Purcell and St Cecilia on Radio 3
The day is upon us which Purcell himself celebrated with odes and finally his own death by chocolate, tuberculosis or pneumonia after being locked out of the house by Mrs Purcell. (The theories are several and none more credible than any other.) Indeed Purcell actually founded the celebrations to mark St Cecilia's Day (November 22), the saint having somehow acquired the patronship of Music in the seventeenth century, having previously been associated only with blindness. You don't have to see to love music.
The big event is at Purcell's place of work and burial, Westminster Abbey, this Friday evening (Fri 20 Nov). The Abbey Choir, accompanied by St James's Baroque Players and conducted by James O'Donnell, performs the Te Deum and Jubilate in D from 1694, the Ode for St Cecilia's Day composed in 1692 Hail Bright Cecilia and the Funeral Sentences composed for the death of Queen Anne in 1694. The soloists are soprano Carolyn Sampson and counter-tenor Iestyn Davies who is on a roll at the moment and long may it last. The concert is lustrous enough for BBC Radio 3 to broadcast it 48 hours later on the actual saint's day this Sunday at 6.30pm.
Indeed, Radio 3 is devoting the whole weekend to Purcell commemorations of various sorts. It has even been mentioned on Radio 4 which Mrs Jones listens to. You can find all the details by clicking on this link.
Here are details of some other Purcell celebrations in concerts this weekend.
On Saturday morning, Ms Sampson is on the train to Cambridge for the evening's concert at West Road Concert Hall entitled The Virtuoso Voice. She is accompanied by the Academy of Ancient Music under Richard Egarr and the programme includes Purcell's Chacony a 4 in G minor, excerpts from Dido and Aeneas and songs Man is for the Woman Made, From Silent Shades and Music for a While. Handel is also acknowledged. The entire cast then returns to London to repeat the concert the following day (Sunday) at the Wigmore Hall.
Alternatively, a Homage to Purcell concert takes place at London's St John's Smith Square. Grayston Burgess conducts the Guildhall Baroque, the Purcell Collection, the Tiffin Boys Choir and a long list of soloists including Katherine Manley, Amy Moore, David Gould, David Allsop, James Geer, Nicholas Bewes, Ben Davies and Stephen Varcoe. The all-Purcell programme features the birthday ode Come ye sons of art, Celestial Music and the St Cecilia Ode of 1692, Hail Bright Cecilia (again).
One of the less conspicuous events is the concert on Saturday evening (21 November) at the Grosvenor Chapel in South Audley Street, London W1, given by the Solomon Choir and Orchestra conducted by Jonathan Sells with soloists Anna Devin, Christopher Lowrey, Julian Forbes and John McMunn and others plucked to stardom from the choir. The programme includes St Cecilia Odes by Purcell (Welcome to all the Pleasures of 1683), Handel (1739) and Draghi (1687). It concludes an exhaustive three-day conference entitled Purcell Handel and Literature at the Senate House of the University of London.
Comments Post your comment