Martin Randall Travel's 25th anniversary party, 28th November 2013

M A RT I N RANDALL T R AV E L 25th Anniversary Party

28th November 2013 Fishmongers’ Hall, London Bridge

Welcome

by Martin Randall Market research we undertook recently revealed that a common reason for people choosing not to travel with us was that they inferred from our presentation of ourselves that they would not have much fun.

Most of you know better, having been associated with us in one way or another for many years. I am delighted that you are able to join me, my fellow directors, current and former staff, regular clients (one present has travelled 69 times) and many others in celebrating our survival for a quarter of a century. Have fun.

Cover: frontispiece from Andrea Palladio, I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura, Venice 1570, used as the front cover of the annual MRT brochure from 1989 to 1997.

Below: from The Foreign Tour of Brown, Jones & Robinson, 1904.

Contents

Itinerary & Menu........................... 3–4 MRT:A Brief History.................... 5–6 Musicians' biographies................... 7–8 The Words, part 1......................... 9–11 25th Anniversary Round............ 12–13 The Words, part 2....................... 14–17 Fishmongers' Hall............................ 19 Guests......................................... 20–22 Taxis............................. 020 7387 8888 NB many taxi companies serve London. This is a generic company that serves the entire city.

Photography

Photographs from the event will be available at William Knight's website, www.knightsight.co.uk Recordings. Please do not record any aspect of the evening's proceedings.

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Itinerary & Menu Drinks

From 6.00pm in the Court Drawing Room & Court Dining Room Prosecco Extra Dry Botter nv

Please be seated in the Banqueting Hall by 6.50pm

Speech, 6.50pm

Fiona Urquhart, Chief Operating Officer

I Fagiolini, 1

Claudio Monteverdi (1593-1605), Sfogava con le stelle Claudio Monteverdi, Ch’io t’ami

words p. 9 words pp. 9-10

Starter

Devonshire crab and smoked salmon with pea shoots and dill Crucillon Viura Blanco, Campo de Borja 2012 (Spain)

In order to keep to the timetable, waiters may start clearing tables before everyone has finished and move through the room and even serve during performances.

Speeches

Three or four one-minute talks by guests

I Fagiolini 2

Clément Janequin (c. 1485–1558), Le chant des oyseaulx Thomas Tomkins (1572–1656), Too much I once lamented

words pp. 10-11 words p. 14

Main course

Roast English lamb, fondant potato, vegetables

Bourgogne Pinot Noir Domaine Voarick 2010 (France)

Speeches

Three or four one-minute talks by guests M A R T I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L

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Itinerary & Menu

I Fagiolini 3

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976): selection from Eight Mediaeval Lyrics, Sacred and Profane

words pp. 14-16

Dessert

French apple tart with vanilla ice cream and brandy biscuit

Anniversary Round

After rehearsal directed by members of I Fagiolini, all guests sing Itinero Ergo Sum, composed for this occasion by Roderick Williams.

Based on words suggested by Bridget Swithinbank

Speeches

Martin Randall, Chief Executive Sir Vernon Ellis, Chairman

I Fagiolini 4

Traditional French, arr. Goff Richards (1944–2011): Baylero

Flanders and Swann arr. Hollingworth: Pillar to Post and The Sloth

Finally

Coffee and petits fours

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words p. 16–17

MRT: A Brief History Mainly the good bits

1953: Martin Randall (MR) born in Bedford.

1968: decided on a career in museum work.

1969: 'The Archaeology of Bedford', earliest surviving itinerary by MR. 1973–76: Courtauld Institute of Art, London University. 1976: May, MR unable to concentrate on a concert of Beethoven's 4th & 5th symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Albert Hall because of a vision of leading art history lecture tours. 1977–79: York University, Department of Philosophy. 1979–82: worked for four travel companies in London. 1982: April, MR founded Prospect Art Tours Ltd, which became the market leader in cultural tours.

1988: 13th June, ousted from Prospect in a boardroom coup. September, Sam Fogg lends MR £1,000 to enable him to stop his job as night-shift minicab driver. Michael Manassei joins as executive director. 8th November, Martin Randall Travel Limited incorporated.

