate sound effects, some of them quite anachronistic such as a police siren. There then followed the interlude with the drunks who decided to give up the bottle after looking up to see a monk soaring above them. In contrast three nuns sang a trio in praise of a brave man, and the chorus of townspeople gathered to give honour to their Flying Monk.
The moving finale saw Eilmer as an old man supported by crutches and looking back on how he had accomplished his seemingly impossible dream through faith, expertise and courage.
So when can we hear it again? We don’t want to have to wait until Eilmer’s millennium in 2010. Reproduced by kind permission from Chris Jager – March 2001
Prophetic, or what? So here at long last is our version for Christmas 2010, on the 1000th Anniversary of the flight. It contains some revisions that John Hughes and Mike Scanlon have made to enhance the original. We hope you will be as enthusiastic in your response as the first audience to the retelling in music of William of Malmesbury’s account of the remarkable flight from the Abbey heights in 1010.
