Thursday, November 11, 2021 by LaDona Ahenda | Performances

On this Remembrance Day, it is fitting to reflect on the gift of a great performer during wartime in London, 1939.  London was in a "cultural blackout" with the closure of concert halls and galleries. Dame Myra Hess, known especially for her interpretations and transcriptions of Bach, offered to play a concert for a few friends in the hall of the National Gallery. 

The arts, she believed, played a powerful spiritual role in the health of the nation at the best of times - and would play an (even) greater role now during wartime.  National Gallery

She expected maybe 50-60 friends would show up. Organizers were amazed when over 1000 people lined up to hear live music. 

As we come out of the COVID drought and live performances resume with masks and reduced capacity, I remember how much I craved live music during all the shutdowns brought on by COVID. And I live in a time and place where there is no shortage of music. I can listen to the radio, watch YouTube videos, and stream anything on a whim. It's hard to imagine a time when almost the only music people could hear was either on the radio (program-dependent) or, if they were lucky and wealthy, on early recordings that sound terrible to our tech-spoiled ears. 

Nothing communicates the range of human emotion the way a live performance can - the despair, angst, hope and joy that was surely felt that October day in 1939. We have felt much the same in the last eighteen months. Myra Hess gave this gift to Londoners that day in October, 1939. She ended her recital with a performance of her famous transcription of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. 

You can read more about the National Gallery concerts here. 

YouTube video found on the pianopera channel.