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      • 27 Feb 2020 3pm Marina Kan piano
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      • 14 May 2020 Piano à Deux Online
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      • 4 June 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: String Quartets
      • 11 June 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Cello Tango
      • 18 June 2020 Music on Thursdays Organs of Paris Online
      • 25 June 2020 Music on Thursdays Flute Fest Online
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      • 9 July 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Multi Piano
      • 16 July 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Sackbutt to Trombone
      • 23 July 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Harp Haven
      • 30 July 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Oboe Omnibus
      • 6 Aug 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Gentle Guitar
      • 13 Aug 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Unusual Instruments
      • 20 Aug 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Viola da Gamba
      • 27 Aug 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Music & the Military
      • 3 Sep 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Choral Music
      • 10 Sep 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Clarinet Compilation
      • 17 Sep 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: The Voice
      • 24 Sep 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Beethoven 250
      • 1 Oct 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Eddie Lee's Jazz on Thursday
      • 8 Oct 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Diphonon Viola & Accordion Duo
      • 15 Oct 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Marion Bettsworth, organ
      • 22 Oct 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: CarmenCo - telling Carmen's story
      • 29 Oct 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Phil Hopkins, classical harmonica
      • 5 Nov 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Musical Fireworks
      • 12 Nov 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Music of the Musicals
      • 18 Nov 2020 FINAL Wednesday at Christ Church Live Organ Concert - Mark Brafield
      • 17 Dec 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Carols with CarmenCo
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    • HGS1965
    • Bitsa
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MUSIC IN SURREY

Music in Surrey
&
Leatherhead's Lunchtime Concerts

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Music in Surrey Diary log

Music on May Day - Online

Concert for Friday 1st May 2020

Starts: when you are ready
Note: latecomers will be admitted at your personal discretion


Artistes: various

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Listening position:


Relax with your choice(s) of beverage, in a place of your choosing, alone, or with members of your household
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Please make sure you put enough coins into the parking machine. This week's concert may last a full hour, depending on your picks among the varied musical diet on offer today.

We open in Oxford where the festivities begin at 6am with the singing of a hymn on the top of the tower of Magdalen College.

Thousands, even tens of thousands, gather on Magdalen Bridge, before 6am, to enjoy this traditional start to the day. We get to witness it from three angles - as students watching from The Cloister, briefly from the crowd on the bridge, and finally the choir experience:

May Morning in Oxford

A Student's Eye View - from The Cloister
Town & Gown - the crowd on Magdalen Bridge
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A tradition that may have begun in 1509 when the Tower was completed. Click to join the Choir on the Roof (link opens in new window)

The Hymnus Eucharistus 
(translation right ► ►)

Te Deum Patrem colimus,
Te laudibus prosequimur,
qui corpus cibo reficis,
coelesti mentem gratia.

Te adoramus, O Jesu,
Te, Fili unigenite,
Te, qui non dedignatus es
subire claustra Virginis.

Actus in crucem, factus es
irato Deo victima
per te, Salvator unice
vitae spes nobis rediit.

Tibi, aeterne Spiritus
cuius afflatu peperit
infantem Deum Maria,
aeternum benedicimus.

Triune Deus, hominum
salutis auctor optime,
immensum hoc mysterium
ovante lingua canimus.


Lyrics: Dr Thomas Smith, written in 1670s
Music: Benjamin Rogers, Organist 1664-1686




We worship you, O God the Father,
we offer you our praise,
for you nourish our bodies,
and minds with heavenly grace.

We adore you, O Jesus,
you, the only begotten Son,
you, who did not disdain
to submit to birth in the Virgin's womb.

Driven onto the cross, you were made
the victim of God's wrath.
Through you, our only Saviour,
hope of life returned to us.

To you, Eternal Spirit
by whose breath was born
by Mary the Infant God,
be our eternal blessings.

Triune God, of all humanity
the great author of salvation,
this immense mystery
our tongues all cheer and sing.
FAQ: Is there a website all about Oxford and May Morning?   Well, yes.   It's here: https://www.maymorning.co.uk/426021837

Let's linger in traditional mode:

Trad English
written down in 13th century
Sumer is icumen in
Leatherhead Choral Society
2020 while in lockdown

Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ me'
And springþ þe wde nu,
Sing cuccu!
Awe bleteþ after lomb,
Lhouþ after calue cu.
Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
Murie sing cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu, cuccu;
Ne swik þu nauer nu.


