Chelveston 2026 - Saturday April 25

On a beautiful sunny spring day, sixty or so Friends came together for our annual party.  We assembled an array of over twenty instruments, including an original 1775 Kirckman harpsichord and a 1735 spinet by Thomas Hitchcock.  

In the picture above we see a replica of 'Queen Elizabeth's Virginals, a replica 5-voet muselaar and 3-voet octave virginal, both after Ruckers, c. 1630, an English spinet typical of the style c. 1710, and a 1960s clavichord by Tomas Goff.  

We were delighted to open the show with a spirited perfomance of a Telemann sonata by the talented Pang family, Clara (violin), Edwin (clavicytherium), Alice ('cello), and Isaac (flute).  

The piano in the foreground is an 1815 Broadwood similar to the one that we believe Jane Austen bought for herself.  Penny Appleyard and Jonathan Delbridge featured this instrument - named 'Lady Catherine' by Penny - to perform highly entertaining, and at times amusing, extracts from their programme 'Sense and Musicality'.  This included Scottish and Irish folk songs that we know she loved, as well as extracts from her diaries and letters. 

The lunch break is an important element of the day, with a chance to meet friends old and new, and to browse the instruments.  As it was such a warm sunny day, many of us enjoyed some fresh air in the tranquil setting of the churchyard.

Meanwhile, inside the church, David was demonstrating the McNulty/Walter grand piano (formely owned by Trevor Pinnock), watched by Penny, the ever-patient  Buzz and others.

Henry Purcell's beautiful 'Evening Hymn' has special memories for many of us, and it has become something of a tradition for us to close the musical programme with the beautiful arrangement as a duet by Angie Hicks, Penny, and David Wright on the harpsichord.  

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But age is catching up with me, and I was a little bit sad to announce that this was my last 'Chelveston' as Master of Ceremonies.  Our annual gatherings, which gradually evolved into parties, began at Finchcocks in 2011, when we also made a visit to the Colt Collection.  But the years go by, and Finchcocks closed in 2015. I did then wonder if a few friends might like to come together in my home village of Chelveston, and bring their own instruments.  These gatherings, now held in our beautiful village church, have been very successful and enjoyable.

However, I am very glad to say that our very good friend Alastair Wilson, who lives locally, has volunteered to take over.  I will of course give him my full support, and we look forward to 'Chelveston 2027'.

But to close on an upbeat note, David played us out with his stunning performance of 'Vo Far Guerra' from Handel's 1711 opera Rinaldo.  This battle-scene is marked 'Cembalo ad lib', for which the performer and composer William Babell wrote a full cadenza, possibly a close rendition of what he heard Handel himself play night after night at the Hay Market, where Babell was first violinist for the production.  The critic Charles Burney commented that:

"Babell acquired great celebrity by wire-drawing the favourite songs of the opera of Rinaldo, and others of the same period, into showy and brilliant lessons, which by mere rapidity of finger-playing in single sounds, without the assistance of taste, expression, harmony or modulation, enabled the performer to astonish ignorance, and acquire the reputation of a great player at small expence... Mr Babel... at once gratifies idleness and vanity."

A lovely day - thanks to all friends who made it such a memorable party.

The date for Chelveston 2027 has already been fixed - April 24th, in the church by kind permission of the Vicar and PCC.  

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