Chronos Storytellers at an Evening at Downton Abbey

We didn't actually visit Downton Abbey, but rather Sacramento, and the experience was actually quite realistic, as our senses were dazzled while we became connected to history through music and costume.

The Sacramento Choral Society performed pieces from composers from the period from the end of the 19th century through the first few decades of the 20th, and the narrators that tied the pieces together cleverly referenced the television show and history, making Oscar Wilde's statement that reality imitates art as true as ever.

Among the various pieces on the program, we heard "Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge" by Ralph Vaughan Williams, an admired composer for choral works. Vaughan Williams had his own impressive family tree; he grew up in Leith Hill Place in Surrey, and could claim Charles Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood III as maternal ancestors.

The composer studied music and history in college, a curious creator type that our own storytellers would love to utilize time travel to meet. We had to satisfy ourselves by simply dressing up in post-Edwardian outfits-- some with more authenticity than others-- and immersing ourselves in the music of Elgar, Parry, waving Union Jacks while joining in for the British hymns.