Apologies. This concert is cancelled owing to illness
The Chandos Singers, conducted by Malcolm Hill, are one of Bath’s leading chamber choirs. Their most recent concert took place in Magdalen Chapel in March; works performed included a dramatic ballad by Robert Southey, paired by scholar Ernest Hawkins with music by Purcell, and a sequence of exciting but little-known psalm settings by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621).
Chandos’ summer concert focuses on Italian and Italian-inspired works.
Vivaldi’s complete setting of Psalm 109, Dixit Dominus, alternates movements of block harmonies and very fast-moving runs with intricate solos and duets.
Purcell’s Te Deum of 1694 is reminiscent of the pompous elements in Venetian court music, while his O Sing unto the Lord is full of elements from Italian song – affected dissonances and enthusiastic word-painting.
Pergolesi wrote his surprisingly happy Stabat Mater in 1736, and Chandos will be performing a reconstruction of the first performance in England. For this posthumous performance the whole work was transposed down a minor third, the female vocal parts were sometimes doubled by men, and two soprano arias were given to a bass.
The bass soloist in the Pergolesi will be Paul Feldwick. The choir will also give the first performance of Paul’s 10-minute cantata telling the story of the Rev John Paul Porter, who had an experience at Southcot House on Lyncombe Hill which had lasting effects both for him and for the Baptist Church in Bath.
The programme is completed by duets composed 50 years ago by Malcolm Hill, plus Soir sur la plaine by Lili Boulanger (who died 100 years ago).
The concert will be held in the serene surroundings of the Magdalen Chapel on Holloway, Bath. A chapel is known to have existed on this site in the 11th century, and a leper hospital was built close by in the 12th. Both were under the care of the Abbey monks. The current building is 15th century. Despite severe bomb damage in 1942, it remains an active centre of worship.
Interval refreshments will be available.