A Celebration of Europe

Camden Choir

Following the success of Midsummer Mozart at St Mary’s, Primrose Hill, in June, the Camden Choir, under its Musical Director Julian Williamson, returns there on Saturday 18 November with a programme entitled A CELEBRATION OF EUROPE. The concert is presented in conjunction with The Rainbow Children’s Trust (www.rainbowtrust.org.uk) and includes music by familiar composers such as Handel (German), Pergolesi (Italian) and Charpentier (French), alongside almost unknowns such as Comes (Spanish) and Aldrich (English).

Georg Friedrich Handel needs no introduction, though his Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne, written to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht, is less familiar. The effusive lyrics were no doubt coloured by the fact that Queen Anne was paying Handel a stipend of £20 a year for life! Marc-Antoine Charpentier lived in Paris and studied in Rome before returning to Paris to become maître de musique at La Sainte-Chapelle. His output was prolific and ranged from music for plays by Molière and Corneille to oratorios and sacred works, such as his setting of the Te Deum which we shall hear tonight.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was credited as one of the pioneers of Opera Buffa (comic opera), but he also composed sacred music, including the setting of the Magnificat which we shall hear tonight. A word of warning though: it may have been written by Francisco Durante! Juan Bautista Comes was born in Valencia (Spain) and spent most of his life there, becoming cappellmeister in the Cathedral. We will be singing part of his Misa Iste Confessor.

Henry Aldrich was born and died in Westminster and spent much of his life in Oxford, where he became Catholic Dean of Christ Church College. He was a heavy smoker and drinker and was described as “a polite though not profound scholar and a jovial, hospitable gentleman”. His musical output was was largely confined to settings of psalms; we shall sing four of them.