Hi-de-hi all

The bells at our Church have recently been refurbished and rehung along with some new ones, making us quite a centre for local bell-ringing groups (what joy...). In order to commemorate this, the bishop is coming to bless the bells (is he going to ascend the tower with the holy water in some sort of spray bottle?), in an evensong during our flower festival. It has now been decided that the choir is to make this a special choral evensong, and the chief bellringer has requested the following for the organ voluntary:

"there is some piece by Lefebure-Wely, which is like a circus piece, or a fairground organ, or something like that, very jolly."

Well I think I may have heard the piece he refers to, some time ago, but have no idea what it is called - can any light be shed?

Him Indoors reliably informs me that the piece to which you refer is called 'Sortie in E flat' - he says it's not very bell-like but is certainly FUN!!!

Excellent, thankyou indeed! Holsworthy bells was also suggested but as this was especially requested I thought I'd look into it.

"Floral" evensong, surely if it is during a flower festival!

Ha ha, yes quite, I think I may have to adopt said title for the occasion!

Ooh, the Lefebure-Wely Sortie in Eb! Husband and I had that at our wedding.

Great piece, and yes it does sound like fairground music. If you search on amazon for Lefebure-Wely, you'll get a list of CDs on which it's been recorded, and you should be able to listen to an excerpt of it.

Don't forget the B-flat sortie which is also written in a similar vein, plus there's tons of others...

If it's a bell-oriented service, perhaps a Carillon-inspired work might be better (one thinks of Vierne's moody Carillon de Westminster or Mulet's belting Carillon-Sortie which is a fave of mine - hurts the fingers on the last page!)

There'll be enough bl***y bellringing to satisfy even the most bell-hungry fanatics, without having to imitate them on the organ! But ta, might check those out too. It all depends really on what the organist can/will play!

I hope you are singing the "Bell Anthem" (Purcell) as well!!

...wasn't planning to, I don't know it actually! Locus Iste seems to have been requested.

Nice piece. The Purcell is a scream for the organist.. all those pages and pages of "Symphony" to be played in a stylish manner