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Grace, Mary and the Sea
The well-known ancient hymns to the Virgin have inspired the repertoire for this course. That the Latin maria can mean both ‘Mary’ and ‘seas’ led to the allegory of the Virgin Mary as a guiding star on the way to Christ as far back as the early Middle Ages. The plainsong hymn Ave maris stella (Hail, star of the sea) dates from at least the 8th century and perhaps earlier. Under this name, the Virgin Mary is held to intercede as a guide and protector of seafarers in particular. These Marian texts inspired composers of the renaissance to some of their most profound works. The composer and traveller Bill Carslake, who devised and will direct the course, has written, “this programme follows the path of the light; it explores inner and outer oceans.”
John Sheppard ~ Ave maris stella
Josquin des Prez ~ Praeter rerum seriem
Cipriano de Rore ~ Missa Praeter rerum seriem
Jean Mouton ~ Nesciens Mater
Adrian Willaert ~ Ave Maria, gratia plena
Thomas Tallis ~ Psalm 67 from Archbishop Parker’s Psalter
Hildegard von Bingen ~ Alma Redemptoris Mater
Thomas Campion ~ Never weather-beaten sail
Morten Lauridsen ~ O magnum mysterium
Josquin was the greatest composer of the early Renaissance, the most varied in invention and the most profound in expression; his peers compared his artistic abilities to those of Michelangelo. His Praeter rerum seriem, for six voices including an unusual doubled bass line, is one of his most inspired and tightly-constructed motets, and Cipriano’s Mass, which uses it as a model, is a fitting tribute to the master. Adrian Willaert was the first of his brilliant successors to take the Franco-Flemish style to Venice. In his language, imitation is not merely artifice, but a technique enhancing the expressiveness of words and thoughts. Ave Maria is one of his finest works. The wonder of the virgin birth is encapsulated in two pieces: Jean Mouton’s Nesciens Mater, a compositional tour de force in the form of a quadruple canon, and Morten Lauridsen’s modern classic, O magnum mysterium. Hildegard’s Alma Redemptoris Mater guides the traveller to rest at last, where ‘glory there the sun outshines’, in Campion’s never weather-beaten sail.
Dartmouth
Dartmouth is the historic town built where the waters of Dartmoor finally meet the sea. Nautical bustle fills the estuary – the ebb and flow of the tide, ferries loading, crossing or unloading, the jostling of pleasure craft, the sun glistening on the water – all to the cry of seagulls and the tap of rigging against mast. The air is heavy with the aura of salt, ropes, tar and fish. Buildings date from 14th century and every one since. The port saw ships leave for the Crusades. Mayflower put in here before its final stop off in Plymouth and the voyage to America. The course will take place in St Saviour’s church, a superb mediaeval building dating from 1335 with a well-merited three stars in Simon Jenkins’s England’s Thousand Best Churches.
Bill Carslake writes music and words inspired by outdoor places. He collaborates with writers, artists and scientists on projects that explore our relationship with the natural world. He has a busy conducting
career. He also directs Clarity & Hart, a communications agency that works exclusively with low-carbon shipping. He has degrees in English literature from Cambridge University and orchestral conducting from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He has held two composing residencies at Banff Centre, Canada.
In 2018 Bill won a Finzi Scholarship to compose a piece inspired by Mountain Hares. Disco Ball – Mountain Hare (2022) was premiered by Farnborough Symphony Orchestra in last January. This piece and the extended travel essay, Disco Ball – Mountain Hare: composing in the Cairngorms feature in a Finzi Trust podcast. In 2016 he went with the poet Helen Mort on an exploratory climbing expedition in East Greenland. This inspired The Singing Glacier (2017) for baroque orchestra and spoken poetry, with film by Richard Jones. The Duel of the White-necked Ravens (2014) was inspired by watching white-necked ravens fighting mid-air above Mount Kilimanjaro. Bill was Music Director for The Royal Ballet’s Elizabeth at the Linbury Theatre (2016) and Barbican Theatre (2018). He is Music Director of Farnborough Symphony Orchestra which champions contemporary composers and hosts the FSO Young Composers Competition.
The course
The plan is to convene a group of around thirty-four singers, with more tenors and basses needed than upper voices. Some of the places will be reserved for invited singers. We will be based in the centre of Dartmouth, in the church of St Saviour, Anzac Street, Dartmouth TQ6 9D. We will meet in time for a 5pm session on Sunday the 22nd of October. Then from Monday to Friday our timetable will be:
09.30 – 11.00 first session
11.00 – 11.30 break
11.30 – 13.00 second session
13.00 – 17.00 long break
17.00 – 19.00 third session
We will arrange a supper for everyone together on the first and last evenings (not included in the fee for the course), but let the party split into smaller groups on the other four evenings. We will give a public performance in the evening of Friday the 27th of October.
Travel and accommodation
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.
Fees and enrolment
The fee for the course is £595, payable in two parts: a deposit of £285 or the equivalent in euros on registration and a further £310 by the 1st of October. 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 the booklet, which will be sent to you in advance, containing all the music apart from the Morten Lauridsen. Accommodation and travel are not included.
