Saturday 7 April 2007

Week beginning Monday 2nd April

Tuesday 3rd April Last full council meeting before the election, and everyone was in a less political mood than expected - more like the end of school term. During this week I have been collating the results of a residents' survey and knocking on doors. Both exercises were interesting and instructive, as ever, including the respondent who created and ticked a new answer to the question "how should speeding be dealt with?" - answer "Kill Paul"! Good Friday Sung in Stainer's Crucifixion at St Mary's, along with well over 100 others in this "scratch" choir. Everyone knew this archetypal Victoriana very well and it was a good performance, only marred by some hesitant woodwind and too much sitting down when we could have stayed standing. This was the first performance with orchestra in East Anglia and it was the 106th anniversary of Stainer's funeral service. Those who read my blog about an earlier concert including Parry's I was glad will know the relevance of Walford Davies to my own musical training. He too was taught by Stainer, who is therefore another of my musical "great grandparents". Talking of anniversaries, I am told that today is the tenth anniversary of the blog - which shows how far behind I am! Now I am off to my last surgery before the election...

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why in Heaven's name would anyone write such a thing??!

Anonymous said...

Let's hope you do get elected then. Otherwise you'll be eating humble pie.

Charlotte Howard said...

Why in Heaven's name would anyone read such a thing??!

Anonymous said...

are you really related to stainer?

Charlotte Howard said...

...only in the music teaching sense.

Anonymous said...

I'm a big fan of Elgar. Is he your relative too? My only claim to fame is appearing on this blog...

Charlotte Howard said...

An article in the Independent says:

"Most of the prominent establishment English composers who preceded Elgar, such as Hubert Parry and Charles Stanford, wrote largely for the church. Stanford, Elgar's bĂȘte noir, who taught at the Royal College of Music, became the most influential."

Stanford and Parry taught Walford Davies at the Royal College of Music, who taught Richard Latham FRCM as a boy chorister at Windsor Chapel ,who taught me when a professor at the College.

That's the only connection I can find so far.

I must apologise to all my readers for having confused Stanford with Stainer earlier.

Anonymous said...

I see you read the Independent....very impressive.....I had you down for more of a Telegraph or The daily Mail reader. Does this mean you are an independent thinker?

Charlotte Howard said...

That was just an old quote I found. If I had time to read a daily paper it might be The Telegraph, but certainly never the Mail.

The Spectator have been sending me free copies to lure me into a subscription, but I have managed to resist the temptation.

My only regular is the Bury Free Press - even though today they print my name in a detractor's letter, having avoided it in recent positive contexts presumably because of the election.

Going to buy and reading the BFP is my early Friday morning ritual.

Anonymous said...

Such a pity, you don't have time to read any paper apart from the BFP. How do you keep up with what's going on in the world? Let me guess......multitasking?? Listening to the News whilst working? Do it myself. Though sometimes feel I might have big fish in a small pond syndrome.

Anonymous said...

what is a "detractor`s letter?

Charlotte Howard said...

Try the dictionary. All politicians (and others) have detractors (amongst others).

Anonymous said...

unfortunately my dog urinated on my dictionary so i had to throw it away. Please could you explain? I didn't realise you're a politician. Congratulations!