The a cappella choir of St. Mary Schola and its baroque ensemble, under the direction of Bruce Fithian, launched a time machine Sunday into the greatest period of English music, with works by Henry Purcell and excerpts from the opera “Venus and Adonis” by his teacher, John Blow.
The selections in the program at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Falmouth dealt with aspects of love. They ranged from the sacred, such as “Sound the Trumpet,” to the salacious, such as catches from men’s clubs of 17th century England in the tradition of “Anachreon in Heaven,” the tune of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” One wonders how the assembly managed Purcell’s polyphonic lines after a few bumpers of claret.
Blow’s “Venus and Adonis” was surprisingly moving, in addition to being a seminal work of the British operatic tradition.
(A full review will appear in The Portland Press Herald.)
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