"Music For a while shall all your cares beguile" (From Henry Purcell's incidental music to the play "Oedipus")

 

In his welcome to last night’s Ruddington & District Choral Society concert in St Peter’s Church here in Ruddington Musical Director Paul Hayward promised us an evening of joyful music. As a lifelong lover of Baroque music I was anticipating an enjoyable concert but in the event the Choir and the Ruddington Chamber Ensemble delivered not only a wonderfully joyful evening but an exquisite selection of beautifully played and sung early and late baroque gems.

The first half of the concert was devoted to the music of arguably the greatest of all English composers, Henry Purcell – a particular favourite of mine. Purcell was a master of all kinds of music – state music for great events, theatre music, sacred music and celebratory music of all kinds – and we had a wonderful, selection of these in this carefully and beautifully constructed programme. The concert opened with a fitting work: “Welcome to all Pleasures” one of Purcell’s anthems written to celebrate St Cecilia’s day (Cecilia is the patron saint of music and musicians). This was followed by a short solo work “Music for a While” composed in 1692 by Purcell as incidental music for a play telling the story of Oedipus.

The Choir and soloists then had a short break while the Ensemble gave a magical rendering of the “Rondeau from Abdelazar” – again incidental music for the play of that name. This work is both glorious and stirring – and I would suggest very English. When first performed the play flopped but this work lived on in the hearts and minds of the nation and came to international prominence when 20th century English composer Benjamin Britten used it as the main theme to his ”Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” – a work that I can vividly remember listening to and enjoying as a child – and indeed using in my own teaching career on many occasions.

Then, having had a short break the Choir and soloists returned with one of the giants of Purcell’s oeuvre, his working of Psalm 122, “I was Glad”. Composed for the Coronation of James II in 1685 it is a glorious celebration of the new King and a plea for peace and prosperity under the new monarch. The concluding section is a sweeping and soaring celebration of God, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

The work is not easy for either singers or players, the weaving melodies requiring both concentration and musicality, but all involved produced an intricate and at times breath taking tapestry. I sat at the back and closed my eyes; it was easy to imagine that I had been transported back in time. Paul Hayward and his players and singers had managed to create for me what I can only call an “authentic” Baroque sound – and in my mind’s eye I was not sat at the back of St Peter’s Church in Ruddington in 2025 but in some grand and gracious Palace surrounded by sword bearing, bewigged gentlemen and bejewelled ladies in their crinolines in late Restoration England; in short, it was magical.

We then had a nod to another English great: William Shakespeare, when we enjoyed “If Music be the Food of Love”, written as a solo it explores Shakespeare’s words from "Twelfth Night" and speaks of the ecstasy of music and love – a fitting tribute to the works in this concert and to the performances of all involved. And so to the last work in the opening half of the concert – and another “great” – Purcell’s use of the words from Philippians IV in his “Rejoice in the Lord Alway”. Often referred to as the “Bell Anthem” because of the orchestra’s playing of a descending scale which sounds like bells in the introduction to the work this is Purcell at his best: celebratory, profound, intense, lyrical and quite

simply beautiful. A splendid ending to the concert’s first half.

From the early Baroque of Purcell the second half of the concert moved forward a little in time to the music of Joseph Haydn. Papa Haydn knew a good tune when he composed one and all his works are full of them – none more so than his triumphal “Te Deum” written for the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II as a thanksgiving for Nelson’s victory over Napoleon. The brilliant soaring playing and singing in this work caught the celebratory nature of that occasion and of Haydn’s composition. It brought memories for me of one of the great days of my life standing in the Great Hall of the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt - a place where Haydn spent most of his working life composing and conducting for the Princes of Esterhazy. We had visited Esterhazy while in Austria and to stand in the same place where Papa Haydn would have stood and conducted this work – and his famous “Nelson Mass” - while the great and good of Europe plus Admiral Nelson and his lover Lady Hamilton sat listening was both humbling and magical.

We then had another break for the singers while the Ensemble gave a delightfully lyrical and hugely enjoyable rendering of one of the little gems of Baroque music, William Boyce’s Symphony Number 1 – often called “The Little Symphony” because of its short length. Boyce, a vastly underrated and under celebrated composer today, was like Purcell, Master of the King’s Music and hugely popular in his time writing music for every occasion and of every kind. Today he has perhaps been squeezed out a little by the other greats of that period – Handel, Bach, Mozart etc. but his every work is a jewel in the musical crown.

