10 Non-Welsh Welsh Names

Here are 10 common and less common names that I think of as Welsh but that are not Welsh in origin (Aled, Gareth, Hywel, etc). After each one I have given a rough figure of how many were born in Wales with that name between 1880 and 1990. The names tend to start off in England then spread to Wales where they dominate.

1. Haydn, Hayden or Haydon (thousands)
2. Byron (890 and more)
3. Mansel (810)
4. Denzil (474)
5. Luther (384)
6. Handel (267)
7. John Elias (166)
8. Calvin (71)
9. Omri (22)
10. Mozart (6)

10 London Musea focused chiefly on individuals

1. Sigmund Freud (Freud Museum)
2. John Wesley (Wesley's Chapel and House)
3. Thomas Carlyle (Carlyle's House)
4. Charles Dickens (Charles Dickens Museum)
5. Samuel Johnson (Dr Johnson's House)
6. Georg Handel (and Jimi Hendrix) (Handel and Hendrix in London)
7. John Keats (Keats House)
8. William Hogarth (Hogarth's House)
9. Benjamin Franklin (Franklin's House)
10. Florence Nightingale (Florence Nightingale Museum)

Handel Sarabande

Stirring stuff

10 Baroque composers

1. BACH, Johann Sebastian 1685 - 1750 German composer and organist. The greatest of the Baroque composers. Yet during his lifetime he was better known as an organist than as a composer.

2. CORELLI, Arcangelo 1653 - 1713 Italian late baroque composer. Has been called:- "Father of the Concerto Grosso" - "Founder of Modern Violin Technique" - "The World's Greatest Violinist"

3. HANDEL, George Frideric 1685 - 1759 Born in Germany the same year and region as Bach. He later moved to England, his adopted country. He is best known for his grand oratorio 'Messiah', his Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks.

4. LULLY, Jean-Baptiste 1632 - 1687 Italian born French composer. He was the musical director of the court of Louis XIV, "The Sun King".

5. MONTEVERDI, Claudio 1567 - 1643 Important Italian composer considered to be the 'Father of Opera'.His first opera was "Orfeo", performed in Mantua in 1607.

6. PACHELBEL, Johann 1653 - 1706 German composer, teacher and organist. Unfairly labelled a 'one hit wonder' he is nevertheless best known for his Canon in D.

7. PERGOLESI, Giovanni Battista 1710 - 1736 Italian composer recognised as the 'Father of Comic opera'. Tragically died at only 26, yet his works had an enormous influence on European music.

8. PURCELL, Henry 1659 - 1695 He was the first English composer of comparable stature to the European composers. Yet another composer to die too young, at 36 years old.

9. VIVALDI, Antonio 1678 - 1741 'The Red Priest', Italian composer, violinist, teacher, priest, opera impresario. His Four Seasons is the most played piece of classical music in the world.

10. TELEMANN, Georg Philip 1681-1767 German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes

10 Great English Classical Composers

1. John Dowland
2. William Byrd
3. Henry Purcell
4. George Frederic Handel (actually a German, but resided in England for a large portion of his life)
5. Edward Elgar
6. Frederick Delius
7. Gustav Holst
8. Ralph Vaughan Williams
9. Benjamin Britten
10. Malcolm Arnold

Christmas 2014 - Music

The boys are just finishing off their Christmas video for this year. A big part of Christmas for me is the music. From around December 1 I switch my Holiday section back on on i-tunes and I play pretty much only Christmas music for the month.

I also get some extra input from the radio (Radio 2, Smooth Xmas and Classic FM). I also hear other members of the family playing music too.

The Christmas CD collection is all in the iTunes now. There are 442 selections at present. I got into the two excellent Kate Rusby albums that I began to listen to last year. I also began to explore the Keith Emerson Christmas album. I am still enjoying Jethro Tull and The Roches but my vast Maddy Prior collection (62 songs) is impressing me less than it has.

Of course, this year I went to see Handel's Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall and that was very enjoyable.

In church I try and have us sing almost all the thirty or so Christmas hymns over the month. The new Christian Hymns is a very good selection of well known (Angels from the realms, As with gladness men of old, Christians awake!, Hark! The herald angels, O come all ye faithful, Once in royal David’s, O little town, See, amid the winter’s snow, Silent night!, etc) and less known (Behold the Great Creator makes, Christ is come!, Earth was waiting, See he lies there in the manger, Thou didst leave thy throne, etc) hymns. We also sang Joy to the world and (this time) O come, O come Immanuel.
The other music thing this year is a karaoke machine someone's bought us. That's going to be used a lot over the next few days.

