Tra-la-la-lira-lira-lay

Last night we enjoyed a remarkable entertaining dinner. I was invited by one of the founders of the Friends of Irene Adler chapter of the Baker Street Irregulars to their annual roast goose dinner. FIA started at Harvard University nearly 40 years ago, in no small part to provide a venue for women to be involved in the Sherlockian world (at the time, the other Boston club, the Speckled Band, was exclusively male). For a nice look at such organizations, see sherlockian.net. The meal was great, several courses built around roast goose with chestnut stuffing and finishing off with a wonderful trifle.

The theme of the dinner revolved around the music of the Sherlockian canon. There was a paper presented (very funny) and an exceptional piano performance of several short Chopin pieces. This was part of the ongoing attempt to identify the piece of music Holmes was referring to when he said, “What’s that little thing of Chopin’s she plays so magnificently: Tra-la-la-lira-lira-lay.” (Study in Scarlet) There as also a quiz with questions along the lines of, “I have a box for ‘Les Huguenots.’ Have you heard the De Reszkes?” (Identify speaker and story). Needless to say, I did poorly on this.

It is very fun to know that such interesting and wonderfully diverse people gather to celebrate and revel in their shared passion with the Sherlockian canon. A great time was had by all.