Music to your ears

During February I was lucky enough to go to two concerts in unusual venues. Early in the month I was at the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London to listen to a wonderful performance by the Choir of the Chapels Royal, HM Tower of London of ​Music for Monarchy, 500 years of Royal Music. ​To listen to music in a chapel constructed in 1520 at the direction of Henry VIII for his first wife, and know that the bodies of two of his later wives are buried there is quite some experience. Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were both beheaded just a stone's throw from the Chapel on Tower Green.  The Tower is a major tourist attraction during the day, crowded with visitors, but at night it is largely silent and very very atmospheric. Try and go to the Ceremony of the Keys ​ but  go on a cold winter's night in my view to have a really amazing experience.
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Tower of London

 

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 The second concert was at the Foundling Museum and was entitled Happy Birthday Mr Handel.​ It was to celebrate the 331st Birthday of the composer who was a benefactor of the Foundling hospital that once stood on the site. If you have not heard of the Foundling Museum, you are missing a treat. The story of the first secular children's charity in this country, the first public picture gallery and the beginnings of charity and art and music coming together to raise money is a fascinating one. Thomas Coram was horrified to see the numbers of abandoned children in London in the 1700s and determined to do something for them. It took him 17 years but he did it and the Foundling Hospital looked after 27000 children until it closed its doors in the 1950s, although its work for children is continued today by its successor charity Coram. The museum chronicles the story of the Hospital and of the work of Thomas Coram and the artists and musicians who supported it. It is a fascinating story and a wonderful, child friendly museum. Do Go!

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