"Joyful exultation and praise for a Spring evening"

Saturday's Programme

The Programme cover had it exactly right when it said “a joyful exultation and praise for a Spring evening”. And the Programme's introduction to the concert said that the music to be performed had “the feel good factor” and that it would make us all feel (to use the words of poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning) that God’s in his heaven and all’s right with the world”. How right the programme was! Well........as I wrote the Programme’s introduction and contributed other parts to it, and to paraphrase Mandy Rice-Davies in the 60s Profumo trial,......."I would say that wouldn't I!"

Saturday night saw the final concert of the season for our local choir – the Ruddington and District Choral Society - but although it was the last concert of the year before the choir takes its summer break it was in every other sense a new beginning since the choir has had both a new musical director/conductor and a new accompanist/choral teacher to lead them. It was a “first” too because the choir were joined by a wonderful and skilful group of musicians – the  Ruddington Chamber Ensemble who brought an exciting and new dimension to the concert; hopefully, this is a relationship that will develop further in future months. And finally it was a first since we had the services of four excellent young, local soloists: Grace Bale (Soprano), Katharine Chonara (Mezzo Soprano), Geoggrey Hickling (Tenor) and Ossian Huskinson (Bass) - these four young people were outstanding; again a relationship that it is hoped might develop further. My wife, Pat, has sung with the choir for many years and although I am not a singing member I do help out, as required, with writing the programme, numbering tickets, manning the door on concert nights and other similar “dogsbody” tasks! For this concert, however, I had a new and extra role – to take photographs so that the choir’s website could be up to date with the new personnel.

Paul Hayward - the Choir's new director in rehearsal mode!

Because  it was something of a new start for the choir the programme had been specially chosen to allow everyone to shine – pieces that are very much choral greats, favourites of singers, players and audiences alike. So in that sense the concert couldn’t really fail, but in actual fact it surpassed everyone’s wildest expectations – a splendid, joyful event where everyone went home, as predicted in the programme, with that real “feel good” feeling. There was universal agreement that the new men in charge, Paul Hayward and Michael Overbury, had injected not only new life and enthusiasm into the singers but had brought huge skills and talents to improve the quality of the singing and musicianship plus a new musical dimension which gave the performance a real buzz; the whole audience sat entranced throughout as the music  poured forth from a choir, soloists and orchestra at the top of their respective games. As I sat watching and listening to the music unfolding before me one could almost feel the mutual engagement between the performers and the listeners so tangible was it - the performers at one with their audience, the listeners feeling almost a contributing  part of what was unfolding before their very eyes and ears.  And, as the final applause died away, it was so noticeable how many of the audience left the church asking when was the next concert, or approached Paul, Michael or choir members to congratulate them on their performance and to thank them for a wonderful evening; they, the audience hadn't just been to a good concert, they had been an important part of a wonderful musical event.

Enjoying the rehearsal!

Paul Hayward is, despite his seeming youth, a hugely skilled, enthusiastic and experienced musician and has held several senior musical posts within the music world. He has undertaken national and international tours, performed on CD and taken part in BBC broadcasts. His musical interests are wide-ranging from traditional church music, through the classical repertoire to theatre and jazz. I am, sure that this versatility, his wide-ranging experience and his background as a respected leader and conductor were in the minds of the Choral Society when they appointed him their new director – believing that he would bring not only his considerable conducting skills but also a new dimension and enthusiasm to the choir’s repertoire and musical development. The Choir have not been disappointed - Paul has brought all these qualities and more to his role and to the benefit of each and every member of the Society. He has become an instant success. Similarly, Michael Overbury is a hugely talented, experienced and nationally recognised musician.  Primarily known as an organ and harpsichordist Michael has performed at the highest level: assistant organist at Kings College Cambridge & New College Oxford, international organ competition prize winner, cathedral choir master, teacher, soloist at places like the Royal Festival Hall and the Handel House Museum in London, leader of early music groups, writer and a performer on CDs.  Michael’s background and experience are unquestionably of the highest order. His skills as a teacher and an accompanist have already borne fruit in the choir and when combined with Paul’s choral leadership, direction and conducting have not only produced a wonderful concert but brought the choir to life in a way that could only have been dreamed of  four short months when they took up their new roles.

Michael Overbury - Organ maestro!

But, of course, in the end, the music is the thing. Musicians and choirs may come and go but it is the music that provides their raison d’être and it is the music that concert goers go along to hear.

