The Royal Free Music Society and the Hampstead Sinfonietta present an evening of music by Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach and William Boyce. The choir will open the evening with a work of a single movement. Lobet den Herrn is a short but pacey motet for four parts by the German Baroque composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. The joyful hymn of praise is a setting of Psalm 117 - O praise the Lord, all ye nations (Lobet den Herrn alle Heiden).
The bright mood continues with Mozart’s 29th Symphony in A major, performed by the Hampstead Sinfonietta. Composed in 1774 in Salzburg where he worked as a court musician, the graceful and energetic symphony reflects the self-confidence of the prodigious Wolfgang Amadeus, only eighteen years old at the time.
The orchestra will also perform William Boyce’s Symphony No 4 in F major. Like the rest of London-born Boyce’s eight ‘Symphonys’ written for the theatre and the court, this delightful piece was originally composed as an overture for an opera. By the time he wrote it, the 18th century composer had already lost his hearing.
Many will be familiar with the next piece of music as a beautiful instrumental melody played at weddings. But in this concert, the choral interlude, ‘Jesu, joy of man’s desiring will be sung by the Royal Free Music Society. JS Bach wrote it as part of a longer cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (Heart and mouth and deed and life) – based on an earlier melody by Johann Schop. The words in English are by the poet Robert S Bridges.
Joined by four wonderful soloists and accompanied by the Hampstead Sinfonietta, the Royal Free singers will split into two choirs to perform Antonio Vivaldi’s exquisite setting of Beatus Vir. This beautiful motet is the best known of several versions of Psalm 111 (Blessed is the man) that the prolific Italian Baroque musician and priest composed to be sung in church at Vespers. With intense rhythms and rousing melodies, the two vocal parts intertwine and echo each other - reflecting the polychoral music traditions of Vivaldi’s native Venice.
Wheelchair access.