Choral works by Vaughan Williams and Handel
Programme
- Ralph Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music
- Georg Friedrich Handel Ode for St. Cecilia's Day
Netherlands Radio Choir and Handel
One and all praise, this concert by the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Groot Omroepkoor. Like Handel's Ode for St Cecilia's Day. St Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians, so she should certainly be sung to - even if it is not her name's day. Handel based his cantata on texts by the English poet Dryden. These are about the idea of harmonia mundi, a philosophy that originated with the ancient Greeks. The idea behind this is that our universe is built according to the same laws as music. Marcus Creed, winner of ECHO awards and an Edison, among others, will lead this concert.
Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams was also concerned with the idea of harmonia mundi. He chose and adapted a text by Shakespeare in his Serenade to Music. In it, he has the choir members sing together sometimes, sometimes in smaller groups, and everyone is also a soloist at some point. An ideal miniature society on stage - see what music can do!