P a s t W o r k s h o p s
Season 2016-17
The Three Amigos: Musical Friendship and Influence in Renaissance Andalucia
with Greg Skidmore
Monday 22nd May 2017, 7pm - 9:30pm
St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, EC1A 2DQ
Greg Skidmore wrote:
I am fascinated by how composers influenced one another, especially when their biographical details allow us to make guesses about real, human things - like personal contact, mentoring, and friendship. Some undeniable clues to how composers linked up with one another can also be found in their music itself, and so-called 'parody' technique is well known.
It's a broad concept, however, and I want to look at one particular set of personal relationships and two specific musical devices: Morales mentored Guerrero who in turn mentored Alonso Lobo (who died 400 years ago this year). The use of ostinato was passed from Morales to Guerrero in settings of the same text ('Veni Domine') and the use of the amazing canonic device of four simultaneous canons, a la Jean Mouton in 'Nesciens mater', was passed from Guerrero to Alonso Lobo in 'Pater noster' and 'Ave Maria' settings respectively.
Greg sings regularly with I Fagiolini, Alamire, Contrapunctus, and Ex Cathedra, and often appears with The Tallis Scholars, The Sixteen, The BBC Singers, Tenebrae, Polyphony, and many other groups, as well as maintaining a busy solo oratorio schedule, conducting his amateur consort of recent graduates The Lacock Scholars, and taking workshops in the UK and abroad. His doctoral research in musicology at Oxford into the early modern music printing world is currently hibernating.
Music for Maximilian
with Deborah Roberts
Monday 16th January 2017
St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, EC1A 2DQ
King of Germany, head of the Hapsburgs and Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I was born in Wiener Neustadt in 1459 and died in 1519. A great patron of the arts and deeply knowledgeable about music, he made his court one of the greatest centres of culture and learning in Europe and employed the finest artists and musicians of the day. In this age of rapidly shifting European alliances his court represented a cultural bridge between the late medieval style of Northern Europe and the new, renaissance style of Italy.
This workshop focused on the two composers working for Maximilian, Heinrich Isaac and Ludvig Senfl. Born in the Netherlands around 1450, Isaac spent many years in Florence at the court of Lorenzo the Magnificent until the rise of Savonarola caused him, in 1497, to move to Vienna where he became court composer to Maximilian. Although he held this position until his death, he was free to remain based in Italy, so long as he continued to compose for the emperor. Swiss born Senfl joined the Hofkapelle as boy chorister and studied under Isaac, taking over his role upon Isaac’s death.
Deborah Roberts graduated from Nottingham University with an MA in editing and performing renaissance and baroque music. She has remained fascinated by research and the discovery of new repertoire and performance styles and has made many performing editions of music for concerts and recordings with her female-voice ensemble, Musica Secreta.
As a long term member of The Tallis Scholars, Deborah performed with them in over 1,200 concerts around the world and in countless recordings of rare and beautiful music. Deborah turned to choral directing 18 years ago and is now actively involved with her regular choirs, BREMF Consort of Voices and the female voice choir Celestial Sirens, as well as teaching on many summer schools and courses. She co-founded Brighton Early Music Festival in 2002 and hasn’t had many days off since!
Fyre! Fyre!
with Patrick Craig
Monday 12th September 2016
St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, EC1A 2DQ
350 years ago London was reeling one week on from the Great Fire. St Sepulchre's was gutted, only its outer shell remaining. Majestic St Paul's had melted into rubble. Composers reacted with music of penitence and a whiff of blame. From the precarious safety of Westminster we heard cries for help from a teenage John Blow and an even younger Henry Purcell. William Child looked on from Windsor Castle and we also sang music by Henry Loosemore, Organist at Exeter Cathedral, in evening of music risen from the ashes.
Patrick Craig is the founder director of the female professional choir Aurora Nova. He guest conducted the Renaissance Singers in a Hallowe'en programme in 2015. He has also guest directed The Cardinall's Musick at the Brighton, Aldeburgh and Brinkburn Festivals. He regularly leads workshops across Europe for Lacock Courses and was a tutor on the Tallis Scholars Summer Schools in Australia, USA and England. He has sung a thousand concerts as the countertenor in the Tallis Scholars, and for the past twenty years has also sung with The Cardinall's Musick and as a Vicar Choral of St Paul's Cathedral.
