Projects

Schola Nova Silvana is a Gregorian Chant choir which has performed at Salisbury cathedral, St. Michael’s Southampton, and various venues around the New Forest. The age-old chants in Schola’s repertoire are presented in dialogue with new poetry written by prize-winning poet Hilary Stobbs. Here, Musical Director Fabian Lochner talks to Hilary about their exciting collaboration.

 

Fabian: We have had some great audience responses to our special mix of Gregorian Chant and your poetry. Do you remember how it all began?

 

Hilary: I cannot remember our original conversation, but very soon it became clear that the Schola Project would develop into a real partnership between music and the spoken word. Originally, I saw myself as accompanying the chant throughout the changing seasons of the year. Yet this has grown into two disciplines meeting on an equal footing.

 

Fabian: What is your experience of medieval chant, as a 21st century person?

 

Hilary: When I was very young I remember walking with my parents through a beech wood. I could hear singing but saw no one. Before long we came to an abbey and the doors were wide open. The singing – which as I now know was Gregorian Chant – seemed to ring around the stone pillars and walls. It filled the space. I could almost touch it. This memory has stayed with me since I was 5 years old. ‘Stone’ is written from this memory. Stone can resonate, vibrate and store up the music of hundreds of years. It says, “Come in and listen.”

 

Fabian: How do you relate to the religious or spiritual aspects of the chant repertoire? How is this reflected in the poetry you have written?

 

Hilary: There is a religious source to the chant but it is not my intention to write religious poetry. There is more of a spiritual encounter. The language can be inspired by Christianity, Paganism, or indeed anything where humanity has tried to walk the borders between the visible and the invisible.

 

Fabian: What is your experience of the seasons and how is that reflected in your poetry? Has that relation changed in responding to the medieval form of the liturgical seasons?

 

Hilary: My core inspiration as a writer continues to be the wild or subtle changes in nature throughout the year, right down to the rising sap in the veins of a leaf or the sound of an acorn dropping. To my delight, it is a seamless progression to walk inwardly alongside the ancient chant, the words and music continuing to open up possibilities for each other. Latin text from the liturgy sits comfortably within certain poems. The Green Man of ancient lore finds a welcome just as much as a cross that will be used for the Crucifixion!

 

Fabian: What would you most want our audiences to know about this project?

 

Hilary: The Schola Project offers a uniquely modern experience for those who dare to listen. There is no bias, merely the chance to become different for a while. This is not a walk in the past but a courageous walk on current borders, tide-lines and edges where our innermost thoughts and wishes can become lost and found again.

 

Fabian: What does the future of the Schola Project look like?

 

Hilary: Our collaboration will continue wherever the words and music lead us, there is a wealth of material to be explored! I have been really pleased that audiences have responded so enthusiastically. It is a voyage of discovery for the writer, the performers and, of course, the listener.

 

Fabian: Anything else you would like to add?

 

Hilary: A special mention should go to our talented speaker, Christopher Kidman. His sensitive understanding of the

sound, rhythm and pace of language really brings my poetry to life!

 

 

Stones are a store-place

waiting for song.

Notes touch them like fingerprints

and seep into quiet hollows,

knocked and rubbed down corners

or fault lines,

a song can live in a fault line

and ring to warm the tread and stillness of hours.

 

 

 

Hilary Stobbs

Copyright 2019