Join the Royal Free Music Society choir and the Hampstead Sinfonietta for an evening of glorious music. The early Sunday evening concert will take place in the beautiful Lutyens-designed Hampstead Garden Suburb Free Church.
The Royal Free Music Society is singing Mozart's Mass in C major – known as the ‘Coronation Mass’ - one of his most famous religious works. This magnificent joyful piece of music was composed in 1779 when Wolfgang Amadeus was just twenty-three years old and, after a fruitless job search elsewhere, reluctantly back in his hometown of Salzburg in his old role as court organist and composer at the cathedral. The work, a commission from the Archbishop, had its first performance in Salzburg Cathedral, but would later become a favourite for coronations at the Imperial court in Vienna. It is a vast and uplifting mass (the orchestra includes trumpets and drums), but it runs at less than 30 minutes – the quartet of soloists alternating exquisitely with the choir.
The Hampstead Sinfonietta is delighted to also be performing a timeless favourite – Ludwig van Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony, known as the ‘Eroica’ or heroic symphony. First performed in 1805 to an uneasy reception, the ‘Eroica’ was revolutionary in its time. Europe had been riven by the French Revolution and music was changing too – the ‘Eroica’ broke the mould. Twice as long as symphonies that had come before, with its expression of triumph and its emotional range, this innovative work marked the beginning of the Romantic age of Western music.
There is parking near the church. Golders Green is the nearest tube station (Northern line) – it is a twenty minute walk. The nearest bus stops are on Finchley Road (Temple Fortune Lane), or, if you are coming from Finchley or Muswell Hill, the 102 bus stops in Market Place.