Operates under the ATOL (Air Travel Operator's Licence) of Andrew Brock Travel.

One tour (Christmas in Franconia).

1989: 18 tours. Turnover £48,929. MRT moves into Barley Mow Workspace, Chiswick.

1990: 49 tours.

1991: 87 tours.

1992: 96 tours, including 3 for the Friends of the Royal Academy.

1993: 107 tours.

1994: 120 tours, 1 festival – first own-brand music festival (The Danube). Obtains own ATOL licence.

1995: c. 128 tours (records unreliable for a few years), 1 festival.

1996: c. 134 tours, 1 festival. Observer Travel Awards, Best Special Interest Brochure.

1997: c. 140 tours, 2 festivals (first Rhine Valley Festival). Chartered Institute of Marketing Gold Award for Tour Operator Brochure.

1998: 150 tours, 2 festivals. MR awarded Gold Medal for outstanding services to tourism by the Government of Austria. Travel Advertising Awards: Gold Award for Best Brochure. Italian State Tourist Office award: The Most Intriguing Tour Operator. Fiona Urquhart joins MRT. 10th Anniversary celebrated at Goldsmiths' Hall.

1999: 141 tours, 2 festivals. First land-based music festival (Venice). Travel Advertising Awards Gold Award for Best Brochure.

MR becomes Director of Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) (until 2001).

2000: 159 tours, 3 festivals. MRT computerise the booking system and launch their first website. Martin Randall Marketing is launched in Brisbane.

2001: 140 tours, 2 festivals (including Prague).

First gastronomy tour (Gastronomic Spain).

Michael Manassei retires.

2002: 145 tours, 3 festivals (including the first to Rome). Travel Advertising Awards: Gold Award for Best Brochure. Martin Randall appointed artistic director of the concert series at The Castle Hotel, Taunton. Office moves across Barley Mow Passage to Voysey House.

2003: 166 tours, 3 festivals (including the first to Spain – Castile), the first three chamber music weekends at The Castle, Taunton.

Travel Advertising Awards: Silver Award for Best Brochure. MRT named in the Sunday Telegraph as 'unquestionably the leading specialist in cultural tours'. Vernon Ellis joins the board.

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MRT: A Brief History

2004: 174 tours, 3 festivals (including St Petersburg and the first Bach Journey).

2005: 175 tours, 3 festivals. Fiona Urquhart joins MRT board and becomes Director of Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) (until 2009).

2006: 179 tours, 4 festivals (including Mozart in the Marches). First walking tour (Walking to Santiago). Travel Advertising Awards: Gold Award for Best Brochure. Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) Travel Company of the Year.

2007: 184 tours, 4 festivals. Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) Travel Company of the Year.

2008: 182 tours, 4 festivals. Introduced Mediterranean cruises (3 sailings). Launch of online booking. AITO Travel Company of the Year. Vernon Ellis appointed Chairman. Lowkey celebration of 20th anniversary at the Italian Cultural Institute.

2009: 169 tours, 5 festivals (including the 11day Haydn Quartet festival at The Castle and the first to France, The Seine), 5 Mediterranean Cruises (the second and last season as the Great Recession bites). First literary weekend (biographers). AITO Travel Company of the Year (the fifth and final year of the awards).

Travel Marketing Awards: Silver Award for Best Press Consumer Advertisement.

2010: 163 tours, 3 festivals. House of Lords, launch of British tours 2011: 195 tours, 5 festivals. First range of fulllength tours in Britain. First chamber music weekend at Jesmond Dene House, Newcastle.

Martin Randall Travel Canada is launched.

John McNeill leads his 100th tour. Vernon Ellis knighted for services to music.

2012: 219 tours, 4 festivals. India tours launched (8 itineraries). First London Day (Leonardo da Vinci). First UK music festival (The Divine Office, Oxford). Michael Douglas-Scott, Gijs van Hensbergen, Adam Hopkins & Gaby Macphedran, Luca Leoncini and Joachim Strupp lead their 100th tour. Martin Randall appointed director of History Today.