Summer has arrived,
Loudly sing, Cuckoo!
Seeds grow and meadows bloom
And the forest springs anew,
Sing, Cuckoo!-
The ewe bleats after the lamb,
The cow lows after the calf. ,
The bullock jumps, the stag cavorts,
Merrily sing, Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo, well you sing, cuckoo;
Nor will you ever stop now.

From The School in Rose Valley,
Philadelphia

SRV students have been dancing the Maypole at the school's annual May Fair since 1929, and they've been dancing it more or less in its current form since the early 1970s, when Nancy Ewald re-choreographed the dance to Ralph Vaughan Williams's Seventeen Come Sunday, the first movement of his English Folk Song Suite.

SRV alumni often report still getting goosebumps or lumps in their throats watching the dance decades after they performed it themselves.

The Maypole Dance draws former students back to the May Fair year after year to remember their roots. It's a tradition binding generations of students in celebration of their community.

This video was recorded by Linda Goss in 2015. Heidi Hammel provided the history.


Corrine Coles, soloist

A traditional English folk song with harmonies

When I was a young man, I worked with a team
And me only delight was in keepin' 'em clean
With brushes and curries, I'd show their fine colour
And the name as they gave I was a hearty good fellow

As I do in the evening, I goes to my bed The thought of my horses comes into my head
And I rise the next morning with something to eat
Just as soon as I can get my shoes on my feet

And as we go driving, out on the highway When light goes their load why I feeds 'em some hay
And I gives 'em some water, when we comes to a pond
And after they've drunk boys move steadily on

My legs they do go weary, a walking by their side
And I says to myself you must get up and ride
And as we go riding, I make a new song And as I do sing you must learn it along

repeat first verse

Ils ont changé ma chanson . . .
What
have they done to my song . . .

This is Swedish group Kalabalik (Turkish for Crowd) with absolutely no apology for what they have done to OUR song.

They credit it as 'Medieval',
no mention of it being English

We are not the only ones with traditions.
In Hawaii, May 1st is Lei Day.


Parents watched their children perform at
Star of the Sea Catholic Church and School
in Kahala on the island of Oahu in Hawaii
in celebration of Lei Day.

In school videos I find it fun to watch the differing levels of interest and concentration.

The boy who looks like he's enjoying his moment of fame appears utterly bored later when his partner is alone in the limelight!

Could you be up for a little ancient and modern?

Ancient (and catchy) is the tune: Julia Delaney's Reel

Modern is this version by Hugues on guitar and electric guitar, and Bouzouk XP (I have not found his real name) playing the  Irish Bouzouki.

Provided nobody can see you, you may dance to this:
also know as:
Glencar, Julia Delaney, Julia Delany’s, Julie Delaney’s,
Julie Delany’s, La Sorcière, Lonesome, Maude Millar’s Highland, Maude Millar’s Highland Fling,
Reel De La Sorciere, Reel Des Sorcières.


Let's think about other events that have taken place on May 1st across the decades

On May 1st 1962 the Beatles began their first residency in Hamburg

John Winston Lennon (1940-1980)
    & James Paul McCartney (b1942
both on lead vocals
Love Me do
performed by The Beatles, with John Lennon  on harmonica

This song existed before The Beatles was formed. It was released in three versions in 1962, each with a different drummer.

Lennon & McCartney
Lennon on lead vocals
Ask Me Why
performed by The Beatles at the Star Club, Hamburg

If this was an early 1962 recording the drummer would have been Pete Best. By their third residency in December 1962 Ringo Starr was in place.

Paul admits most of the writing was John's, but John had decided by then that all their work should appear with both names.

In 1561 French King Charles IX gave Muguet, or Lys des Vallées, to the ladies of the Court, a tradition that continues - although the Court of course does not. The 1st of May is the one day of the year that this ancient plant is not protected. Pick away. Nobody will object - in France, that is. If you find a sprig of Muguet with 13 little bells hanging you will have especially good luck. We could all do with some of that this year.

Vassili Pavlovitch Soloviov-Sedoï  (1907-1979)
Russian text: Mikhaïl Lvovitch Matoussovski (1915-1990)
as
Подмосковные Вечера, Podmoskovnyïé Vetchera (1955)

We know the tune as: Moscow Nights

loose French translation as Le temps des muguets (1959)
by its original performer Francis Lemarque (1917-2002)

Here sung by Dannielle Darrieux, and recorded by many other French singers after Lemarque, including Mireille Mathieu, and in 1968 by Ivan Rebroff - translated back to Russian!

