Lent On

My services not being required in these parts today, I betook myself to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Liverpool for mass. Cleverly, I thought, I would take my Gregorian Missal with me so that I could follow the Introit word for word and neume for neume. Alas it was not to be. The regular choir were on holiday and then, as it transpired, the girls choir, which had been going to deputise, had been unable to get there. A couple of good cantors, nevertheless, pulled things together, leading the Responsorial Psalm and the Mass XVIII Sanctus and Agnus Dei while providing a solo Kyrie by Langlais, a piece by John Ireland at the Offertory and a Tantum Ergo by Faure at Communion. There were two hymns - at the entry and after Communion. The latter was the lugubrious "Jesu lover of my soul let me to thy bosom fly" which I think is by one of the Wesleys, and to the tune "Aberystwyth". I know Lent is supposed to have a somewhat sombre character and we are to follow Our Lord into the wilderness but steady on there! Aberystwyth...?