Following the enthusiasm for our evening of ‘900 Years of Music and Medicine’ in June 2023, just before the closure of the Great Hall for renovation and conservation, we are holding a further medical themed evening – ‘More Music and Malady’. This will celebrate the re-opening of the North Wing, with a miscellany of music about lithotomy, doctors and illnesses – both real and imagined – including music from Couperin to G&S, Purcell to Cole Porter, Bernstein to Beethoven.
The programme begins with the founding of the hospital and explores eye watering 18th century surgical procedures – with original instruments! You’ll hear about a range of ailments of mind and body contracted through love – and some possible remedies from some rather dodgy doctors. You’ll find that the doctor-patient relationship may go beyond what is considered proper. And finally we will leave you with part of Beethoven’s Op132 – a thanksgiving for restored heath and healing. The narrative will be woven together and subverted in equal measure by CMF Patron Simon Callow and BBC Radio 3 presenter Donald Macleod.
Performers include Claire Ward, soprano, George Robarts, baritone, Ed Picton Turbervill, piano, Nathaniel Mander, harpsichord, James Larter, percussion, members of the Paddington Trio, and other CMF artists.