I don’t think that anyone who attended Saturday night’s concert would have had any reservations about the choice of programme; people knew what they were going to get – and they came to fill the church and to hear some of the greatest of works by the greatest of composers. As I mentioned above the programme was chosen to grab attention and to enable all to shine – and shine they did! Early on Saturday afternoon I had walked to St Peter’s Church here in Ruddington where the concert was to be held to take some photographs of the final rehearsal. As I quietly slipped in via the side door I was met with a wall of sound as the choir and orchestra gave life to mighty Credo from Haydn’s Nelson Mass – surely one of the world’s spine-tingling musical works; in short, the hairs on my neck stood bolt upright! And throughout the concert on Saturday evening I watched the whole audience sit almost on the edge of their seats, not only entertained but inspired and moved by the pieces: Antonio Vivaldi’s serene and mighty Gloria, George Frederick Handel’s beautiful and technically demanding Organ Concerto No 4 and, of course, the powerful and glorious Nelson Mass by Joseph Haydn. When a programme contains pieces and composers as well known as these it is perhaps not easy for a choir or orchestra to impress – after all, many of the audience will, like me, know these works well and have the works on CD performed by some of the world’s great musicians. Audiences will know what it should sound like when played at its best but as the audience left the Church on Saturday night their praise and happiness was obvious. I heard one member comment that the performance of the Vivaldi was better than the professional performance she had attended a week or two previously at a recognised concert venue. The lady was alone; congratulations were on everyone's lips - the rendering of these mighty works in St Peter’s on Saturday night bore comparison with any other that I have heard. It was not only a rewarding experience but a great achievement by those involved.

Singing aloud is allowed!

And as I sat there listening I thought of something that often goes through my mind when I attend any concert. Here we were, in  little village in the middle of England enjoying things that had first been heard in far off places and by ears of far off times. We were experiencing something pretty close to what listeners in Venice experienced three centuries ago when Vivaldi’s Gloria was first performed. Similarly, when Michael Overbury played that marvellous Organ Concerto by Handel we were hearing just what 18^th century London theatre goers heard. And when I crept into the church on Saturday afternoon, or sat in the concert on Saturday evening and was overawed by the power of Haydn’s Nelson Mass I was listening to what that great Admiral first heard in 1800 as he returned victorious from the Battle of the Nile having put a stop to Napoleon’s plans to dominate Europe. The music was linking me and the rest of the audience to our shared and mankind's past.

A light hearted break in the rehearsal.

These great works and thousands of others like them, are an historical bridge that links us to times past – to the feelings, ideals and events of those past ages. And it isn’t just great classical music that does this: I can sit and listen, as I sometimes do, to (say) the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, or Bob Dylan and be immediately transported back to my college days in the 60s. I can listen to Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly or the Everley Brothers, as I did the other evening while Pat cooked tea, and be back reliving my misspent teenage years to the Rock and Roll of the late 50s. Or, I can listen to enjoy one of my CDs of Gilbert & Sullivan and in an instant be back to the age of Queen Victoria and Dickensian England; such is the power of music to transport us to another world and another time and hear what those of those far off days heard and loved and to perhaps understand more fully our history and mankind’s dreams, ideals and aspirations.

Everyone concentrating on this difficult bit!

Antonio Vivaldi

Vivaldi’s Gloria is one of the world’s great choral pieces. Antonio Vivaldi, or the “Red Priest” as he was known because of his bright ginger hair composed his Gloria in Venice, probably in 1715, for the choir of the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage for girls, of which he was the music master. The Ospedale prided itself on the quality of its musical education and the excellence of its choir and orchestra. Vivaldi, a priest, music teacher and virtuoso violinist, composed many sacred works for the Ospedale, where he spent most of his career, as well as hundreds of instrumental concertos to be played by the girls’ orchestra.

Looking serious? Everyone gets their instructions on how
to behave on the night!

