A FEAST of Baroque music introduced the 2015 season of Malvern Priory Lunch Box on Thursday, January 8 and eighty members of the group came along to listen, having eaten their lunch in the Priory beforehand

The concert featured Jane Field and Elaine Fleming accompanied by Philip Holland.

The works performed included Paratum Cor Meum by John Blow who was born in 1649, was organist at Westminster Abbey from 1669 and whose pupils included Henry Purcell. In 1685 he was named a private musician to James II and he died in 1708.

There were three pieces by Henry Purcell born in 1658. Purcell's legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest English composers; no other native-born English composer approached his fame until Edward Elgar. He died in 1695. The pieces were Sound the Trumpet, What can we poor females do and We the spirits of the air.

One piece was by Daniel Purcell – My dearest, my fairest who was born in 1685. Like Henry Purcell , his elder brother, before him, he joined the choir of the Chapel Royal at about the age of 14. In his mid-twenties he was appointed organist of Magdalen College, Oxford where he began to compose.

Three pieces were by George Frideric Handel – If God be for Us, Dove Sei and O Lovely Peace.

Born in the same year [1685] as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, Handel is regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era.

Listening to eight pieces all written in the last years of the seventeenth century gave a close insight into Baroque music.

The next Lunch Box will be on Thursday, January 22 when the musicians of Malvern College under their new director, Jonathan Brown, will be in concert.

Please come at 12.30pm with your sandwiches – the concert starts at 1pm until 1.30 pm. All welcome – no charge – tea/coffee available.