Was I six years old, or was I eight? Did this happen to me only once, or on more than one occasion?

George Frederick Handel wrote his Oratorio "Solomon"  in 1748.   Much of that work has been forgotten, save a short and lively instrumental passage for two oboes and strings in Act Three, known as "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba".

Was I six years old, or was I eight when I first heard this music and wept?

Did this happen only once, or more than once?

I have no way of knowing or remembering.

All I remember is that as a wee slip of a lad I cried when I heard "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba"

Memory is tricky.  What I seem to remember us that having gone to bed, I heard this tune as it was being played downstairs on our "Wireless".  I remember walking half way down the stairs, and shedding buckets of tears at the sheer beauty of this music, only to be discovered  by my Mum and Dad in my weepy state.

I wonder if my two older sisters remember my tears,

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The brilliant and skillful Mary Mozelle (Director of  Music and Organist) at  St. Boniface Church, Siesta Key (Sarasota) FL  played  "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba"  as a postlude today.

I did not weep  (how I wish that I had).  But I stood in honour of the music, and enjoyed every note  (especially Mary's dancing footwork on the penal board . Thank you Mary!).  


As played by a young man in Luxembourg