2013: 203 tours, 6 festivals (the 61st: The Tallis Trail), 22 London Days, c. 4,400 clients across all events, turnover c. £11.500,000, 35 full-time staff, 178 lecturers, 49 tour managers. Martin Randall appointed director of ABTA–The Travel Association. Martin Randall Marketing is re-branded Martin Randall Australasia. 25th Anniversary celebrated at Fishmongers’ Hall.

Projected for 2014: 225 tours, 4 festivals, 60 London Days.

Left: Carlsbad, Czech Republic, steel engraving c. 1850.

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Musicians' biographies Photo ©Danny Higgins.

I Fagiolini

Anna Crookes soprano, Clare Wilkinson mezzosoprano, Robert Hollingworth countertenor & director, Nicholas Hurndall Smith tenor, Charles Gibbs bass The name I Fagiolini has been misspelt and mispronounced throughout the world. The group is renowned for its innovative staged productions of vocal music, mainly Renaissance and twentieth-century.

They have staged Handel with masks, Purcell with puppets, madrigal comedies with more masks and, in 2004, premièred The Full Monteverdi, a dramatised account of the composer’s Fourth Book of Madrigals (1603)

by John La Bouchardière. The Birds followed in 2005, a new opera for vocal ensemble and speaker by Ed Hughes, and in 2006 they toured its South African collaboration Simunye. Tallis in Wonderland, polyphony with both live and recorded vocals and lighting, was launched in 2009, and How Like An Angel, a collaboration, this time with Australian contemporary circus company Circa, in 2012.

Their world première recording of Striggio’s (until recently) lost Mass in 40 Parts was released on Decca in 2011 and stayed at the top of the specialist classical chart for nearly four months and won the 2011 Gramophone

Early Music Award and a Diapason d’or de l’année. The production was peformed at Martin Randall Travel's Florence Festival.

2012 saw the Striggio Mass toured in the UK, I Fagiolini’s Royal Albert Hall Proms debut and the release of 1612 Italian Vespers (Gramophone CD of the month).

I Fagiolini is now presenting ‘Carnivale Veneziano - a night on the piles' and The Boat from Venice to Padua at the inaugural season at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in the Globe Theatre and a series of recitals entitled ‘Strange Harmony of Love’ featuring madrigals

by Gesualdo (in his 400th year) and his contemporaries. Next year sees the return of Tallis in Wonderland and Simunye and the launch of its latest music theatre project, the much-awaited follow up to The Full Monteverdi.

I Fagiolini has recorded 19 CDs and three DVDs and given live performances around the world, from BBC Proms and the Lincoln Center Festival to the Far East and Africa.

I Fagiolini first appeared with Martin Randall Travel in 2010 with two concerts in our Festival of Music in Palladian Villas. For the Festival of Music in Florence in 2011 – augmented to 72 singers and players – it performed the Striggio Mass in San Lorenzo and another Medicean programme the Uffizi. It returns in 2014 with two performances for our Music in the Veneto.

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Musicians' biographies

Photo ©Benjamin Ealovega.

Photo ©Danny Higgins.

Robert Hollingworth An expert programmer and entertaining presenter, Robert Hollingworth specialises in Renaissance and contemporary vocal repertoire and in creating ground-breaking projects which present music in innovative ways. He founded I Fagiolini in 1986, and with them has presented such projects as The Full Monteverdi, Tallis in Wonderland and How Like An Angel as well as many concerts in a more conventional format.

He recently arranged the music for the album Shakespeare: The Sonnets.

He gives master-classes and residencies in Britain, Europe and in the USA, writes and presents for BBC Radio 3 and is in demand as a conductor here and abroad. In 2011 he was appointed Anniversary reader in Music at the University of York, where he has set up an MA in solo-voice-ensemble music.

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Roderick Williams, composer

With a repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary, Roderick Williams is one of Britain's leading baritones. He is equally accomplished in the opera house, on the concert platform and in the recital hall.