English translation at the foot of the screen - and please don't laugh at the poor lady's 'fields'. This is TV France 2 in 1959 !

Soloviov originally called his song, after the city where he was born, Leningrad Nights, but that was the USSR and others decided for him that Moscow Nights was a better title.

Radio Moscow adopted it as its signature tune, continuing when it became The Voice of Russia, until that closed in 2014.

Il est revenu Le Temps Du Muguet
Comme un vieil ami retrouvé
Il est revenu flâner le long des quais
Jusqu'au banc où je t'attendais
Et j'ai vu refleurir
L'éclat de ton sourire
Aujourd'hui plus beau que jamais

Le Temps Du Muguet ne dure jamais
Plus longtemps que le mois de mai
Quand tous ses bouquets déjà seront fanés
Pour nous deux, rien n'aura changé
Aussi belle qu'avant
Notre chanson d'amour
Chantera comme au premier jour

Il s'en est allé, Le Temps Du Muguet
Comme un vieil ami fatigué
Pour toute une année, pour se faire oublier

En partant, il nous a laissé
Un peu de son printemps
Un peu de ses vingt ans
Pour s'aimer, pour s'aimer longtemps

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
Canta dolce il rosignolo - Sweetly sings the Nightingale
from the serenade La gloria di primavera - The Glory of Spring

performed by Simone Kermes, soprano
Le Musiche Nove, conductor, Claudio Osele

This delightful aria was recorded in Toblach (in German) or Dobbiaco (Italian) which sits between the Alps and the Dolomites and is called The Gateway to the Dolomites.

There is just a hint of Lily of the Valley in the final line of the text!

Canta dolce il rosignolo
Sol per me tra valli ombrose,
E per me s'adorna il crine (suolo)
Di ligustri, di gigli e rose.

For me alone the nightingale
sings sweetly in the shady valleys
and for me the earth blossoms
with white flowers, lilies and roses.

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May, Queen of Blossoms

May, queen of blossoms,
and fulfilling flowers,
With what pretty music
Shall we charm the hours?
Wilt thou have pipe and reed,
Blown in the open mead?
Or to the lute give heed
In the green bowers.”

Lord Edward Thurlow (1731-1806)
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
under four Prime Ministers


Josiah Wedgwood was born on May 1st in 1730.

With his developments in pottery, chemistry, production line manufacturing, business management, accounting practices, and his early appreciation of a 'consumer market' he could be called more than a potter, a polymath. He was the first to come up with promotions like 'buy one, get one free', 'free delivery' and the concept of 'direct mail'. But don't get too excited. I didn't discover his lost compositions and he doesn't turnout to have been an ace cellist.

Instead, Josiah is represented by his great-grandson, Ralph Vaughan Williams. The beautiful Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus  for strings and harp was written in 1939, and premiered at the World's Fair in New York.

For today's concert finale we hear the Stratford Virtuosi Orchestra, with conductor Rimma Sushanskaya and harp soloist Rita Schindler. It is a reasonable bet that you have visited this church.



Producer: Peter Steadman
Contributors: Richard Miller, Peter Horsfield

Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus

    Introduction and Theme: Adagio, B modal minor
    Variant I: B modal minor
    Variant II: Allegro moderato, B modal minor
    Variant III: D modal minor
    Variant IV: L'istesso tempo
    Variant V: Adagio, B modal minor

Don't I know that tune? It is RVW's hymn tune Kingsfold, the village south of Dorking, just into W Sussex, not far from his Leith Hill Place home. You may have sung it to O Sing a Song of Bethlehem or to I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say.

It is an Irish folk tune which you can listen to on this link.

Venue: Concert recorded in Holy Trinity Parish Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, August 2016.

