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Josquin des Prez ~ Inviolata, O bone et dulcis Domine Jesu
Mathurin Forestier ~ Agnus Dei, Missa L’homme armé
Pierre Certon ~ Inviolata, Pater noster/Ave Maria
Jean Mouton ~ Ave Maria gemma virginum
Nicolas Gombert ~ Missa quam pulchra es
Mathieu Gascongne ~ Ista est speciosa
Noel Bauldeweyn ~ Quam pulchra es
Rory McCleery writes: Our programme celebrates the wonderful flourishing of French music in the years around 1500. We will explore the multiplicity of links between composers, the most obvious being Gombert’s parody mass based on Bauldewyn’s motet. There is also a web of connexions with Josquin at its centre: Mouton and Gascongne his colleagues at the French royal court, Forestier his Parisian contemporary who based several masses on his music, and Certon writing two motets both inspired by Josquin. Underlying these links is a theme of canon and cantus firmus, which in the hands of these master craftsmen is elevated from the merely academic to form an ingenious scaffold around which they weave music of extraordinary beauty and pathos.
Since his Lacock debut in the Corsham Lamentations course in 2022, Rory McCleery has become a regular course director. He began his musical training as a chorister at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, subsequently reading music at Oxford, where he was both Organ and Domus Academic scholar at St Peter’s College before completing an MSt in musicology with distinction at The Queen’s College.
He is the founder and artistic director of The Marian Consort and has conducted the ensemble in concert across the UK, Europe and North America. Under his direction, The Marian Consort has recorded extensively and become renowned internationally for its compelling interpretations of a wide range of repertoire, particularly the music of the Renaissance and early Baroque, and works by contemporary British composers, and has been nominated for a Gramophone Award.
He has led workshop sessions, study days and singing courses across the UK, Germany, Spain and the USA, working with choirs of all ages and sizes in repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day. A vocal advocate for the music of the Renaissance to all audiences, Rory has written articles for both specialist academic publications and broadsheet newspapers, and appears regularly on BBC Radio 3.
Rory is also active as a countertenor, performing at venues including the NOSPR in Katowice, Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, the Concertgebouw Bruges, and the Royal Chapel of the Palace of Versailles. He has appeared as a soloist for broadcasts on ARTE, Radio France, BBC Radio 3 and German, Italian and Polish national radio, and in concert and recording with The Monteverdi Choir, La Nuova Musica, The Dunedin Consort, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and The Berkeley Ensemble among others. Rory also has a particular affinity for new music: he features on The Night With’s award-winning album release, and recently premiered a major new work by Graham Fitkin for countertenor soloist, orchestra and chorus.
Rory is a passionate believer in the importance of music education and singing for young people and is co-founder with his wife, harpist Rachel Wick, of Dunster Festival in West Somerset.
Gourdon en Quercy
Gourdon is a historic hilltop town in southwest France in the modern département of the Lot and the ancient province of Quercy. This is an undulating area of woods of oak and chestnut, ducks and geese, walnut groves, fields of maize and tobacco, cave paintings and the majestic rivers Lot and Dordogne – la France profonde. The spectacular palaeolithic cave paintings at Cougnac are less than two miles from the town and we can arrange an afternoon visit for those interested. There is swimming n the town’s lake and further afield in the Dordogne River. The town has a flourishing weekly market and an arts venue in a deconsecrated church, l’église des Cordeliers, which will be our home for the week.
The course
There will be 36 places: a basic division into soprano, mean, alto, tenor baritone and bass with six voices in each section. Our plan will be to meet in time for a 5pm session on Sunday the 22nd of September. Then in the ensuing week we rehearse all morning, have a long break in the middle of the day to rest the voice, have lunch, a walk, or in Tobias Smollett’s apt words, a recess from labour in a climate that disposes one to idleness. So 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 September.
Venue
The course will be based in the deconsecrated church of Les Cordeliers, now an arts centre. It is in historic centre in rue de Colonel Taillade, just off the ring that marks the marks the position of the mediaeval town walls.
Travel and accommodation
Gourdon has a railway station on the line from Paris to Toulouse. This is not a TGV line, but the excellent Man in seat 61 website will tell you how to get to Gourdon from Eurostar or any other European railway. The largely toll-free A20 north-south motorway passes near the town. The nearest airport is Brive, also known as Brive – Souillac and Brive – Vallée de la Dordogne. Bergerac is further away, and a larger choice of destinations will be offered by Toulouse and Bordeaux. You arrange your own accommodation. There is a wide choice of places to stay. Gourdon is a holiday destination and has hotels, gîtes (holiday lets), chambres d’hôte (b&bs) and a tourist office. We will send you more information about places to stay when you apply for the course.
Fees and enrolment
The fee for the course is paid in two parts: a deposit of £325 or the equivalent in euros on registration and €350 on or before arrival in Gourdon. 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 non-copyright music, which will be sent to you in advance but not travel, meals or accommodation. To apply for a place on this course just fill in the application form below and press ‘send application’.