As a composer, he has written works for groups such as I Fagiolini and The Sixteen and has had works premiered at Wigmore Hall, the Barbican, the Purcell Room and live on BBC Radio 3.

As Lieder singer, he has appeared in two MRT Danube Festivals, in 2011 and 2013, and appears again with us on The Rhine Valley Festival of Song in 2014 (29 May–5 June) when he sings Die schöne Magelone with Roger Vignoles.

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The Words I Fagiolini 1

Monteverdi, Ottavio Rinuccini Sfogava con le stelle

Sfogava con le stelle un'infermo d'amore sotto notturno ciel il suo dolore, e dicea fisso in loro: O immagini belle de l'idol mio ch'adoro, sì com'a me mostrate, mentre così splendete, la sua rara beltate, così mostrast'a lei i vivi ardori miei, la fareste col vostr'aureo sembiante pietosa sì, come me fat'amante.

Crying to the stars

Crying to the stars a love-sick man beneath the night sky spoke of his grief, and said, whilst gazing at them: “Oh, lovely images of the idol I adore, if only, as you show me, when you shine, her rare beauty, you could show to her my ardent flames, You would make her, with your golden look compassionate, just as you make me affectionate.

Monteverdi, Giovanni Battista Guarini Ch’io t’ami, Il pastor fido, III

Ch’io t’ami e t’ami più de la mia vita, se tu nol sai, crudele, chiedilo a queste selve, che tel diranno... e tel diran con esse le fere lor’e i duri sterpi e i sassi di quest’alpestri monti, ch’i’ho sì spesse volte intenerito al suon de’miei lamenti...

I love you and love you more than my life.

If you do not know it, cruel one, ask these woods, who will tell you, and so will the wild beasts, the rough scrub and the stones of these mountains, which I so many times have moved with the sound of my lamenting...

Deh! bella e cara e sì soave un tempo

Ah, my beauty, my dear one and once my so sweet reason for living, while it pleased heaven; turn once more,... O turn those loving eyes on me, as you used to, so calm and full of pity, before I die, so that my dying be made sweet.

And it is right that as once I read life, now I should read death in those beautiful eyes, and that the sweet glance

cagion del viver mio, mentre al ciel piacque, volgi una vola,...volgi quelle stelle amorose, come le vidi mai, così tranquille e piene di pietà, prima ch’io moia, che’l morir mi sia dolce, e dritt’è ben che, se mi furo un tempo dolci segni di vita, or sien di morte quei begl’occhi amorosi; e quel soave sguardo,

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The Words

che mi scorse ad amare,... mi scorg’anco a morire; e chi fu l’alba mia, del mio cadente di l’Espero or sia.

Ma tu, più che mai dura, favilla di pietà non senti ancora; anzi t’inaspri più, quanto più prego.

Così senza parlar dunque m’ascolti?

A chi parlo, infelice? A un muto sasso?

S’altro non mi vuoi dir, dimmi almen: 'Mori!' e morir mi vedrai.

Così senza parlar ecc.

Questa è ben, empi’Amor, miseria estrema, che sì rigida ninfa non mi risponda, e l’armi d’una sola sdegnosa, cruda voce sdegni di proferire al mio morire.

that witnessed my love should now witness my death; And that she who was my dawn should of my fading day now be the Evening Star.

But you, more harsh than ever, not a spark of pity do you now feel; rather thy harshness increases the more I plead.

Have you no word to answer me?

To whom do I speak, unhappy man? A dumb stone?

If you wish to say nothing else, at least say, ‘Die!’ and you will see me die.

Have you no word etc.

This, O villainous love, is the extreme of wickedness, when such an unyielding girl answers me not, and you arm her with only scornful, cruel words, yet scorn to pronounce my death.

I Fagiolini 2 Clément Janequin

Le chant des oyseaulx

Reveillez vous, cueurs endormis, Le dieu d'amours vous sonne.

Wake up, you sleepy hearts, the god of love is calling you!

A ce premier iour de may, Oyseaulx feront merveilles, Pour vous mettre hors d'esmay Destoupez voz oreilles.

