MEDITATION 80

   As I sit here again beside my candle and begin my new meditation, once again piano music is playing in my mind. This time it is not a piece of Chopin’s music but a theme from one of Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas.

   I heard them in a concert last Sunday morning at the Royal Albert Hall in London. They were played by the great Hungarian pianist, Andras Schiff, in one of the BBC Proms concerts. He played them from memory straight through, with only very short breaks between them. The sonatas are joyful, playful and uplifting music and were performed with great humanity by Schiff, who received warm and rapturous applause at the end. They were not the last compositions Beethoven made, as afterwards he went on to write his great 9th symphony, the ‘Choral’, among other pieces.

   Listening to Proms concerts on the radio, watching some on TV and attending a few this year, I have been reminded that the BBC Proms is a truly remarkable annual music festival. For eight weeks in the summer there are concerts at the Albert Hall every night and there also late night ones and weekend morning ones, like the one I attended. Some are at other venues too. Not only the main UK orchestras but also orchestras and ensembles from other countries appear, as well as international soloists, singers and choruses.Though classical music has prominence, there are also jazz, music from other cultures and popular music as well in the Proms.  Perhaps I have realised how wonderful this festival is, as this is the first full festival since lockdown, and I have not attended a Prom since 2019.

   Only the evening before the morning piano concert, I had the privilege of hearing the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (one of the worlds’ top orchestras) playing Mahler’s enigmatic and elusive 7th Symphony. It was outstanding.

   But then, the morning after, by way of complete contrast, instead of a large orchestra on the Albert Hall stage, there was only a lone piano player. Nothing could be more different. Yet, Andras Schiff, this great artist, had the audience of upwards of 5,000 people, enthralled, hanging on every note he played, in wrapt silence, under his spell. It was a truly remarkable experience.

   I remember writing in one of my earlier blogs about how somehow an invisible circle is completed between performers and audience in a successful performance. Maybe that is why theatres in Shakespeare’s time were circular, with the stage and performers on it completing the circle. The same is true of the Albert Hall, which was built nearly 300 years later. The shape of the buildings are trying to help audience and performers to complete this invisible, magical circle. From his first note on the piano to his last, Andras Schiff completed the circle and definitely in a magical way.

   Yesterday evening, I returned to the Royal Albert Hall for another Prom, this time with the Philadelphia Orchestra from the U.S.A. It was their first visit to the Proms in 40 years apparently. But their performance was not to be, as at 6.30 p.m., the sad news of the death of Queen Elizabeth was officially announced. The performance was cancelled as a mark of respect, as are the last two Proms concerts this week, including the famous Last Night.

    I was in one of the Albert Hall’s restaurants in the middle of a pre-concert supper when the sad news and, shortly after, the cancelation were announced. Then another announcement was made to say that the orchestra would at least play the National Anthem at 7.30 p.m, the scheduled time for the concert, as a tribute to the late Queen.

   So my friend and I with many others slowly assembled in the hall and awaited the orchestra’s entrance onto the stage in the somber atmosphere. A short announcement was made from the stage and as the orchestra filed in at the appointed time, there was spontaneous and lengthy applause, a fixing welcome for them. This was followed by the National Anthem which was not only played respectfully by this American orchestra but from the heart too. The two minute silence which followed, as we stood all around the auditorium with bowed heads, for a moment turned the vast, great Hall into a cathedral. Then we were seated again to hear the orchestra play ‘Nimrod’, a section from the British composer  Edward Elgar’s ‘Enigma Variations’ (1899).  The orchestra played this elegiac and deeply passionate music with great warmth and restraint, which made it all the more moving.

   The programme was to have included Beethoven’s Third Symphony, the ‘Eroica’. The symphony’s second movement is a funeral march, so they could have played that instead. Initially I thought they might do so. But somehow the short elegiac piece ‘Nimrod’ seemed more fitting as it is British after all. We then stood and applauded again and slowly and respectfully made our way out.

  It seemed rather strange that an American orchestra should be playing our National Anthem. But then the occasion, short as it was, seemed to represent in a small way, our deceased sovereign. The conductor was Canadian and so, in a way, representing the Commonwealth (of which Queen Elizabeth was the Head), and the orchestra the USA of course and, by proxy, so many other nations who held her in high regard. Also the audience itself no doubt were not entirely from the UK, so also international. We were all united in an international act of respect, gratitude and affection, tinged with heartfelt sadness. I think the late Queen Elizabeth would have appreciated our gesture, as she did so much to try to bring peoples together. Once again, this time in a highly tangible and emotional way, the magic circle between performers and audience was complete.      

Edward Elgar indicated in the score for the ‘Nimrod’ section of his ‘Enigma Variations’ that it should be played ‘nobilmente’ meaning ‘nobly’ or ‘with nobility.’ It was certainly played with nobility last night by the Philadelphia Orchestra.

‘Nobilmente’. That word might describe our late sovereign, Queen Elizabeth. She lived her long life nobly: with grace, courteousness, respect and dignity, born of an innate sense of duty and service. Perhaps we can learn from her in this and try ourselves to live our lives ‘nobilmente’.

We shall not see her like again.  

May she rest in peace.

Ave atque Vale – until the next blog.

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Neilus Aurelius