An Autumn Concert by the South London Singers. at Beckenham Methodist Church, London on Saturday 1st November 2025

An Autumn Concert by the South London Singers.

Add to my Calendar 01-11-2025 19:00 01-11-2025 21:00 36 An Autumn Concert by the South London Singers. Neb who?? The South London Singers, directed by Chris Braime would like to welcome you to our Autumn Concert in which the main work is ‘Nebuchadnezzar’ written for the 1935 Three Choirs Festival by Yorkshire born composer Sir George Dyson. The son of a blacksmith, he was initially lacking much formal training but became a skilful organ player at the nearby Baptist church and, encouraged by his parents, achieved the award of a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he met Stanford and Parry and studied both organ and composition. He had several teaching posts but, at the outbreak of the First World War, joined up and became expert enough in the use of grenades to have written a well-known instructional pamphlet on their deployment! After this, he taught in various public schools and colleges, notably the R.C.M., and composed a wide range of works including the church music for which he is still known today. He was key to keeping the R.C.M. functioning in the Second War. This is one of Dyson’s less frequently programmed works and is well worth hearing: here is your chance! The piece tells the bible story of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who had a huge golden statue set up: not a statue of himself, but of the god Bel (or Baal) worshiped by the king and his compatriots. The king decreed that all should fall down and worship this god’s image when they heard music. This decree was applied by the king to all, including some Jewish captives. Three of these refused to worship the statue to the great fury of the king. He ordered that they be thrown into a burning fiery furnace, made especially hot for the purpose, and challenged them to be saved by their own God. When the captives, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were indeed thrown in, they were saved by the timely appearance of an angel who created a strong, cool wind to protect the three so that ‘not a hair on their heads was singed.’ Highly impressed by this, Nebuchadnezzar commanded that worship should be directed to the God of the Jews. It is not revealed what was the fate of the now redundant golden statue! The work is in four parts, the first three telling the story dramatically and the last is a beautiful hymn of praise, the beginning marked ‘quiet and devotional’ that builds to an animated and swinging conclusion. The other works in this concert are more well-known: Finzi’s delightful and sensitive setting of ‘Seven Poems of Robert Bridges’ and Fauré’s tuneful ‘Cantique de Jean Racine’. We will be accompanied by the talented Jack Stone. There will be a short interval during which drinks will be available. To avoid disappointment, please obtain your ticket via our website Beckenham Methodist Church, London DD/MM/YYYY

Details

Beckenham Methodist Church
Bromley Road
Beckenham
London
BR3 5JE
England

Saturday 1st November 2025
7:00 PM

Tickets

Prices: £15 standard ticket, under 16s free
Book Tickets

Programme

George Dyson – Nebuchadnezzar
Gabriel Fauré – Cantique de Jean Racine, Op.11
Gerald Finzi – Seven poems of Robert Bridges, Op.17

Performers

Christopher Braime – Conductor
Jack Stone – Accompanist

South London Singers

Programme Note

Neb who??

The South London Singers, directed by Chris Braime would like to welcome you to our Autumn Concert in which the main work is ‘Nebuchadnezzar’ written for the 1935 Three Choirs Festival by Yorkshire born composer Sir George Dyson. The son of a blacksmith, he was initially lacking much formal training but became a skilful organ player at the nearby Baptist church and, encouraged by his parents, achieved the award of a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he met Stanford and Parry and studied both organ and composition. He had several teaching posts but, at the outbreak of the First World War, joined up and became expert enough in the use of grenades to have written a well-known instructional pamphlet on their deployment! After this, he taught in various public schools and colleges, notably the R.C.M., and composed a wide range of works including the church music for which he is still known today. He was key to keeping the R.C.M. functioning in the Second War.

This is one of Dyson’s less frequently programmed works and is well worth hearing: here is your chance! The piece tells the bible story of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who had a huge golden statue set up: not a statue of himself, but of the god Bel (or Baal) worshiped by the king and his compatriots. The king decreed that all should fall down and worship this god’s image when they heard music. This decree was applied by the king to all, including some Jewish captives. Three of these refused to worship the statue to the great fury of the king. He ordered that they be thrown into a burning fiery furnace, made especially hot for the purpose, and challenged them to be saved by their own God. When the captives, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were indeed thrown in, they were saved by the timely appearance of an angel who created a strong, cool wind to protect the three so that ‘not a hair on their heads was singed.’ Highly impressed by this, Nebuchadnezzar commanded that worship should be directed to the God of the Jews. It is not revealed what was the fate of the now redundant golden statue! The work is in four parts, the first three telling the story dramatically and the last is a beautiful hymn of praise, the beginning marked ‘quiet and devotional’ that builds to an animated and swinging conclusion.

The other works in this concert are more well-known: Finzi’s delightful and sensitive setting of ‘Seven Poems of Robert Bridges’ and Fauré’s tuneful ‘Cantique de Jean Racine’.

We will be accompanied by the talented Jack Stone.

There will be a short interval during which drinks will be available.

To avoid disappointment, please obtain your ticket via our website

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