Monday, June 8, 2015

1812 Overture Picnic with the DFWCG

Last year, when the JASNA Netherfield Ball was cancelled, the Costumers Guild were left without an event to attend in the month of June. At the last minute, we decided to get into our Regency outfits and to spend an evening at Concert in the Gardens, enjoying the 1812 Overture concert. It was such a great evening that we decided to do it again this year!

I shared a ride with a friend and we arrived super early. The gates didn't open until 6:30, and we arrived around 5:40! It was a good thing we arrived as early as we did, though. We were right at the front gate when they opened up the Gardens, and the rest of the line was snaking down the road behind us!

We snagged a spot near the front of the lawn and set up our picnic. I had finished an indigo Indienne print dress just a day before, and my friend borrowed my JCP Regency so she could attend her first Guild event in costume!


I'll have more about my dress in another post, but here are some pics of the dresses from the evening.


We were joined not long after by the rest of our party, and we had some time before the start of the concert to get a bit to eat and catch up with each other.


It turned out to be Donor's Night for Concert in the Gardens, so the line-up had been selected by those that had supported the Symphony during the past year. This meant that we had some fantastic music! We started with the Overture from The Marriage of Figaro, then we heard the 1st movement from Beethoven's 5th Symphony. They continued with Mendelssohn's Wedding March, the 2nd movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony, and three movements from Stravinsky's 1919 revision of The Firebird. We had a short intermission before they continued with Fanfare for the Common Man by Copeland and Morning Mood, Anitra's Dance, and In the Hall of the Mountain King from Grieg's Peer Gynt.  I was SO EXCITED to hear In the Hall of the Mountain King in concert. I've loved that piece since I was a kid, but I had never heard it performed live before, so it was a real treat!

The conductor was really fantastic. Between each piece he addressed the audience and told us really interesting background information on the pieces and composers. Did you know that Dvorak spend some time in a small town in Iowa and absolutely loved it there? I had no idea!  It really added a lot to the evening to learn all sorts of interesting new music facts.

The symphony ended the evening with the piece the concert was named for, The 1812 Overture. Instead of cannons, they had a wonderful fireworks display.


The next upcoming event is the Netherfield Ball. I won't have anything new for myself, but I'll be making a new suit for my sweetheart. I'll have a write-up for my indigo dress soon, and a post for my sweetheart's garb, as well!

2 comments:

  1. Would you be so kind as to tell me which pattern/s you used for your gowns?

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    1. Hi, Mary! I'm afraid I won't be much help to you, but I draft most of my patterns from scratch. I have heard excellent things about the Laughing Moon lady's drop front dress pattern, and lots of people use the Sensibility pattern, so I'd suggest looking at those two. I've had great luck with LM patterns in the past, so I'd definitely recommend them first! :)

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