Of all the noises there are`, said Samuel Johnson, a regular visitor to Hampstead, `music seems to me the least objectionable`. Considering how demanding Johnson was, that alone might prompt us occasionally to celebrate the musical riches that are regularly heard in our Parish Church. If you add to this the fact that the Friends of the Music and the Friends of the Drama have agreed to make 2009 a year of collaboration, then a way of celebrating presents itself.
MUSICA SACRA is a specially written play with music (or you might call it a concert with words), in which we tell the story of Hampstead, its church and its music. Eight short, acted scenes take us from Saxon Hamestede up to the present day. We see (at least in our mind`s eye) its growth from a poor, neglected village to a fashionable spa – and beyond. We see how some of its people, both wealthy and poor, respond to the social and political changes around them. We see its church change from a small hall with a squat tower – in the process doing an about-turn from west to east – into the fine Georgian building of today.
And we hear some of the music that might have been – and much of the music that certainly was – heard in the church over 1000 years. This takes us from Gregorian chant, via Dunstable, Purcell and Handel, through Harwood, Stanford and Vaughan Williams, to Grayston Ives`s Jubilate, specially written for the present choir and its Director, Lee Ward.
This is a unique occasion, in which the Choir of Hampstead Parish Church, and the church`s Junior Choir, combine with the Hampstead Players to tell a story which will interest all those who love church music, or are fascinated by Hampstead and its social history, or just like hearing a good story entertainingly told.
Though essentially about the past, the production looks also to the future. All the proceeds will support the Hampstead Parish Church Development Fund, which aims at improving the facilities this famous place offers to worshippers, to visitors and to the community it has served for 1000 years.
There are only two performances:
Saturday 31st January 2009 at 7.30pm
Sunday 1st February at 6.00pm.
You can get tickets from:
Musica Sacra Box Office, Hampstead Parish Church, Church Row, London NW3 6UU or from https://hampsteadparishchurch.org.uk
Further Music and Drama collaborations are being planned. These include a production of Shakespeare`s The Merchant of Venice early in July 2009, to be performed in the church – and elsewhere in London alongside which we are planning to present a concert of Venetian music.
HAMPSTEAD + MUSICA SACRA