P a s t W o r k s h o p s
Season 2014-15
The Anne Boleyn Manuscript
with David Skinner
Monday 18th May 2015 - 7-9:30pm
St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, EC1A 2DQ
Anne Boleyn is famously the the most notorious of Henry VIII’s six wives. She was brought up in France and for a time was under the guardianship of Margaret of Austria, who was patron of some of the most famous composers in all of Europe. It is here where the young Anne developed her keen musical tastes, and when a collection of her favourite works began to be assembled into what is now known as the Anne Boleyn Songbook. The book probably remained in her possession until her execution in 1536, when she was accused by Henry’s council of adultery with no less than five men. Another of the accused was Mark Smeaton, her music tutor and lutenist, who may have had a hand in including some of the love songs in the book.
In the third and final workshop of our 2014-15 season, revered musicologist David Skinner (Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge; Alamire) introduced us to works found in the manuscript.
The Blossoming Vine
with Eamonn Dougan
Monday 26th January 2015 - 7-9:30pm
St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, EC1A 2DQ
In our second workshop of the season, Eamonn Dougan (Associate Conductor, The Sixteen) explored works by two of the Italian maestri who flourished at the Polish court of King Sigismund III during the late 16th and early 17th centuries: Vincenzo Bertolusi and Asprilio Pacelli. The music was all connected to the Virgin Mary with many of the texts taken from the Song of Songs, the Old Testament’s collection of love poetry which has long been applied metaphorically to the Virgin Mary. The arrival of the Italian maestri heralded a new dawn for sacred music in Poland.
Byrd Across the Ages
with Andrew Carwood
Monday 6th October 2014 - 7-9:30pm
St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, EC1A 2DQ
In this workshop, Andrew Carwood (St Paul’s Cathedral, The Cardinall’s Musick) charted the progression of Byrd’s career as a composer of Latin sacred music, from his early works in cantus firmus style through the Cantiones collections to the Gradualia settings written towards the end of his career. Andrew Carwood recorded Byrd’s entire Latin sacred output in a justly acclaimed series of recordings with The Cardinall’s Musick released between 1997 and 2010, and this workshop included some of Byrd’s lesser known works featured in the collection that deserve a wider audience.