Shakespeare Odes review – Garrick's homage makes stylish return

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
The actor’s 1769 ode, with music by Arne, was paired with Sally Beamish’s Shakespeare Masque, with texts by Carol Ann Duffy, in this celebratory Ex Cathedra concert

Celebrations of Shakespeare’s genius are not an exclusively modern phenomenon. In 1769, the actor David Garrick organised “An Ode upon dedicating a building and erecting a statue, to Shakespeare at Stratford upon Avon”. Garrick wrote the texts – the “testimonies”; some he also delivered, while others were sung to airs and choruses by Thomas Arne, the leading English composer of his day.

The forces involved were considerable – soloists, full-size choir and large orchestra – but the original performing material has been lost. All that has survived is a short score, containing Arne’s eight arias and a brief semi-chorus. That formed the starting point for the reconstruction of the Garrick Ode by Adrian Horsewood for its first performance since the 18th century in Ex Cathedra’s Shakespeare 400th-anniversary programme. The concert also contained a brand-new Shakespeare Masque that the choir had commissioned from composer Sally Beamish and poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy.