Harmoniemesse

I attended a wonderful choral concert last night at the above venue in Clacton-on-Sea.  (That image appeared on my website a few years ago in connection with the ‘Cone Zero’ book).

The Clacton Choral Society plus Gillian Dulieu (Musical Director), Claire Tomlin (Soprano). Barbara Windsor (Contralto), Paul Bloomfield (Tenor), Peter Grevatt (Bass), Stephen Smith (Organ), Silke McNair Wilson (Flute), Francesca Dulieu (Flute).

Mozart: Organ Overture K399, Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön: from Die Zauberflöte KV620, Te Deum K141, Ave Maria K554, Jubilate Deo: Exsultate K165, Veni Sancte Spiritus K47.

Haydn: Harmoniemesse (H22/14) in B flat major.

I particularly enjoyed the K554 that was arranged by the Musical Director with two flutes as accompaniment.  The whole concert, indeed, was inspiring.  Serendipitously, yesterday afternoon, I had been reading (for my editorial work) a fiction story featuring Mozart’s Requiem; its tale of the Benedictus seemed to resonate significantly with listening to that in the Haydn work last night. Also serendipitously, many years ago, I owned a vinyl record of the Harmoniemesse, and I had not heard it since then. Last night, it all came flooding back for a Proustian memory of it….