Woking Choral Society’s Summer concert on Saturday 24^th June, at 7.30 p.m.

Our next concert will be performed in Christ Church Woking on 24^th June 2000. We shall sing two rather fine items:

Chandos Anthem "O Praise the Lord with one consent" by George Frederick Handel

Mass in D, Op. 86 by Antonin Dvorák

As well as some other pieces.

Handel’s Chandos Anthem "O Praise the Lord with One Consent" is one of the last of the ten "anthems" which Handel composed in 1717-1718, along with Acis and Galatea, Esther and a variety of other music, for James Brydges, Earl of Carnarvon (and later Duke of Chandos). England's history has few examples of aristocrats maintaining their own private musical establishments, but James Brydges was, briefly, the exception proving the rule. Having made a large fortune as Paymaster for the Forces during the recent continental wars (he was to lose much of it shortly after in the South Sea Bubble), he built himself a princely mansion at Cannons near Edgware and employed a considerable band of singers, players and composers.

The nature and financial extent of his patronage of Handel is not entirely clear. His surviving accounts contain no record of payments to Handel – maybe the latter lived for a while at Cannons or in London at Brydges‘ expense. Whatever it was the Cannons interlude in Handel’s career came at a convenient moment. The operatic ventures he had been involved with since his arrival in England in 1711 were for the time being in suspension. This was mainly due to a rift between King George I and his son the Prince of Wales, which split the aristocratic patrons of the opera company into two factions, neither of which was large enough on its own to provide the necessary finance. Handel could not afford to take sides in this dispute and was glad to withdraw from the limelight.

The Chandos anthems would have been first performed in services at St Lawrence’s Church, Edgware, which James Brydges had recently reconstructed at his own expense and refurbished in the baroque style. In form they are a sort of dramatic extension of the "verse anthems" of Gibbons, Purcell and others written for the grander services of the Anglican church. The texts are taken mainly from the psalms, sometimes (as with O praise the Lord) in the metrical versions of Tate and Brady. The original accompaniment was for a small string and wind ensemble. O praise the Lord is in eight movements: four fine choruses interspersed with solo numbers (one each for soprano, alto, tenor and bass).

Antonin Dvorák’s Mass in D was composed in 1887 for an architect friend, Josef Hlávka, the founder and first president of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts. Hlávka had built himself a private chapel at Lutany castle and needed a suitable work for performance at the consecration – circumstances not unlike those applying to the composition of the Chandos anthems. It was originally written for choir (with small solo parts) and organ, and, although Dvorák later orchestrated it, it has a charming, intimate character which comes over best in its original form. The six movements are the usual sequence of Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei.

As usual Woking Choral Society will be conducted by Nicholas Steinitz. Soloists will be members from the choir.

Ticket prices are £8 (£5 for students) and can be purchased from Christ Church Welcome Desk, Hammicks Bookshop and Surrey Music Store, both in the Centre of Woking; as well as Britten’s Music, West Byfleet.

For further information please ring 01483 829366/767852.