Seeing that many speculate or express their wishes about the songs for Ely, I wanted to enter the dance too
Sorry for being too long here bellow. It took me a while to think to the result.
Being a Cartesian guy, at first I thought that with a few statistics I should be able to have an accurate target for 2018, but in the end my conclusion is that I can not conclude
The variations are too broad and random to allow to establish reliable projection rules.
Here is my approach,
I started by collecting the songs from the last 10 years of UK concert, starting with the 2008 Queen Elizabeth Hall concert.
Thanks a lot to
www.libera-songs.de for the data source
I counted for each concert:
(See the image for details).
- The number of songs: On this point the variations are not too important, it varies from 18 (Ely 2017) to 22 (Arundel 2009), with an average of 20
- Continued songs (green) compared to the previous year: ranges from 8 (Ely 2017) to 17 (Guildford 2013), which is more than doubles. Average 12-13, but not representative.
- Stopped songs compared to the previous year: varies from 3 (Guilford 2013) to 11 (Arundel 2010), which is almost a variation of the simple to quadrule! Average is 7, but not representative
- New songs (pink) that have not yet been sung in a Spring UK concert: ranges from 0 (Arundel 2012) to 6 (Arundel 2010). Average is 3, but not representative
- Reappearing songs (yellow) that were not sung the previous year, but were already known in the Libera repertoire: ranges from 2 (Arundel 2014) to 8 (Arundel 2012). Average 4, but not representative.
And just for information, here is the list of the 66 different songs that have been sung at least once during the last 10 Spring concerts in UK, with the number of times each :
10 - Salva Me
10 - Sanctus
08 - Exultate
08 - Libera
08 - Orinoco Flow
07 - Stay With Me
06 - Far Away
06 - Gloria
06 - How Shall I Sing That Majesty?
06 - Song of Life
05 - How Can I Keep From Singing?
04 - Always With You
04 - Amazing Grace
04 - Ave Verum
04 - Dies Irae
04 - Dreaming Of Home
04 - Glory To Thee My God This Night
04 - Joyful, Joyful
04 - Love And Mercy
04 - Mysterium
04 - Sacris Solemnis
04 - The Fountain
04 - Wayfaring Stranger
04 - What a Wonderful World
03 - Adoramus
03 - Eternal Light
03 - Going Home
03 - How Great Thou Art
03 - I Vow To Thee My Country
03 - Sanctissima
03 - Voca Me
03 - When A Knight Won His Spurs
02 - Angel
02 - Ave Maria
02 - Grateful Heart
02 - Hymn To Beauty
02 - I Am The Day
02 - Jubilate
02 - The Prayer
01 - Agnus Dei
01 - Angele Dei
01 - Arirang
01 - Bayan Ko
01 - Danny Boy
01 - Deep Peace
01 - Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep
01 - From A Distance
01 - Hymn to Mary
01 - Lacrymosa
01 - Lamentione
01 - Lullaby
01 - May The Road Rise Up
01 - Morning has Broken
01 - Nearer my God to Thee
01 - O for the wings of a dove
01 - Prayer
01 - Rest in peace
01 - Sakura
01 - San Damiano
01 - Sancte
01 - Secret
01 - Sempiterna
01 - Smile
01 - Time
01 - Wexford Carol
So, only 2 songs were sung at each and every concert in the last 10 years Spring UK concerts : Sanctus as predictable, and Salva Me.
On the opposite, 26 songs have been sung only once.