OXFORD EARLY MUSIC WORKSHOP
 Jesus College, Oxford, 11 to 16 July 2010
led by Andrew Parrott

A week for enthusiasts of choral singing held in the chapel of Jesus College, Oxford. We will study and perform sacred music of the early Tudor period, including the Videte miraculum Mass of Nicholas Ludford, with a leading specialist scholar-performer.

The decades leading up to the Reformation are one of the chief glories of English musical history. The sacred music of this period, conservative in form and often composed on the cantus firmus principle of the mid 15th century, used highly decorated melodic lines to create ornate polyphony in five or more parts. The transition to a true Renaissance style only really happened when the new English liturgy of 1549 swept away the ritual and ceremonial of which this florid late Gothic music was one of the chief adornments. The workshop will examine several early Tudor works, in particular Nicholas Ludford's Mass "Videte miraculum", for six voices with two interweaving upper parts. Andrew Parrott will lead us on an investigation into the compositional techniques and performance practice of this choral art, and also rehearse a programme of music for a performance at the end of the week.

Andrew Parrott is a scholar and conductor of international stature. His series of thoroughly-researched insights – for instance into pitch relationships in the Monteverdi Vespers, the size of Bach's choirs or the nature of the British carol repertoire – has rocked the musical establishment and caused seismic movements in our sound-world. This workshop is a rare chance to study with one of the most stimulating and original minds in music today.

The course will start with dinner in the Hall of Jesus College in the evening of Sunday 11 July. Then from Monday to Friday there will be sessions in the college chapel from 9.30am to 1.00pm and again in the early evening from 5.00pm to 7.00pm. The course will end with a public performance in the evening of Friday 16 July. There will be further dinners in Hall on Tuesday and Friday; these dinners are included in the fee for the course. Other meals are not included, but group visits to restaurants on the free evenings will be organised for those interested.

All the sheet music will be sent to you in advance and is included in the fee for the course.

The workshop is open to amateur and student singers. You should have a voice that blends and is free of wobble, be a fluent (but not necessarily faultless) reader, be used to normal choral discipline and be able to respond quickly to direction; the aim is to combine professional pace of work with amateur enthusiasm in a relaxed and convivial setting.

Jesus College was founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1571. Both the chapel (left), in which the workshop will be held, and the hall (below), in which the group will dine on three evenings during the week, date from this time.

We will help you find convenient accommodation. It is possible to stay in student rooms in college, either in Jesus or other nearby colleges; we will put you in touch with the clearing house that deals with college accommodation. We have compiled a list of web sites and telephone numbers of the many agencies in the city dealing with bed and breakfast and short-term lets, to help you make sense of the enormous choice on offer.

The fee for the course is £435, paid in two parts: a deposit of £200 or €230 on registration (this will be returned in full if you have to withdraw before 1 May; after that you may hold it over to another course) and £235 on arrival. The fee includes payment for all the sheet music, which will be sent to you in advance, the three suppers in hall, but not other meals or accommodation. You may pay the deposit by any of these methods:

    a sterling cheque for £200 payable to A van der Beek

    online transfer of £200 to account 00703787, sort code12-11-03, or for international transfers, IBAN GB02 BOFS 1211 0300 7037 87, BIC BOFSGB21238

    in the Netherlands, a transfer of €230 to Fortis Bank account 83.52.00.205 (A van der Beek, Lacock)

    elsewhere in the Euro area, transfer of € 230 to IBAN NL23 FTSB 0835 2002 05, BIC FTSBNL2R.

FOR A REGISTRATION FORM FOR THE OXFORD EARLY MUSIC WORKSHOP, CLICK HERE