LadyAntonia is forced to spend her ‘proudest’ day in hospital
LAST night was due to be the highlight of historian and author Lady Antonia Fraser’s long and dist inguished career.
At the Wigmore hall in London, the celebrated pianist Sir Stephen hough and three talented singers performed the world premiere of Lady Antonia’s Songs, based on verses she wrote to cheer herself up during lockdown.
Talking about her excitement ahead of last night’s concert, she said: ‘It is going to be my proudest moment when the Wigmore hall features something with my name attached to it.’
Sadly, Dame Antonia, 90, widow of playwright harold Pinter, was unable to attend the eagerly anticipated performance because she was in hospital, where she spent Christmas after being injured in an accident.
Instead, she watched it on a laptop from her hospital bed via a live stream from the concert.
‘I am fearfully disappointed that a fall is keeping me away from the Wigmore hall tonight,’ she told me yesterday. ‘But three of my [six] children will be there.
And I cannot wait to listen on live stream. It’s such an honour. Wigmore hall is my treat in life.’
The performance came about after Lady Antonia, daughter of the delightfully dotty 7th Earl of Longford, wrote a poetry collection, Verses To Please Myself, during lockdown.
She had the book printed privately and sent a copy to Wigmore’s director, John Gilhooly, to thank him for livestreaming concerts when venues were forced to close because of pandemic restrictions.
he told her that hough wanted to compose four songs from her verses. ‘I was so excited,’ she says. ‘I had been feeling very black. Suddenly, I felt radiantly happy. And it all got even better when I actually heard Lady Antonia’s Songs.’