Remembrance Sunday

This is the interior of Les Invalides chapel in Paris. Funny to call it a chapel when it is such a monumental edifice. Louis XIV started building Les Invalides in 1670 as a retirement home and hospital for his old soldiers.

I don’t think it is fanciful to suggest that he was inspired by the Royal Hospital in Chelsea built by Charles II for his veterans; but back to Paris and ironically, considering its royal founder, it is the site of Napoleon’s tomb. Sorry, this is all a digression. Imagine yourself there in 1804. There are four orchestras each placed at one of the corners of the chapel. You are about to hear the first performance of  Chant du Premier Vendémiaire composed to celebrate (?) the eighth anniversary of the Revolution. The composer is Jean-François le Suer. Never heard of him, but he had a pupil that we do know: Hector Berlioz.

Hector was not at this deafening premiere (he was born in 1803) but he did like to do things on a broad canvas like his teacher. The first performance of his Requiem, Grande messe des morts, was in Les Invalides in 1840. Robert and I were invited to the Albert Hall to hear it on Remembrance Sunday. The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus were supplemented by the Crouch End Festival Chorus and the Philharmonic Chorus. It was thrilling to hear a piece that on Sunday evening hit me from all angles in a tinnitus-inducing performance. We had rather good seats so I could observe the conductor (François-Xavier Roth). He combed a rough coated Sealyham, then he squeezed a lemon before turning his attention to a chest of drawers with one drawer jammed. And did he make pasta – everything from the stuff that is in sheets to the thinnest string spaghettini, only pausing to stop his sweat dripping on it.

I enjoyed the performance immensely and an extra Remembrance Sunday aspect was that my host served in Vietnam. There is an understandable tendency to remember the two World Wars of the 20th century but even in Hammersmith there are other conflicts that are not forgotten.