For those of you who could not join us on Sunday, we had a really excellent evening. The delightful Hanover Square Quartet, Sheila Hayman‘s fascinating insights on Fanny M – and then a knock out salad!!
Sheila who is Fanny Mendelssohn’s great, great granddaughter, has just made a film about her so understands only too well the frustrations that beset her throughout her short life.
(If you would like to know more about Fanny and get details of the film’s release, Sheila runs a Fanny ‘support club’ called Friends of Fanny – just email her to get put on the list.)
Consumed with the desire to create music, Fanny’s sex, her class and her Jewishness all dictated that she should only play the piano and compose for voice or keyboard, should never perform in public, should never travel to Italy, the home of the music that she loved and that none of her music should actually be published. Even her devoted brother Felix with whom she shared so many musical ideas disapproved of the very thought of her publishing her works. It took her till the age of 40, and only then with the encouragement of her husband, to summon the courage to approach a publisher.
Even more extraordinary then that with no actual experience of any instrument beyond a keyboard she should have created such great works for strings and larger ensembles. A very short clip below to give you a feel both for the quartet with their wonderful gut stringed instruments – and for Fanny’s music.
(Apologies for the penumbrate gloom. It was actually a beautiful evening – so beautiful that most people took their glasses of wine and even their suppers out to the garden. But so beautiful also that we did not need to turn on the lights – which worked well for the humans but not for the camera! But even if you can scarcely see them, you can hear them which is the important bit.)
Although Fanny certinly wrote enough music to fill a full programme – indeed many full programmes – on Sunday we also heard from brother Felix and one movement from Emilie Mayer’s quarter in E Minor.
We topped off the evening with an early 19th century supper –
Salamgundy – A Hors d’oeuvre made up of contrasting sharp & bland flavours – displayed as a centrepiece
Mrs Marshall’s Cabbage & caper salad
Raised pork pie
Broad Bean & pine nut tart
Stilton, digestives and grapes
Mrs Raffald’s chocolate puffs
It all went down well but Mrs Marshall’s salad was such a rave success that I promised to share the recipe – so here goes:
Mrs Marshall’s cabbage and caper salad – serves 4
- 1/3 a medium sized young Savoy or Sweetheart cabbage, very finely sliced and cut into approx 5cm lengths
- 2 medium raw turnips, coarsely grated
- approx 12 leaves of wild garlic or, when it is not in season 6-10 spring onions depending on size
- approx 75g capers (100g bottle)
- 1/4 tsp garlic or Himalayan salt
- 25-30 grinds black pepper
- 4 tbsp wine or cider vinegar
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp double cream
Mix the cabbage and turnip in a large bowl.
Chop the wild garlic leaves or spring onions roughly and mix in.
In a bowl mix the salt, pepper, vinegar, oil and cream adding extra salt, pepper or vinegar to taste.
Mix the dressing into the salad, making sure that the vegetables are all well coated with the dressing.
Cover and leave in the fridge for 2 – 12 hours but remove from the fridge at least an hour before serving.
Upcoming concerts
Sunday 11th June – Highgate Society Lunchtime concert – 12 noon – The Reliables
£15 to include copious quantities of Bucks Fizz – Book here
Thursday 13th July – evening – Thomas Hardy poems set to music
A new song cycle by Arthur Keegan for guitar and voice setting five of Hardy’s poems about his first wife Emma.
£28 to include buffet supper and wine – more details very soon
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