It's Henry Purcell Sunday: Rejoice in the Lord Alway!

~

Mercy

Gave up Purcell Wednesdays for a while because I ran out of Purcell on Youtube.

But we can maybe change it to Baroque Wednesdays and expand a little.

The first time I heard Allegri's Miserere was in an Anglican Church in Halifax and it knocked me right off my pew.

After that, I got used to it a bit at the Toronto Oratory where they do it every year for Tenebrae. The Oratory has a pretty respectable sacred music choir, but when I asked Fr. Dan once who was going to do the four high Cs, he said no one in the regular choir could do it.

"We have to bring in a stunt soprano for that one."

I remember one year the stunt soprano didn't show up for some reason and we had it without the Cs. Fr. Robinson didn't look pleased.



~

Purcell Wednesday: Passacaglia from King Arthur

Well, I've got the internet stick charged up for another month, have packed, moved, unpacked, cleaned, organised, dusted, mopped, had a party, cleaned up after the party, gone to another party, got the kitchen fully functional, figured out where the mail box is, hung mostquito netting so I can sleep at night, shopped, gone swimming/snorkeling in the Med twice and my flowers are blooming on the balcony. Even the cat has stopped looking freaked out. So I guess it's safe to say that I'm all settled in to my new place. (Now if only I can get the hot water heater up and running...but anyway, it's June in Italy, so, as Steve said, taking hot showers is a sign of an unbalanced mind.)

All of which means that I anticipate a return to regularly scheduled blogging.

To that end, and by request, O's P is happy to present

the Passacaglia from Purcell's opera King Arthur.

Purcell Wednesday

It's Wednesday and it's Lent, so we will have something in a minor key.

Purcell Wednesday: Lovely Lovely Albina

...and lovely lovely Emma!

(Plus Vermeer bonus!)

Purcell Wednesday: O Solitude!

with one of Constable's paintings of Salisbury Cathedral as a bonus.

Dang, forgot to put up a Purcell yesterday

All this homo sodomite talk has distracted me from the important stuff.

Back to Cultcha:

Perky Purcell.

Did you check out the guy playing that ukulele thing? He looked pretty chirpy, don't you think?

Make like him today and we can all have a nice day.

H/T to Nicki S., my new Art Friend.

Purcell Wednesday

I thought yesterday we needed to have a quiet day, so we held Purcell Wednesday over.

An Evening Hymn

Henry Purcell and the Divine Emma...

that should get you through.

I've always felt like a Gentile,

so I guess today's a good day.


"Rejoice in the Lord Alway". My first and still favourite Purcell anthem.

We've missed quite a few Purcell Wednesdays,

so here's a little catch-up

"Mark how readily each pliant string," The one I was just listening to on the CD as I was reading the news. Makes the doom n' gloom parade a lot easier to take. A bit like wearing a haz-mat suit. Protective brain gear.

It's Wednesday!

you know what that means...


Purcell!

(It's just for Giancarlo, really. An honourary Englishman who is learning to make soup the old fashioned way.)

Maybe we should just make Wednesdays "Purcell Day"

I have this on a CD and was listening to it the other day while I was making the tea in the morning and when the opening line "How long wilt thou be angry, O Lord?!" caught my attention, my EvilTrad brain responded, "As long as you keep singing in English, duh!"

But it was really just a knee-jerk thing.

And speaking of Henry Purcell

I had the oddest dream the other day that I had gone to visit Dianna Rigg at her beautiful home and she let me play her wooden marimba, at which I was suddenly spectacularly talented. This was the tune my brain chose.

In truth, I have no idea if Dianna Rigg has a marimba, wooden or otherwise. But she did say that this was her favourite tune. It sounded great on a wooden marimba.