Name: Academy Song Circle: Time Dies
Start: 2025-11-10T18:30:00
Location: Royal Academy of Music

Royal Academy of Music

Henry Purcell’s gift for setting English words to music shines in the moving and emotional anthem ‘Let mine eyes run down with tears’. In contrast, the powerful ‘Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei’, a Latin psalm setting, features a bold bass solo, probably written for a favoured singer at the court of Charles II, John Gostling.

And Again I Say, Rejoice

Henry Purcell’s sacred works are paired with ones by his predecessors, offering a rich portrait of church music in transition. Purcell crafted music for Anglican liturgy that, though less elaborate than his symphony anthems, is no less dazzling.

Here The Deities Approve

Sir Walter Raleigh’s poem is the inspiration for this anniversary programme featuring the music of two great composers who died within a year of each other: Orlando Gibbons and John Dowland. The infectious joy of Gibbons’ counterpoint is perfectly matched by Dowland’s forthright and eloquent writing of solo ayres and part-songs. Extracts from Dowland’s monumental collection Lachrimae, or Seven Teares complete the programme.

A Play Of Passion

Purcell’s enchanting King Arthur is a semi-opera on a grand scale, following pagan Saxons, victorious Britons and flirtatious nymphs and shepherds, with scenes ranging from frozen terrains to lively woodlands.

Fairest Isle

Academy duos present an evening of song exploring the passage of time. The programme traces the arc of a single day as a reflection of life’s seasons, moving from ‘Silent noon’ (Vaughan Williams) to Gurney’s ‘All night under the moon’ and Britten’s ‘At the mid hour of night’.