On one of our visits to Venice Pat and I stood in the Church where Vivaldi’s work was performed by the girls from the orphanage all those years ago. In those far off days it was not seemly for young women to be seen performing by gentlemen so the girls played and sang behind iron grills on the church balcony while the gentlemen of La Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia, (the Most Serene Republic of Venice), sat below hearing but unable to see the performers. What a wonderful picture this conjures up: the church lit only by flickering smoking candles, the wealthy gentlemen of La Serenissima Repubblica  sitting craning their necks to catch a glimpse of some orphan beauty behind the grills, outside the gentle sound of the lapping water of the Grand Canal and, of course, Vivaldi’s glorious music permeating all. As I sat there in the rehearsal and during the concert I was there – in Venice, three centuries ago – such is the music’s power and such was the wonderful performance that we heard. The Gloria is Vivaldi’s most famous choral piece and is a joyful hymn of praise and worship based upon the Latin Mass and  based around St. Luke's account of Christ's birth, and the angels singing to the shepherds. Its movements range from the serenely beautiful to glorious and powerful; any one of the twelve movements might appear in a hit list of great choral works but my own favourites are the Gloria, the Et in terra pax, the Domine Fili unigenite and the Cum Sanctio Spiritus – hear them and, as the programme said, one knows that all’s right with the world ! Vivaldi was hugely popular in his day. Sadly, however, he squandered much of his wealth – but, he left us a treasure trove of great music, and, as I say a historical bridge to his world.

George Frederick Handel

When Michael Overbury sat and performed Handel’s Organ Concerto No 4 (Opus 4) in F Major  he was doing exactly what Handel himself did when it was first performed in 1735 – namely, entertaining the audience with a musical interlude between the main parts of the concert. The two main works on Saturday night were the Gloria and the Nelson Mass and when Handel performed his Organ Concerto it was as an interval piece at one of his great oratorios. Handel’s Organ Concertos do not have a religious spirit but were intended to captivate and entertain the general public who had come to hear his Oratorio. They were music for the ordinary man and woman – easy to grasp, melodic and exciting at the same time.  The six Opus 4 Concerti were all written between 1735 and 1736 and performed at the newly opened theatre of John Rich in Covent Garden. The Concerto No. 4 in F Major was completed by Handel on March 25th 1735 and performed by him during the performance of Athalia on April 1st 1735.  This was “interlude music” for the pleasure and enjoyment of the audience and one member of the audience, Mrs Pendarves, clearly enjoyed it. She wrote at the time: “....Mr Handel’s playing on the organ .....was the finest thing I ever heard in my life”.

Have we got the "X Factor"......Yes, we have!

Such was Handel’s celebrity status in eighteenth century London that his appearance at a performance of one of his Oratorios ensured a “full house” and Handel, always keen to boost his income, intended all of his Organ Concerti for himself to play, and so ensure a full theatre! To coin a modern phrase, Handel’s playing put “bums on seats” and money in Handel’s pocket – a thing very close to the great musician’s heart! The Concerto combines brilliant, fast and flowing music with slower movements which allowed Handel to take the spotlight and remind his audiences that he was not only a popular composer and celebrated performer, but also a peerless player and improviser. When Michael Overbury performed the piece on Saturday night he did just that: reminded us of his own peerless skills and of the great music that Handel left us. As I sat there listening to Michael’s wonderful playing and Handel’s great music, I could understand what Mrs Pendarves was feeling as she sat (or maybe stood) all those years ago in a smoky and crowded London theatre hearing exactly what I was hearing in our little parish church in the middle of England so many years later.

Inside the Esterhazy Palace where Nelson heard his Mass

And finally to the Nelson Mass – another of the true choral “greats”. Joseph Haydn wrote his Mass, as most of his other works, whilst employed by Prince Esterhazy at the magnificent Palace of Esterhazy in Hungary – part of the mighty Austro-Hungarian Holy Roman Empire. The Prince was one of Europe’s great men and his palace one of the great cultural centres of 18^th century Europe. Haydn was required to produce a new mass each year for the name-day of Princess Esterhazy and in 1798 he composed his Mass in D Minor – the Missa in Angustsiis (A Mass for Troubled Times).   
                     

Joseph Haydn - "Papa" Haydn. He gained this sobriquet 
because he is often seen as the father of the modern 
symphony and, in his time, was much loved by 

those who played for him - he was their "father figure"

Times were indeed troubled: Haydn’s world was in turmoil. Napoleon had won four major battles with Austria in less than a year and French  armies had crossed the Alps and threatened Vienna itself.  The summer of 1798 was, therefore, a terrifying time for Austria. What Haydn did not know when he wrote the Mass, however, was that on the 1st August, Napoleon had been dealt a stunning defeat in the Battle of the Nile by British forces led by Admiral Horatio Nelson. As the news reverberated around the world, Nelson was heralded as the 'saviour of Europe' and it is believed that reports of the victory reached Haydn on the day of the Mass’s first performance in September 1798.  Perhaps because of this coincidence, the Mass instantly acquired the sub-title The Nelson Mass. That title, however, became firmly fixed two years later.  