And so the finale – Mozart’s “Coronation Mass”. What more is there to say about Mozart? As someone famously once said, “The music of Mozart is what the angels sing as they go about their jobs in Heaven”. Well, that’s as maybe, but to paraphrase the comedian Eric Morecambe in his hilarious contretemps with Andre Previn about the playing of Grieg’s Piano Concert, Mozart “plays all the notes in the right order” – and so did the Choir, soloists and Ensemble last night. This was always going to be a rousing and splendid finale to this lovely, joyous concert but in the event it was more than that. All the performers were magnificent and as I crept forward to take a couple of photographs I could see the concentration and the pleasure on the faces of all who sat entranced, listening to Mozart’s wonderful music. And it wasn’t just the audience – the expressions on the faces of the Choir members said it all; obvious enjoyment and enthusiasm on everyone’s face as they put everything into this much loved work. Written in 1779 the first documented performance of this Mass was for the Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II in Vienna in 1792 – almost a year after Mozart’s early death at the age of just thirty five. It’s often been said that “Those whom the Gods love die young” and although Joseph Haydn lived to a ripe old age and William Boyce died in his late sixties, Henry Purcell, like Mozart, died soon after his thirty sixth birthday – but what a treasure house of glorious music these two prodigiously talented musicians left us.

Last night’s concert, as well as some gloriously triumphal, joyous and celebratory music – just as Paul Hayward had promised – gave us, too, much to quietly savour. It was full of graciousness, contentment and quiet subtlety. In part this was because of the wonderful music that these composers have left us but it was, too, because of the skill and flair of Paul Hayward and his colleague Michael Overbury’s direction and musical mastery. Between them they got the very best out of the Choir and the Ensemble. As I noted above, for me, they caught the very essence of early baroque music and this was amply illustrated by the fundamentally “different” sound that they created in the second half of the concert with works that were composed within a slightly different time frame. By the time Mozart and the later Haydn works were being written music was gradually moving away from the Baroque into the early Classical era and it showed, as it had to, in the performances last night. This is no easy matter – it’s not, as Eric Morecambe jokingly implied all those years ago, just about playing all the notes in the right order – it is much, much more and Paul Hayward and Michael Overbury ensured that last night every nuance, every emotion, every thread of this rich musical heritage and tapestry was both explored and brought out. And to make it all a reality every single performer was outstanding. The four soloists were superb: mezzo Hope Pugh’s rich and commanding voice gave both a subtle depth and sheer musicality while Grace Bale, as she always does at our concerts, used her soaring soprano voice to both uplift and take the audience with her – these two young ladies gave us music from the Gods. And, not to be outdone, tenor Philip Leech and bass William Burn gave a master class in depth and resonance which gave each work the gravitas and strength it both needed and deserved.

As I have said before in these reports, when I sit in a concert I often reflect what the composer of some great work from centuries ago would think if he or she could sit high above the church or concert hall and hear their music played today by some modern ensemble or choir. Last night, and still this morning, I have absolutely no doubt that Papa Haydn, had he sat in the rafters of St Peter’s last night, would have quietly smiled to himself and gently nodded his approval, William Boyce would, I have no doubts, been delighted that his music was still enjoyed and performed so well. Mozart – well, we know that he was never lost for words and forthright, so I am sure that he would have shouted down from the rafters “Bravo – I wrote that!” as his “Coronation Mass” came to its glorious conclusion. And what of Purcell, a quiet man who walked with kings and queens, during his short life? Henry Purcell, a man not only skilled with the writing of wonderful music also wrote some of the most glorious words in the English language for his music and I suspect that had he been with us in St Peter’s last night he might have looked down from the rafters at the performers and reflected upon his words from “Welcome to all the Pleasures”:

”……Here the Deities approve

The God of Music and of Love;

All the talents they have lent you,

All the blessings they have sent you,

Pleas’d to see what they bestow,

Live and thrive so well below…..”

Thank you to all – Choir, Ensemble, soloists, Michael Overbury and Paul Hayward for an uplifting and magical night in Ruddington. In an increasingly frenetic and threatened world and on a lovely English spring evening you brought the glorious gracious music and culture of centuries to our little Parish Church. And for a couple of hours transformed both it and us.