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Prague Remembered
The Mozart in our programme (his Coronation Mass, plus Eine kleine Nachtmusik for the orchestra) was obviously well known to the audience, Mozart being a favoured and frequent visitor to Prague. Almost unknown, by contrast, were the two Handel Coronation Anthems Zadok the Priest and The King shall rejoice. They were enthusiastically received, with the applause at the end almost matching the thunderous choral opening bars. The performance was good by any standard—incredibly good when you consider that the 260 or so people singing had only met each other for a first rehearsal the previous day. The icing on the cake was our team of four splendid soloists, all of them veterans of TRBC events: Rachel Nicholls, Anna Stéphany, Christopher Steele and Adam Green. A bonus for them, and for Brian Kay, was the unexpected enthusiasm of TRBC diners when they walked into a restaurant for a meal after the concert. As Brian and co. made their way to a table at the back of the room, they were met with a prolonged round of applause, much to the amazement of the few locals who had managed to find seats!
And when we weren’t singing or feasting? There were organised trips to see the Old Town (not forgetting the famous Charles Bridge over the Vltava), the Jewish Quarter and the Castle District, and a chance to take advantage of lower prices and shop for Bohemian crystal and jewellery. We could also explore the vernacular architecture of the narrow streets and houses, many of which are built over the top of the original medieval dwellings following a decision to raise the level of the city in the middle of the thirteenth century. (In an attempt to avoid further disastrous flooding, the ground level was built up by a staggering 3 metres.) Rather than pull down the old houses, the inhabitants simply added extra storeys, making the cellars in the Old Town some of the best-preserved Romanesque buildings in Europe. TRBC Members opting for sit-down culture, rather than the walk-around variety, squeezed in trips to the Czech National Theatre and to the Opera, took river trips on the Vltava, went exploring on trams and buses, and sampled the delicious food from a wide variety of cafés and restaurants—there was just so much to admire. In short, Prague was a treat for the senses, with wonderful things to hear (and sing!), to see, and to taste. And the weather was just a beautiful bonus! Children in Danger FoundationCharity donations are part of the TRBC ethos, and we continue this policy abroad, with any money raised at our concerts going to a local charity. In Prague the charity chosen by the local organisers (The Prague Concert Company) was the Children in Danger Foundation (FOD) which helps provide safe homes for neglected, abused and orphaned children. A relatively new project for the FOD is the provision of ‘Kangaroo’ houses (Klokánek), where a group of children (maximum 6) lives together with foster-parents or ‘aunts’ in a real family environment. This enables siblings to stay together (institutionalised care would separate them by age) in a stable and supportive home until permanent adoption can be arranged. Our Smetana Hall concert on 15 October raised 52,871 Czech crowns (just over £1,250) for this fund in combined ticket sales (34,714 Kc) and cash donations (18,157 Kc). If this seems a low total when compared to the number of people present, economic differences have to be considered, plus the fact that many people in the audience were invited and didn’t pay for their tickets. The average monthly wage in the Czech Republic is £450—about a third of the UK equivalent—and costs are similarly lower. So the purchasing power of that £1,250 is tripled, and will be enough to equip a further ‘Kangaroo’ house. The Fund itself administered and verified the cash collection taken on 15 October, and was delighted with the amount raised. The Vice-President of the Fund, Dr Zdenka Tesarova, writes: ‘This is a truly wonderful result and, I can say, unprecedented for an event of this nature. Thanks once again for your decision to support our charity. The sum raised has been transferred to our public appeal account, which goes to support our Klokánek children’s homes project, and other summer activities for children from foster families and from Klokánek children’s homes.’ Several TRBC members expressed disappointment at missing the opportunity to donate to the Foundation after the concert. The FOD has a website, www.fod.cz, although this is entirely in Czech. If the language is no barrier for you, you can explore the site and will doubtless find the means to send them a donation. Even if you don’t understand Czech, you can click on the Dárci button at the top of the home page to find a list of donors for 2005, and the first installment of ticket money paid over by the The Prague Concert Company can be seen amongst the 15,000 Kc donations. The balance of the ticket money (19,714 Kc) has only recently been transferred, and will not feature on the site until it is next updated. |
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Meteorological matters always seem to be the first thing the British want to talk about, and whilst our trip to Prague was memorable for a number of reasons, not least of these was the unexpectedly brilliant weather. Some of us had anxiously consulted websites in the few days before travel, being told that rain was forecast for much of the weekend, but we saw not a drop. Skies were blue and sunshine bright, even if temperatures were occasionally on the chilly side. All in all it was a perfect autumn weekend.
Concerts from Scratch cannot, of course, claim credit for the sun, but Don and Ann Monro can take pride in the other elements which contributed to a terrific trip: the choice of singing venue (the Smetana Hall) and conductor (Brian Kay), their ever-helpful travel partners (Specialised Travel) and the music (Mozart and Handel). Prague was fortunate to escape the second-world-war bombs which fell with such devastation on cities like Dresden and Berlin, and is full of the most beautiful buildings, many dating back to the fourteenth century. Our concert venue, the Smetana Hall, was built in the early 1900s and is part of Prague’s Municipal House—a wonderful example of Secession style (the Austrian/Czech equivalent of Art Nouveau), with paintings by Mucha decorating the state rooms. It was an inspiring venue in which to sing, and the audience of over 1,000 gave TRBC members a further incentive to do their best.
Friday’s rehearsal took place in the Lucerna Cinema, Prague’s first permanent picture palace and the only remaining period cinema in the city. This was another architecturally splendid building, hidden away in a tiny precinct off one of the main shopping streets around Wenceslas Square. In spite of bringing in additional free-standing lamps, our rehearsal was rather dimly lit (lighting the audience is not usually a priority in a cinema), but we all managed to see our scores and, more importantly, Brian Kay whose job it was to convert a disparate bunch of singers into a competent choir. ‘Not too bad’ was, I think, the general verdict, certainly encouraging enough to put everyone in a good humour for the evening ‘feast’ in the Pilsner Restaurant in the basement of the Municipal House. Hats off here to the on-site Prague organisers (the Prague Concert Company), who arranged a splendid three-course menu and a delightful ensemble of local musicians and dancers to entertain us. The wine might have been a little rough, but with Czech lager some of the best available, there were few serious complaints! At the end of the meal we were treated to some Puccini from our soprano soloist Rachel Nicholls, and some lighter cabaret numbers from Brian Kay, admirably accompanied by PCC’s director John Tregellas.