Our songs were written as a collaboration between Ben Sutcliffe and Fiona O’Cleirigh. The words, both the sung Cornish and the English translations, are by Fiona and have been set to music by Ben. Ben is also the Breselor musical director.
The sound is that of the late Renaissance/Baroque period, which coincides with one of the bleaker times in Cornish history; the Reformation. Stations of the Cross, as a Catholic ritual, would have taken place in Latin. We think that our version continues the tradition of Cornish spirituality and story telling that was laid down by the monks of Glasney College with the Ordinalia and with the various Cornish miracle plays. It is something new, too, being in Cornish, and so is a part of the Cornish Renaissance – an Dasdinythyans Kernewek.
The music had its first concert performance in the church of St Endellion on 10th March (2023).
To listen to the music and read the poem/lyrics (in English and Cornish) for a station, click on the relevant banner below:
© Ben Sutcliffe/Fiona O’Cleirigh —– Images: Fiona O’Cleirigh
In September 2023, the music won a pair of medals from the Cornish Gorsedh:
“The Grand Bard’s award goes to writer Fiona O’Cleirigh and composer Ben Sutcliffe, whose magnificent ‘Stations of the Cross’ performed by the Breselor Ensemble was a highlight of the Cornish cultural scene and has added a very significant work to the canon of Cornish music.“
The Breselor Ensemble 