Beer, baroque and forgetting the madness

Durban - "Baroque and Beer" is the unusual title of a Baroque 2000 concert held at the Church of the Mariannhill Monastery next Sunday.

The concert is inspired by a number of early songs, arias and madrigals sung by tenor Sandile Mabaso. Among them is Purcell’s Come Let Us Drink which the lyrics “Come let us drink, ’tis is vain to think like fools on grief or sadness, let our money fly, and our sorrows die, all worldly care is madness.”

He also sings the composer’s Fill the Bowl with Rosy Wine from the poem The Epicure with opens with: “Fill the bowl with rosy wine, Around our temples roses twine, And let us cheerfully awhile, Like the wine and roses smile.”

Naturally after all that inspiration, you’re invited to join in with a complimentary glass of beer after the concert.

Mabaso will also sing Love Sounds the Alarm, from Handel’s operetta Acis and Galatea, when Acis defends his love for Galatea in the face of the threats from a jealous giant Polythemus.

Also on the programme are excerpts from Rameau’s opera Les Indes galantes with its four different stories about love in exotic places, including the famed the rousing finale La Danse des Sauvages. There is is a Bach violin sonata and Handel’s Concerto Grosso No1.

The concert is at 11.30am on October 29. Tickets are R170 at the door. Children are free. The Tea Garden will be open for refreshments and light meals.

The Independent on Saturday