A warped ode to the Beverley Sisters

Ooh... It’s 11.42pm and I've not yet blogged! Crumbs...

It’s been a pretty hectic day, which started in Costa and ended on the sofa watching telly and eating chips.

In the meantime I did a squillion auditions for Pepys, which have put me into a major crisis because I now can’t decide on the people I want for the early music choir; and that’s about the only definitive decision I'll be able to make at this stage. It's an incredibly frustrating process. There are many people I would like to be able to feature, but so few people who have versatile enough voices for me to be able to parachute them into another choir.

I met some particularly wonderful singers today; and got to hear a section from movement five bursting into life. The sequence when Elizabeth discovers Samuel in flagrante delicto seems to have become like a form of warped ode to the Beverley Sisters! It shouldn’t work, but it sort of does! It was wonderful to hear it being sung...

My very old and dear friend, Tash from Northamptonshire called in to St Olave’s Church to say hello and ended up being hauled in to sing various missing harmonies. It was wonderful to see her, but I felt incredibly guilty that she ended up working her ass off. For a long period she was even singing tenor.

September 2nd 1660 was a Sunday and Pepys went to church... twice. He'd based himself in Westminster because Montagu was due to set sail very early the following morning. Towards the end of the day he made the decision to stay the night at Montagu Towers and sent W Hewer home to tell Elizabeth that he wouldn’t be returning until the following day. With no sight of his Lord, he called in on his former neighbour, Mrs Crisp and her family, who were obviously thrilled to have a guest, because they immediately cracked open the booze and started behaving inappropriately. Pepys’ last sentence says it all: “I drank til the daughter began to be very loving to me and kind, and I fear is not so good as she should be.” Eek!