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Patrick writes: “When asked to select one piece as the encore at my final concert with the Tallis Scholars after twenty years, I chose a piece by Orlando Lassus. This programme traces works by this prolific composer that have made an impact on me. Often overlooked as workmanlike, instrumental in his vocal writing, and in the shadow of Josquin as a Flemish composer and of Palestrina as a Roman composer, I have found him to be profoundly inventive and frequently moving. This programme features movements from his most spectacular eight-part Masses and two of his most inventive Magnificats – one rooted in the bass voices and the other showing off the glittering sopranos. Interspersed with these morning and evening liturgical works are a sequence of his best loved motets. Each of them shows Lassus at the top of his game.”
Alma Redemptoris Mater a8
Kyrie from Missa Osculetur me a8
Ave Regina caelorum a6
Gloria from Missa Bel’Amfitrit’altera a8
Salve Regina a8
Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei from Missa Vinum bonum a8
Magnificat Praeter rerum seriem a6
Media vita a6
Nunc dimittis “Il Magnanimo Pietro” a7
Timor et tremor a6
Magnificat Aurora lucis rutillat a10
Our plan is to convene a group of thirty-two voices, so we will have four or fewer voices to a part in most of the pieces. We will be based in the centre of Dartmouth, in the church of St Saviour, Anzac Street, Dartmouth TQ6 9D. You arrange your own accommodation. Dartmouth has the usual range of places to stay: guest houses in the town and surrounding countryside, pubs, comfortable hotels and self-catering cottages and flats. In addition to the usual channels there is a comprehensive community-run accommodation directory at https://www.discoverdartmouth.com/. You can get to Dartmouth by train. At Paignton station (trains from Paddington and Manchester Piccadilly) you change to a steam train (https://www.dartmouthrailriver.co.uk/) that takes you to Kingswear and there you then cross the river Dart by ferry; otherwise the nearest station is Totnes, whence you can complete your journey by bus, taxi or boat down the river.
Our plan will be to meet in time for a 5pm rehearsal on Sunday 24 April. Then on the following five days to do a full morning’s work (usually from 9.30am to 1.00pm, with a break), then take an four-hour break – to rest the voice as much as anything else – and then put in another couple of hours of singing before supper. On Friday 29 April we’ll give a public performance in the church in the evening. I’ll arrange the group meal at the beginning of the week and another on the Friday evening after the concert (not included in the fee for the course) but allow the group to form into smaller groups to dine in the intervening evenings.
The cost of the week is £575: a deposit of £250, plus the balance of £325 on or before arrival. The fee covers all the musical arrangements including a booklet containing all the music, but not board and lodging or travel. This is a course for invited singers, but you may register an interest using the form below.
