May Morning. Singing from the Tower

May Morning in Oxford is famous for the thousands who gather at 6am underneath Magdalen College tower to listen to the College Choir as they sing the Hymnus Eucharisticus, composed by seventeenth-century Informator Choristarum, Benjamin Rogers, and madrigals, in a tradition dating back over 500 years.

MAGDALEN COLLEGE CHAPEL – CELEBRATING 550 YEARS
The foundation-stone of the College was sanctified on the fifth of May, 1474, by the venerable father Robert Toly, Bishop of St.  David’s, in his pontificals, and respectfully deposited in its place, the middle of the high altar, by president Tybard l.  The quarry of Hedington, which had been discovered in the reign of Henry the Third, was now in higher repute than that of Hinxey, and from it the stone for the edifice was taken.  We  find  Waynflete  contracting with  William  Orchyerd,  the  principal mason,  in  1475,  1478,  and  the  following year,  for  finishing  the  tower  over  the  gateway with  a  pyramid  sixteen  feet  high  above the  level  of  the  gutter;  for  crowning  the walls  of  the  chapel  and  hall  with  niched battlements,  for  a  coping  to  these  and  the library;  for  completing  the  chambers,  cloisters, and  other  imperfect  portions  of  the fabric;  and  for  fashioning  the  great  window of  the  chapel.

These special events held at Magdalen College Chapel are part of the commemoration of this significant anniversary.