Handl

Last Saturday to Weston Green to hear the Ripieno choir offer a choral celebration of the work of Jacob Handl, together with some from his contemporaries. Handl having been born in 1550 in what is now Slovenia, on what was then the uncertain border between the lands of the Hapsburgs and the lands of the Ottomans. Also, it seems from Wikipedia, the site of an early infestation of Protestants, sorted out by the counter reformationists during the century which followed Handl.

The first outing for the choir's new conductor, Huw Morgan, a chap with a considerable Bing footprint. Including, for example, a video clip of his time as organist at the Stanford Memorial Church in Stanford, California. Both he and the new organist, Jonathan Holmes, are linked with a place called the Monmouth School for Boys, an establishment which was founded four hundred years ago, just one year before the secondary school which I attended. Very much the same sort of place, and as is the fashion these days, a member of a family of schools, all mixed up with the Haberdashers' Company.

Fine concert, only slightly marred by confusion over when to clap, with my not caring for clapping between successive short pieces. It would all be so much simpler if the people organising concerts put a note in the programme telling the audience the form. I thought that the conductor may have joined in the singing at various points, not something that I can see his predecessor having done.

Audience a little thinner than usual, with the church something over half full.

In the interval we wondered about the font, which looked to be a lot older than the church, and we learned afterwards that it was a bit of architectural salvage from Churt, an old village on the south western extremity of Surrey and on the western extremity of the Weald. The village even went to law on this last account, something to do with church taxes.

And once again, we admired the fine design of this small and unpretentious church (All Saints, Weston Green), with narrow aisles which reminded us of the far grander Guildford Cathedral. Which turned out to be entirely proper, as the two places were the work of the same architect, Sir Edward Brantwood Maufe, RA etc. A church which was one of the last products of the Anglican revival which petered out after a century or so, after the second world war. Some confusion as to whether the sanctuary light was hanging over the main altar or in the small chapel to the left. I plumped for the latter. Which prompts the thought that all the maiden aunt money which used to go to churches and missionaries must now go to birds, cats, dogs and other animals. Is the world a better place on that account?

PS: I do not much care for the current fashion for animating words and phrases on one's computer screen, so that if your mouse accidently drifts over them, you get pop-ups offering unsolicited further information, sometimes so much further that it comes with video clips with sound. I keep my cross references tucked away at the bottom of the page. Thoughts prompted by looking up the conductor in Wikipedia.

Reference 1: http://ripienochoir.org.uk/.

Reference 2: https://www.habsmonmouth.org/.