Town mouse fills his ears with honey
Town mouse enjoys the wonderful music at St. Peter's, Eaton Square.
In 1987, an arsonist, thinking St Peter’s, Eaton Square, was Catholic, set fire to it. The whole of the opulent interior was gutted, but good triumphed over evil, for one consequence of the rebuilding was to create a wonderful space for music. The new church’s exceptional acoustic is particularly suited to the complex lines of polyphony in 16th- century music. Worshippers at the 11.15am service every Sunday have their ears ravished—or the spiritual equivalent—on a regular basis. There’s also an annual programme of concerts and this season’s was opened last week by the Oxford Camerata, celebrating the group’s 30th anniversary.
Such beauty of sound... it felt as if my ears were being filled with honey. The conductor, Jeremy Summerly, provided explanatory aperçus. John Sheppard wrote for seven voices because of Mary Tudor’s devotion to Marian sevens—the Virgin Mary’s Joys and Dolours. I was pleased to learn that Palestrina found financial security by marrying the widow of a fur merchant, disproving the romantic notion that great art can only be produced in a garret. Tomorrow night (October 16), the sensational young Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu plays Russian and Romantic music. Oh dear, diary clash. I’m talking to the Churches Conservation Trust about war memorials at the Charterhouse, London EC1.
* Follow Clive Aslet on Twitter
* Follow Country Life Magazine on Twitter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
-
Caveat renovator: The TV star, the writer and the salvation of a crumbling farmhouseThe actor, writer and comedian Robert Webb and his comedy writer wife Abigail Burdess embarked on a renovation project in 2019 which became far more than they imagined — and just as the job is at last complete, they've decided that it's the right time to put house on the market.
-
'People always think that, working on The Telegraph, I'll be told that things aren't right wing enough. But in 37 years, I've never, ever been told that’: The Telegraph’s cartoonist Matt on his consuming passionsThe Daily Telegraph cartoonist Matt — AKA Matthew Pritchett — talks to Lotte Brundle about his career as a cartoonist, his love of Snoopy and how he ‘stole’ his wife from Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen.