Paris – With hard bars and protective suits, members of the choir of Notre Dame Cathedral sang for the first time since the medieval landmark of Paris the devastating fire of last year for a special Christmas Eve concert.
Accompanied by an acclaimed cellist and a rented organ, the singers performed under the stained glass windows of the cathedral in the middle of the darkened church, which goes from being a precarious dangerous cleaning operation to becoming a site of mass reconstruction. . The choir initially planned to incorporate 20 singers, but for security reasons they were limited to eight.
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Choir members distanced themselves socially so they could take off the masks (which are needed in the interior of France to curb the spread of the virus) and sing.
The concert, including “Silent Night” in English and French, “The Hymn of the Angels” and even “Jingle Bells” – was recorded earlier this month and aired just before midnight on Thursday. The public was unable to enter and is not expected to see the interior of Notre Dame until at least 2024.
The diocese called it a “very symbolic concert … marked with emotion and hope” and a celebration of a “musical heritage dating back to the Middle Ages.”
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The Archbishop of Paris, Monsignor Michel Aupetit, celebrated services on Thursday Christmas Eve in the church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, in front of the Louvre Museum instead of Notre Dame.
The choir of Notre Dame used to offer 60 concerts a year inside the cathedral, but since then it has been itinerant and has moved among other churches in Paris.
The April 2019 fire consumed the lead roof of the cathedral and destroyed the needle and only earlier this month did workers finally stabilize the site enough to begin rebuilding it.