Et farirariron ferely ioly Vous serez tous en ioye mis, Car la saison est bonne.

Vous orrez, à mon avis, Une doulce musique Que fera le roy mauvis, Le merle aussi, Lestournel sera parmy,

On this first day of May, birds will perform wonders, put off your misery and unplug your ears.

Et farirariron... (birdsong) You will all be made happy, for it is a good season.

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You will hear, methinks, a sweet music which the songthrush will make, the blackbird too, the starling will be there,

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The Words

D'une voix autentique: Ti, ti py ti, Que dis-tu?

Le petit sansonnet de Paris.

Le petit mignon Saincte teste Dieu!

Il est temps d'aler boire.

Au sermon ma maistresse.

A saint Trotin Voir saint Robin, Monstrer le tetin, Le doulx musiquin!

Quio, Tost, tost, au sermon, din, dan Sus, ma dame, à la messe Sancte Caquette Guillemette, Colinette, il est temps d'aller boyre Qu'est là bas passe, villain.

Saige courtoys et bien apris, Il est temps, que di tu.

Rire et gaudir c'est mon devis, Chacun s'i habandonne.

with a true voice: (birdsong) (What do you say,) (The little starling of Paris.)

(The little cutie,) (By God’s holy head) Soprano - (It’s drinking time.)

(To the sermon, my mistress,) (to St.Trotin) (to see St.Robin,) (to show the tits,) (the sweet musician!)

Alto - (Up, up to the sermon,) (up, my lady to Mass,) (St.Gossip,) Tenor - (Guillemette, Colinette,)1 (It’s drinking time.)

Bass - (Someone’s walking past.)

(Wise, courteous and well-brought up,) (it’s time, don’t you say?

Laugh and rejoice, that's my motto, let everyone give in to it.

Rossignol du boys ioli, A qui la voix resonne, Pour vous mettre hors d'ennuy Vostre gorge iargonne: Frian, frian, teo, ticun, ticun etc Fuyez regretz, pleurs et souci, Car la saison l'ordonne.

Nightingale of the pretty wood, in which your voice resounds, to get yourself out of the doldrums you warble in your throat:2 (birdsong) Be gone regrets, complaints and cares, for the season commands it.

Arriere, maistre coucou, Sortez de no chapitre.

Chacun vous est mal tenu Car vous n'estes qu'un traistre, Coucou.

Par traison, en chacun nid, Pondez sans qu'on vous sonne.

Reveillez vous, cueurs endormis, Le dieu d'amours vous sonne.

Back off, master cuckoo, leave our chapter.

Everyone holds you in contempt for you are nothing but a traitor.

Cuckoo.

Treacherously in every nest you lay your egg without invitation.

Wake up, you sleepy hearts, the god of love is calling you!

1 In 1525, Guillaume Colin was a cannon at Angers where Janequin worked. Feminisation was an insult.

2 Speak in slang/patois

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Round

Roderick Williams, composer

25th Anniversary Round

Itinero Ergo Sum

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The Words

Thomas Tomkins Too much I once lamented While Love my heart tormented.

Fa la.

Alas and ay me, sat I wringing, Now chanting go and singing.

Fa la.

Fagiolini 3 Benjamin Britten

Selection from 'Eight Medieval Lyrics, Sacred and Profane' St.Godric's Hymn

Sainte Marye Virgine, Moder Jesu Christes Nazarene, Onfo, schild, help thin Godric, Onfang, bring heyilich with thee in Godes Riche.

St.Mary, the Virgin, Mother of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Receive, defend and help thy Godric, and, having received him, bring him on high with thee in God's Kingdom.

Sainte Marye, Christes bur, Maidenes clenhad, moderes flur, Dilie min sinne, rix in min mod, Bring me to winne with the self God,

St.Mary, Christ's bower, Virgin among maidens, flower of motherhood, Blot out my sin, reign in my heart, and bring me to bliss with that selfsame God.

I mon waxe wod

Birds in the wood, The fish in the river, And I must go mad: Much sorrow I live with For the best of creatures alive.

