When all the Birds have Mattens seyd,
And sung their thankful Hymnes: ’tis sin,
Nay, profanation to keep in…
Rise; and put on your Foliage, and be seene
To come forth, like the Spring-time, fresh and greene; Robert Herrick
So wrote the 17th-century poet Robert Herrick in his poem on Maytime. The temperature has risen, the hedgerows abound with crab-apple blossom and blackthorn. The humble dandelion stands regal on the verges. And, as the librettist has it in Purcell’s famous anthem My beloved spake, ‘the time of the singing of birds is come’.
Keeping pace, the theme underpinning Fiori’s summer concerts (the musical garden or hortus musicus) also ties into nature. It was fashionable in the 17th and 18th centuries for musical publications to have fanciful titles for. And quite a few of these titles pick up on the imagery of the musical garden. Amongst such titles are the ‘Hortus Chelicus’ (the garden of the lyre), the ‘Wohgepflazter Lustgarten’ (the well-planted pleasure garden) and of course the name Fiori Musicali (originally the title of a collection of organ pieces by Frescobaldi) actually translates as ‘musical flowers’.
Fiori’s ‘horticultural’ journey begins in the delightful tucked-away church at Edgcote on 31 May, with virtuosic baroque sonatas connected to the rose – some of Biber’s famous ‘Rosary Sonatas’. Other flowers too appear in this programme – in the guise of music by the Scottish baroque composer James Oswald. And though there may not yet be cuckoos to be heard in this part of the country, no musical garden would be complete without birds – represented in this lovely programme by recorder player and flautist Heidi Fardell.
So ‘be seene to come forth’ as Herrick encourages and enjoy beautiful music in beautiful places near you … more details on ticketsource.co.uk/fiori
Recipe of the month wild garlic soup