Friday 30 Sep 2022 7.30 pm St Swithin’s Church – Concert: A Celebration of William Herschel’s Music

The Bristol Ensemble and the Vauxhall Players.
Image credit: (c)

Performed by The Bristol Ensemble and the Vauxhall Players and introduced by Dr Matthew Spring

This programme intermixes music composed by William Herschel during his years in Bath (1766-82) and in the six years he spent in the North of England, with music by those who worked with him and whose music he knew: Charles Avison, Thomas Linley, Venanzio Rauzzini and Benjamin Milgrove. We include music intended for the home, for the church and chapels, for the Assembly rooms, and for the Pleasure Gardens. Instrumental items are intermixed with vocal pieces, both unaccompanied and accompanied, to produce an introduced varied programme that charts the musical life of William Herschel.

• William Herschel: Symphony di Camera no.4 in D minor (1760), Allegro moderato; Adagio ma non troppo; Allegro moderato
• William Herschel: Three movements from 24 Capriccios for solo violin (1763), nos. 1, 11, 17
• William Herschel: Service Music – Te Deum in G major
• William Herschel: Solo for harpsichord in G major, from Sei Sonate per il Cembalo (1769): allegro grazioso
• Charles Avison: trio sonata no.2, op.1, in G minor: Andante, Adagio, Allegro
• Thomas Linley: Song with English guitar, ‘No flower that blows’; William Herschel: Song with Eighteenth-Century Spanish guitar ‘Ah! non lasciami’; Thomas Linley: Madrigal, ‘Let me careless and unthoughtful lying’
• Venanzio Rauzzini – Opera Aria ‘Infelice! In tant orror’ from Pyramus and Tisbe (1775)
• William Herschel; Serious Glee in three parts with band ‘We sing of love’; Duetto –‘with thee my Strephon; Pleasure Garden Patriot Song – ‘Let humble faithless France’ (1778)
• William Herschel: Unaccompanied catches ‘You’r tipsy Tom’; ‘Pray let us sing a merry catch’; ‘Today I am just 29’;’Echo catch’ (1778)
• Benjamin Milgrove: ‘Funeral Hymn on the death of George Whitfield’; ‘The rose had been washed’ – pleasure garden song with band
• William Herschel: Symphony no. 9 in F (1761): Allegro assai, Andante assai, Allegretto

If you would like to listen to this music, a virtually identical concert by the same performers and introduced by Dr Matthew Spring, was recorded in a studio setting and is available on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxVgbVNaL8E.