Foweles in the frith, The fisses in the flod, And I mon waxe wod: Mulch sorw I walke with For beste of bon and blod.

Lenten is come

Lenten is come with love to toune, With blosmen and with briddes roune, That all this blisse bringeth.

Dayeseyes in this dales, Notes swete of nightingales, Uch fowl song singeth.

The threstelcok him threteth oo.

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Spring has come with love among us, With flowers and with the song of birds, That brings all this happiness.

Daisies in these valleys, The sweet notes of nightingales, Each bird sings a song.

The thrush wrangles all the time.

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The Words

Away is huere winter wo When woderofe springeth.

This fowles singeth ferly fele, And wliteth on huere wynne wele, That all the wode ringeth.

Gone is their winter woe When the woodruff springs.

These birds sing, wonderfully merry, And warble in their abounding joy, So that all the wood rings.

The rose raileth hire rode, The leves on the lighte wode Waxen all with wille.

The mone mandeth hire ble, The lilye is lossom to se, The fennel and the fille.

Wowes this wilde drakes, Miles murgeth huere makes, Ase strem that stiketh still.

Mody meneth, so doth mo; Ichot ich am on of tho For love that likes ille.

The rose puts on her rosy face, The leaves in the bright wood All grow with pleasure.

The moon sends out her radiance, The lily is lovely to see, The fennel and the wild thyme.

These wild drakes make love, Animals (?) cheere their mates, Like a stream that flows The passionate man complains, as do more: I know that I am one of those That is unhappy for love.

The mone mandeth hire light, So doth the semly sonne bright, When briddes singeth breme.

Deawes donketh the dounes, Deores with huere derne rounes Domes for to deme.

Wormes woweth under cloude, Wimmen waxeth wounder proude, So well it wol hem seme.

Yef me shall wonte wille of on, This wunne wele I wole forgon, And wiht in wode befleme.

The moon sends out her light, So does the fair, bright sun, When birds sing gloriously.

Dews wet the downs, Animals with their secret cries For telling their tales.

Worms make love underground, Women grow exceeding proud, So well it will suit them.

If I don’t have what I want of one, All this happiness I will abandon, And quickly in the woods be a fugitive.

The long night

Mirie it is, while sumer ilast, With fugheles song.

Oc nu necheth windes blast, And weder strong.

Ey! ey! what this night is long!

And ich, with well michel wrong, Soregh and murne and fast.

Pleasant it is, while summer lasts, With the birds’ song.

But now the blast of the wind draws nigh And severe weather.

Alas! how long this night is, And I, with very great wrong, Sorrow and mourn and fast.

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The Words

Ye that pasen by

Ye that pasen by the weiye, Abidet a little stounde.

Beholdet, all my felawes, Yef any me lik is founde.

To the Tre with nailes thre Wol fast I hange bounde; With a spere all thoru my side To mine herte is mad a wounde.

A death

You that pass by the way, Stay a little while.

Behold, all my fellows, If any like me is found.

To the Tree with three nails Most fast I hang bound; With a spear all through my side To my heart is made a wound.

Wanne mine eyhnen misten And mine heren sissen, And my nose coldet, And my tunge foldet, And my rude slaket, And mine lippes blaken, And my muth grennet, And my spotel rennet, And mine her riset, And mine herte griset, And mine honden bivien, And mine fet stivien— Al to late! al to late!

Wanne the bere is ate the gate.

When my eyes become misty, And my ears are full of hissing, And my nose becomes cold, And my tongue folds, And my face goes slack, And my lips blacken, And my mouth grins, And my spittle runs, And my hair rises, And my heart trembles, And my hands shake, And my feet go stiff— All to late! all too late!

When the bier is at the gate.

Thanne I schel flutte From bedde to flore, From flore to here, From here to bere, From bere to putte, And te putt fordut.

Thanne lyd mine hus uppe mine nose.

Of al this world ne give I it a pese!

Then I shall pass From bed to floor, From floor to shroud, From shroud to bier, From bier to grave, And the grave will be closed.

