Detail from the Ghent Altarpiece, by Jan van Eyck Photo: CC BY 2.0 / carulmare
This week's winner:
There was a young man whose desire
Was to write some great songs for a choir
But the songs were quite sad
And the music so bad
That the scores ended up in the fire.
Andrew, Christchurch
Highly commended:
When Berlioz wrote his Grande Messe
Many thought it to be in excess
But with such an enormous
Band of performers
It turned out to be a success
Bernard Redshaw
There once was a runaway choir
Who's pitch kept drifting higher
It rose through the mass
And it soon came to pass
That they all got to meet the Messiah
Anon.
A choir met Wednesday, noon
Every week in my Nan's drawing room.
They're so happy and proud
No-one mentions (aloud)
That their cats could sing better in tune
Paula Weir
As a treble my voice did inspire
And my descants soared higher & higher
But when puberty struck
My voice came unstuck
And I was kicked out of the choir!
Andrew, Christchurch
Thomas Tallis a man of the arts
Wrote a motet in just 40 parts.
He would have writ more
But the size of the score
Was too much for his singers' weak hearts
Simon, Akaroa
