Our church at the bottom of the road is my latest rave! Hubby and I are using it as the medieval townsfolk did, as the focal point of our lives.
St. George’s has the most amazing choir who sing twice on Sundays and every feast day. When we first arrived there were three feast days very close together so we pigged out on fabulous music along with a dozen other people or so and the choir, organist and choirmaster.
So far we’ve been treated to Hadyn on Corpus Christi,
Caesar-Missa Brevis Sancti Pauli on The Birth of John the Baptist,
and Sumsion in F on St Peter and St. Paul.
We’ve enjoyed Stanford and Handel at one of the Evensongs and Mozart at another.
The choirmaster greeted us after one service and said he was grateful that we had come to each service,
“How could we not?” I asked, especially after hearing them once. Like a Walker’s crisp, we can’t just have one! How can we pass up such glorious music?
The choir are so good they travel around Britain performing at Cathedrals. The organist and choir director, Nigel Groome, told us he conducted at Transfiguration in Dallas, what a small world!
The church also has what is believed to be the oldest Lychgate in London, we pass through it each time we enter the graveyard and grounds, a random but interesting piece of information to be followed by more music news below…
This afternoon, before my homeschooling radio show, we wandered down the road for a recital.
We heard the violin played flawlessly by a local artist, Lynn Cook and accompanied by pianist, Simon Ballard.
Bach: Presto from Sonata in A major,
Dvorak: Romance in F minor and
Smetana: “From the Homeland” #2.
Dvorak’s romance was particularly poignant because he wrote it after the death of one of his children. We still ache for the lost life of Jacob our cousin who would have loved the informality of this recital. I was brought to tears with the beauty of the pain and eventual joy in the piece.
Tea and coffee were served before the music and elderly people were toting their cups, with biscuits tucked carefully on the saucers, into their pews to be drunk with their lunchtime sandwich. Very quaint and refreshing.
A lovely lunchtime tea break.
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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