Then my house rests upon my nose.

For all this world, I don’t give a damn!

Le Baylère Trad. French, arr. Richards

'Pâtre, par de la rive, ce n'est pas de très bon temps?' chante baylèro lèro.

'Je n'ai pas de très bon temps', 16

'Shepherd, by the bank isn't it lovely weather?' sing baylero, lero.

'I'm not having a good time',

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The Words

chante baylèro lèro.

'Pâtre, comment passer tous les jours par le grand ruisseau?" chante baylèro lèro. 'Écoute moi, je viens te chercher baylèro lèro.' baylèro, lèro.'

sing baylero, lero.

'Shepherd how do you cross the big stream every day?', sing baylero, lero.

'Listen to me, I'm coming to find you, sing

Flanders and Swann, arr. Hollingworth The words for both Pillar to Post and The Sloth are available at http://www.nyanko.pwp. blueyonder.co.uk/fas/index.html

'The Oratorio', engraving by William Hogarth

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Music in the Veneto Monteverdi • Vivaldi • Palladio 23–28 June 2014

Six private concerts in the Veneto, in buildings designed or inspired

by Andrea Palladio. Performances by I Fagiolini, Andreas Scholl, Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca, La Venexiana & La Serenissima.

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Fishmongers' Hall Brief history

T

he Greek Revival Fishmongers' Hall, designed in 1831, ranks with the Goldsmiths' Hall, its exact contemporary (and venue of the MRT tenth anniversary party), and the 1860s Drapers' Hall as the grandest livery halls in the City. The Fishmongers' stands out because its location on the waterfront enables its monumental exterior to be properly appreciated.

Essentially survivals of mediaeval trade guilds, the City of London's livery companies collectively are without parallel for their number (109), diversity (Bowyers to Information Technologists) and antiquity – though new ones are periodically added to embrace new trades.

The age of greatest power and prosperity of the Fishmongers was the fourteenth century, following the granting of a monopoly of selling fish in London by Edward I in c. 1272, though this monopoly began to be eroded in the fifteenth century. Unlike many ancient companies, it maintains some connection with its historic trade, fish and fisheries remaining a central part of the Company’s present day role.

Authorities differ radically about the pre-fire halls, though the current site seems to have been

used by the Fishmongers from the fifteenth century. It was rebuilt almost immediately after the Great Fire of 1666, perhaps too hurriedly, for decrepitude was well advanced by the 1820s when the new London Bridge was built across part of the site.

The 1831 competition for a new hall was a major event in the architectural world and attracted 87 entrants. It was won by the young Henry Roberts (1803–1876), whose first major commission it was – and the last: none of his subsequent work came close in size or ambition, and indeed he later became an expert in workers' housing. He had just set up on his own after working in the office of the very considerable figure of Sir Robert Smirke (of British Museum fame), and it is likely that discreet interventions by his former teacher rescued Roberts's design from infelicities of design and, possibly, structural disaster.

There was considerable bomb damage in 1940, but the rebuilding and refurbishment under Austen Hall returned it close to its 1830s appearance after various decorative changes in the previous century.

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M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L

The Danube Music Festival 21–28 August 2014

Eight private concerts in historic venues along the River Danube.

Joan Rodgers, Roger Vignoles, The Mozart Chamber Ensemble, Wiener Kammerchor, The Artis Quartet, The Vienna Piano Trio, Orchester Wiener Akademie (under Martin HasselbĂśck), The Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic (under Rainer Honeck).

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M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L A RT • A R C H I T E C T U R E • G A S T R O N O M Y • A R C H A E O L O G Y • H I S T O R Y • M U S I C • L I T E R AT U R E

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Martin Randall Travel Canada. Telephone 647 382 1644, fax 416 925 2670 canada@martinrandall.ca

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www.martinrandall.com 5085

ABTA No.Y6050

Daddy in the office, by Ollie Randall (aged 4)

Dad in the office (2013), by Ollie Randall (aged 20)

'If all else fails, I could always run Martin Randall Travel.'

Alice Randall (2012, then aged 16)