A True Story

One of my deacons suggested a while ago that we might like to give out some tracts that Roger Carswell has done on Handel's Messiah (see here) outside a performance of the piece. We tracked down one such performance to the Royal Albert Hall last night (see here). Paul then said that it might be a good idea to go into the performance which the others all agreed to do. I decided against it for various reasons.

Anyway, while I was giving out tracts last night and this couple approached me and asked if I was going in, which I wasn't. They then offered me a ticket. They had hoped their grown up children would join them but it hadn't worked out and so they had two tickets spare. I was reluctant at first, of course, but they were keen and so I went for it.

It was an excellent seat and I really enjoyed the performance. That's the third time I've seen it and I have two or three parts that I regularly listen to so I was able to really enjoy it.

I chatted, of course, to the lady who had been so kind to me. During the interval we formally introduced ourselves. Her husband turned out to be a Tory Peer and a household name in the Thatcher/Major era. He was sat next to an even better known Tory Peer of the same vintage. I almost feel obliged to vote Tory next time round. We'll see. (My attitude to Mrs Thatcher is the same as my attitude to Marmite. Not a huge fan or hugely anti-).

So there's an interesting story for me to tell. I take it as yet another little reminder from God of his caring providence that is over my life at all times. As my hands Got colder giving out the tracts and I again stressed that I was not a tout I remember briefly thinking "why am I bothering?" and immediately reminding myself that God is no man's debtor. I had not expected such an immediate and obvious reassurance. If Lord and Lady D should happen to see this - thanks again.

Man Behind the Messiah

When I was at the Handel House Museum recently I picked up a little biography of Balliol educated Charles Jennens by Ruth Smith, published by the museum. Illustrated throughout and on glossy paper it draws attention to the man who is most famous as the librettist for Handel's Messiah [1741-2, also Saul (1735-9), L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (1740-1), Belshazzar (1744-5) and, possibly, Israel in Egypt (1738-9)] He was also something of a Shakespeare buff and worked hard on his ancestral pile, Gopsal Hall in Leicestershire.  He was a Non-juror and a high Anglican. Smith's thesis appears to be that he saw Handel as  good vehicle  for getting biblical material out to an unlikely crowd. Interesting intro. It would be nice to see a full theological analysis.

12 London Museums about people

1. Alexander Fleming Laboratory, Paddington

2. Benjamin Franklin House, Westminster

3. Carlyle's House, Chelsea

4. Charles Dickens Museum, Holborn*

5. Dr Johnson's House, City*

6. Florence Nightingale Musem, Lambeth

7. Freud Museum. Hampstead*

8. Handel House, Mayfair*

9. Hogarth's House, Chiswick*

10. Keats House, Hamsptead*

11. Michael Faraday Museum, Mayfair

12. Wesley's Chapel, City Road*

 

We could also have Baden-Powell House, South Ken and further out Down House, Downe (Darwin) and Red House, Bexley Heath (Wm Morris). Sherlock Holmes (Baker Street) is a fictional character.

*Those I've been to.

What's missing?

Heaven't had a quiz for a while.

What's missing from the door to the Handel Museum?

(As with all the best ones the answer's in the question)

Ans (scrambled): alndhe

Hendrix Handel Style

That last blog sent me looking for Handel in Hendris style.

Not there.

So how about Hendrix in Handel style?

Jimi Hendrix

It so turns out that innovative guitarist Jimi Hendrix lived briefly with his girl friend in a flat next to Handel's old house and so besides this blue plaque there is also a small section of the Handel House Museum given over to him. There is nothing like that anywhere. hendrix and Handel, there's a thought.

Handel House Museum

 

 

As I was in Central London on Tuesday I did something I have been meaning to do for some time. I went to have a look around Handels' house in Brook Street. It is done very nicely. We began with a nice audio visual and then looked around the relatively small house. As with most of these houses, it is down to your imagination really. I have been to hear Messiah but am not a big Handel fan. I enjoyed it though and was interested to learn about his librettist Charles Jennens, who I want to find out more about. You have to pay to get in but I'm glad I finally got round to it after so many years (it opened 2001 I think). Read more here. London is full of  brilliant things.