Henry Croswell et al. in The Foundling Hospital Chapel, Guilford Street, Bloomsbury, London - 11 May, 1884, 11:00 AM
from Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell, page 389:
Got there 10.50. Stopped till all over - we all much enjoyed it.
[…]
O[rgan]. – The one on which Handel played. Organist - Foster, ARAM., FCO., etc.
H[ymns]. – "There is a friend …" "Thou art the Way …"
C[hoir]. – The 250 children and six paid professionals. Lovely singing, I thought. Anthem - "Plead Thou my cause."
[The congregation numbered] 800 – Congregation large but nothing like so wealthy as formerly; too much, of course, of an exhibition.
Henry Croswell, Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell. In British Library, number 000826807, C.194.c.113 , p. 389. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1553083794984 accessed: 25 April, 2024 (By permission of the British Library.)
Listeners
Listening to
hide composersExperience Information
| Date/Time | 11 May, 1884, 11:00 AM |
| Duration | 1 hours 45 minutes |
| Medium | live |
| Listening Environment | in the company of others, indoors, in public |
Notes
Henry Croswell (1840–93) kept a record of his visits to churches in London over a period of more than twelve years (1872–85). He made methodical notes about the number of clergy, the churchmanship, the congregation, the sermon and the church architecture, as well as commenting on the music that he heard (the organ, the hymns and the choir). The above listening experience has been extracted from one of these records. The Foundling Hospital was founded in 1739 by Thomas Coram, for the care of orphaned and abandoned children. Handel was a benefactor of the hospital, and became a governor in 1750. Myles Birket Foster (1851-1922), the eldest son of the painter of the same name, was organist at the Chapel from 1880 until 1892.