Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto in re minore per 2 oboi, archi e continuo, RV 535
Georg Friedrich Händel, The ways of Zion do mourn. Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline, HWV 264

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Westminster Abbey, December 1737: the British nation grieves its beloved Queen Caroline, consort of King George II, for more than 30 years a friend and patron of G.F. Händel.

It was thus Händel who was commissioned to compose a work in memory of the late queen. It was a spectacular homage in the form of a 50-minute anthem for choir and orchestra, performed at the funeral with 140 musicians. The work met with great success, and was described after the service as ‘the finest cruel touching thing that ever was heard’.

Händel's gorgeous music is in good company during this concert: the images from the Museum Plantin-Moretus' extraordinary collection of woodblocks are the source for the animations created by An Eisendrath (Studio Anorak) and Tommy Rombouts (Tonijn) that will be projected on the big screen.

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this concert was livestreamed on October 8 2020 at Flagey
in collaboration with Evil Penguin TV.