The music of Munich
Orlando Lassus ~ Levavi oculos meus, Dixit Dominus, Confitebor Domine, Dixi custodiam vias meas
Peter Cornelius ~ Requiem
Josef Rheinberger ~ Mass in E♭ for double choir
The three composers of this programme are united by a link with Bavaria’s capital, Munich. Both Lassus and Rheinberger held the post of court conductor, with responsibility for music in Munich’s royal chapel, a prestigious appointment also once held by Ludwig Senfl, Richard Strauss and Bruno Walter. Lassus’s masterly handling of complex polyphony is well displayed in our four double-choir psalm settings, with their inspiring singable melodies. Peter Cornelius (b. 1824) is best known to English singers for Three kings from Persian lands afar. His Requiem, a setting of the non-liturgical text Seele vergiβ sie nicht, is an extended work from his mature years and has been unjustly overlooked. Cornelius wrote his Requiem in 1863 and the following year set up house in Munich at the behest of his friend Richard Wagner. Rheinberger’s double choir mass has been described as 19th-century Palestrina. It obtains its special character through the use of the compositional techniques of renaissance polyphony, combined with chromaticism and sudden dissonances, and expressive, songlike voice-leading.
Patrick Craig is a countertenor and conductor. Since 2012 his regular Lacock courses, combining exploration of 16th and 17th century sacred music within its historical and cultural contexts, have been widely praised. 
He is a Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral, a member of The Cardinall’s Musick and sang a thousand concerts around the world with the Tallis Scholars over a period of twenty years. He began conducting as organ scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and then spent two years studying singing at the Royal College of Music. He went on to found and direct Aurora Nova, the first all-female professional choir to lead Sunday worship at St Paul’s Cathedral. He led them on their first tour of USA, and also conducted the City of London Sinfonia in a series of orchestral Masses at St Paul’s. Other conducting opportunities followed including guest conducting The Cardinall’s Musick at the Brinkburn, Brighton, Lichfield and Aldeburgh Festivals. He is also the Director of Temenos chamber choir in Sevenoaks, with whom he has conducted Bach’s Magnificat and B minor Mass and Handel’s Dixit Dominus. In 2019 Patrick conducted his first Messiah in the Lichfield Festival, Biber’s 53-part Missa Salisburgensis in Thaxted, and made his conducting debut in Hong Kong.
Monteconero
The Hotel Monteconero began life in the 14th century as a monastery, latterly occupied by the Camaldolites, an offshoot of the Benedictine order. In the first half of the 20th century, abandoned and ruinous, it was taken over by the Melappioni family and over several decades converted into a comfortable hotel and restaurant with a reputation for the traditional dishes of Le Marche. Its Romanesque church in the central courtyard, spectacular setting in a natural park on a mountain overlooking the Adriatic and distant views of the Apennines have made it a favourite Lacock venue for over two decades.
For practicalities, fees and enrolment, click the tab at the top of this page.
THE COURSE
The group will be around 36 singers, with four or five singers on each line. The plan is to meet at Hotel Monteconero for a 6pm rehearsal in the church on Sunday the 30th of May 2027. Then from Monday to Friday there will be rehearsal sessions each morning and at the end of the afternoon. We have dinner together in the hotel. We will give a final concert in the church at the hotel in the evening of Friday the 4th of June. The course ends after breakfast on Saturday the 5th of June.
HOTEL MONTECONERO
We all stay at the Hotel Monteconero, which gives exceptional value for the degree of comfort on offer. The rate for half board per person per day excluding drinks in a double room is €114 (for the whole course €684, about £587). There is a daily supplement of €24 for single occupancy. A room will be booked for you on registration; you pay the charges direct to the hotel. Ancona is the nearest airport; Ryanair fly there from Stansted, and Lufthansa from Munich, with connecting flights from many other airports. The hotel will send a minibus taxi to meet the Ryanair flight on Sunday the 30th of May and we will arrange the sharing of taxis for other arrivals. The nearest railway station is Ancona.
FEES AND ENROLMENT
The fee for the course is paid in two parts: a deposit of £375 or the equivalent in euros on registration and €400 on or before arrival at Monteconero. The deposit may be credited to another course if you have to withdraw and we are able to allocate your place to another singer. The fee includes payment for a booklet containing all the music, which will be sent to you in advance but not travel; meals and accommodation are paid separately direct to the hotel. To apply for a place on this course just fill in the application form below and press ‘send application’.
