Thomas Tallis ~ Spem in alium
Tiburtio Massaino ~ Judica me Deus, Psalm 43
Orlandus Lassus ~ Magnificat 7
Giovanni Gabrieli ~ Deus qui beatam Marcum
Ottavio Vernizzi ~ Laudate Dominum, Psalm 150
To mark Lacock’s fortieth year, this invited week is built around Thomas Tallis’s forty-part motet, which will be sung with one voice to a part. [Our performance was happily recorded on video.] The other pieces in the repertoire, dating from around 1600 – thirty years after the Tallis – are for double SATBarB choir, so there will be four voices on each line. They include a Magnificat, two psalms and a typically Venetian prayer in honour of St Mark.
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.
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 in 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
Our plan will be to meet in time for a 5pm session on Sunday the 21st 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 26th of September.
Venue
The course will be based in the deconsecrated church of Les Cordeliers, now an arts centre. It is in the historic centre in rue de Colonel Taillade, just off the ring that 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 £355 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. The Gourdon Music Party is a course for invited singers, but if you have not received an invitation you may register an interest using the form below.