The great sea captain

And Lady Hamilton, his "friend"!

In the months following the victory Nelson became a legendary figure in Europe. Feted and courted by Europe’s elite and powerful he toured much of the continent enjoying his fame. In Italy he met Sir William and Lady Hamilton who lived in Naples and there he fell for the beautiful Lady Hamilton. She became his mistress and a ménage a trois was established. The Admiralty, learning of Nelson's behaviour, immediately recalled him to London but he did not rush home! - instead, he took nearly two years to make the return trip, and only after he had so arranged matters as to travel overland with the Hamiltons via Austria and Germany!

The route included Vienna, and from there Nelson and the Hamiltons visited Prince Esterhazy at Eisenstadt and so met Haydn in 1800. To mark the visit of the famous Admiral, Haydn’s D Minor Mass which had assumed the name Nelson Mass,  was performed for the illustrious guests and to celebrate the great victory  that had temporarily, at least, thwarted Napoleon’s plans.  From that moment the “nickname” stuck – the D Minor Mass would be forever the Nelson Mass. During the visit Nelson and Haydn apparently become close friends and accounts tell that Nelson gave Haydn a gold watch captured during the battle, whilst in return Haydn gave Nelson the pen that he had used to compose a cantata to Lady Hamilton.

Getting to the high notes!

The Nelson Mass is the longest mass that Haydn produced and is not only one of the world's great choral works but one of the most listenable to and most performed. Its exciting and dramatic music sweep the performers and listeners along – it certainly did that on Saturday night! Hear the Gloria, the Credo or the Agnus Dei and one can be in no doubt about the ability of great music to influence men and to speak of great power, great ideals and  great deeds; it is the sort of music to make one feel very small in the magnificence of the universe and indeed of God’s creation -  a theme that Haydn explored in another great work, his mighty oratorio The Creation. As I listened on Saturday night, I pictured in my mind’s eye the brilliant palace of Esterhazy, the gathered, glittering political, military and cultural elite of Europe, the great Admiral and his mistress, “Papa” Haydn, now an old man nearing the end of an illustrious career, conducting the assembled performers and all of them hearing exactly what I was hearing in St Peter’s Church two centuries later. A gateway and bridge to an understanding of our shared past to be sure.

Didn't we do well! Acknowledging the applause. 

As I thought of this, another thought crossed my mind. Haydn’s great work was written at a time when Europe was under threat, when times were dark. And here I was, two centuries later, listening at a time when the notion of a united  Europe is again under threat as the EU referendum approaches. The UK is torn between remaining in Europe or going it alone and Europe itself is having to deal with huge problems of mass immigration that threaten to overwhelm the continent whilst terrorism and the far right gains an increasing presence and foothold. Across the Atlantic the most powerful nation on the planet is sliding further into increasingly bizarre, extreme and worrying rhetoric as Presidential wanna-be Donald Trump preaches the gospel of isolation, individualism, aggression and inequality. This is a time for European nations to again stand together. It seems to me that, just as with Beethoven’s great Ode to Joy, the culmination of his great masterpiece the “Choral” Symphony No 9, Haydn’s Nelson Mass was written at a time when Europe and its people were in danger and when nations and men had to unite together to confront the great problems and dangers they faced. Today we must do the same - unite behind the flag of freedom, friendship and equality, not the beating drum of division, fear and extremism. Works like these are about humanity and brotherhood and the best that mankind can be. They are not about individualism and  breaking from the rest of our neighbours as those who advocate our withdrawal from Europe would have us do.  Saturday's concert was not just great music to enjoy  but music that has the power to celebrate great events and great men; to drive great ideas, great ideals and great things. It was music to inspire mankind to have faith and belief in the greater good and to aspire to something bigger than their own self interest. And as I listened I, like the rest of the audience, was swept along – wanting to stand up and cheer. Not to simply applaud such music and such a wonderful performance but to acknowledge and honour the great ideals and spirit that drives such music and makes it integral to the great force  and sweep of history and to the humanity, brotherhood, ambition, spirit and spirituality of mankind.“Rejoice”, the programme cover pleaded; quite! – an apposite command for such a splendid occasion, such memorable performances and such mighty works.