We hope you have enjoyed your  Music on May Day Concert Online


Watch your email and this website for our next Online concert


comments welcome: [email protected]
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Concert Selections Still Available on this Website:

Thursday

23rd
April
2020

anytime

Music on Thursdays - Online
Concert for St George's Day

and to commemorate the Birth of Shakespeare

video recordings of folk and traditional works, music that Shakespeare almost certainly heard, a lovely setting by William Mathias, and some Vaughan Williams

to access the concert webpage: please click on the Date, the flag, or Shakespeare's Birthplace
Venue: this website and a place of your choosing
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Thursday
27th February 2020

recordings
still avalable

3pm: AGM Piano Concert - Guest pianist: Marina Kan

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No 14, Moonlight
Rachmaninov: Piano Sonata No 1 in D minor
Grieg: Lyric Pieces


to access the concert webpage: please click on the Date or on Marin Kan's photo
Venue: this website and a place of your choosing
Marino Kan, piano,
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*weekly - only during the weekly concert season, occasional at other times
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Leatherhead Concert & Arts Society is a music charity registered in England & Wales No 1166764.

Please note: LCAS cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies in or amendments to the information on this website.
Please check with the event organiser before you commit to any expenditure
Registered address: 31 Elmer Cottages • Fetcham • KT22 9BU
LCAS, Leatherhead CXoncert & Arts Society, logo, HMRC Ref EW 02213,
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  • Welcome
  • Newsletter Request
  • 12 May 2024 at 6pm Bach Evensong at St Marys, Stoke d'Abernon
  • Leatherhead's Lunchtime Concert Diary 2021
    • 25 Feb 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Thomas Ang, piano
    • 4 March 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Vivaldi
    • 11 March 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Saint-Saëns Centenary
    • 18 March 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Music for the Lute
    • 25 March 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Musicals: 1960 to 1990
    • 1 April 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Ibrahim Aziz, viols,
    • 8 April 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Royal Wedding Music
    • 15 April 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Albinoni 350
    • 22 April 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Yehudi Menuhin 105th
    • 29 April 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Sexual Intrigue, Opera
    • 6 May 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Buck Brass Quartet
    • 13 May 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: String Quartets
    • 20 May 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Stravinsky Selection
    • 27 May 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Organ Selection
    • 27 May 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Organ Selection Part 2
    • 3 June 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Iñigo Mikeleiz Berrade, accordion / bayan
    • 10 June 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Julian Bream guitarist extraordinaire
    • 17 June 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Instruments: Unusual, Rare, or just plain weird,
    • 24 June 2021 Music on Thursdays Online: Summer Music Fest
  • LCAS Charity
  • Artistes
  • Composers
  • Archive & Unpublished
    • 2020 Archive >
      • Leatherhead's Lunchtime Concert Diary 2020
      • 27 Feb 2020 3pm Marina Kan piano
      • 23 Apr 2020 Concert for St George's Day
      • 1 May 2020 Music on May Day Online
      • 8 May 2020 Music for VE Day 75th Online
      • 14 May 2020 Piano à Deux Online
      • 20 May 2020 Wednesday at the Organ: Clocks Cathedrals
      • 28 May 2020 Music on Thursdays Guitars & Friends
      • 4 June 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: String Quartets
      • 11 June 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Cello Tango
      • 18 June 2020 Music on Thursdays Organs of Paris Online
      • 25 June 2020 Music on Thursdays Flute Fest Online
      • 2 July 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Virtual Viola
      • 9 July 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Multi Piano
      • 16 July 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Sackbutt to Trombone
      • 23 July 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Harp Haven
      • 30 July 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Oboe Omnibus
      • 6 Aug 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Gentle Guitar
      • 13 Aug 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Unusual Instruments
      • 20 Aug 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Viola da Gamba
      • 27 Aug 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Music & the Military
      • 3 Sep 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Choral Music
      • 10 Sep 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Clarinet Compilation
      • 17 Sep 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: The Voice
      • 24 Sep 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Beethoven 250
      • 1 Oct 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Eddie Lee's Jazz on Thursday
      • 8 Oct 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Diphonon Viola & Accordion Duo
      • 15 Oct 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Marion Bettsworth, organ
      • 22 Oct 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: CarmenCo - telling Carmen's story
      • 29 Oct 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Phil Hopkins, classical harmonica
      • 5 Nov 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Musical Fireworks
      • 12 Nov 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Music of the Musicals
      • 18 Nov 2020 FINAL Wednesday at Christ Church Live Organ Concert - Mark Brafield
      • 17 Dec 2020 Music on Thursdays Online: Carols with CarmenCo
    • Christ Church Leatherhead
    • 2013 Anthony Cairns Concerts
    • 2012 Anthony Cairns Concerts
    • HGS1965
    • Bitsa
    • W-I-P