Lacock
courses for choral
and consort singers
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As always, our plan is to convene a choir of confident readers with straight, blending voices and full dynamic range, accustomed to choral discipline and able to respond quickly to direction. We will prepare a programme of unaccompanied choral music for a public concert, with the aim of combining professional dedication and pace of work with amateur enthusiasm in a holiday setting.
SONGS OF LOSS AND REGRET
Nicolas Gombert ~ Lugebat David Absalon
Dominique Phinot ~ Lamentations of Jeremiah
Francesco Cavalli ~ Missa pro defunctis
Peter Cornelius ~ Requiem
Rudolf Mauersberger ~ Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst
Most of the programme is for SSAATTBB. The plan is to assemble a group of 32 voices singing four to a line. Both Gombert and Phinot were born around 1500 and were among the first to write for such large vocal forces. Their two pieces are not polychoral in the Venetian sense but explore the range of textures and tessituras possible with different combinations of voices. Cavalli prepared his Requiem in old age as his own memorial. Solemn and full of prima prattica polyphony, it is closer to the spirit of the early seicento than to that of the 1670s. 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. Rudolf Mauersberger became director of the renowned boys choir Dresdner Kreuzchor in 1930. He wrote Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst after the destruction of the city in the bombing of February 1945.
Monteconero is the perfect singing venue: an isolated hotel on a mountaintop in a regional park, with panoramic views of the sea, the Adriatic coast, the hills of the Marche and the distant peaks of the Appenines. It began life as an abbey and at its centre still has a fine Romanesque church, where we will rehearse and perform. By the 1950s it had fallen into dereliction and was bought by the Melappioni family, who transformed it into the hotel; it remains a family business and the third generation is now in charge. There are a swimming pool, a tennis court and excellent walking on tracks through the surrounding woods. If you have the energy you can walk down to the beaches at Sirolo; otherwise, the hotel will take you there in its minibus. If you are able to extend your stay, places of interest in the area include Loreto, Urbino, Gubbio and Ascoli Piceno. Away from the seaside resorts, this side of Italy is much less touristy than Tuscany.
Our plan will be to meet in time for a 5pm rehearsal on Sunday 12 June. 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 indulgent four-hour lunch break – to rest the voice as much as anything else – and then put in another couple of hours of singing before dinner. We’ll have dinner together every evening – the hotel’s restaurant is excellent and specialises in the food and wines of the Marche. You can also have lunch there – in fact the rate for full board is not much more than half board – but most people find this a little too indulgent and make do with a snack at one of the two cafes at the hotel gates. We’ll give a public performance in the evening of Friday 17 June, and leave on Saturday 18 June. We all stay at the hotel, 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 €79.00 (for the whole course €474, about £395). There is a daily supplement of €20.00 for single occupancy. I’ll reserve a room for you if you decide to come; you pay the charges direct to the hotel. If you want to stay extra days before or after, you can do so at the same rate, which is considerably lower than the one you’ll find pinned up in your room.
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 to meet the Ryanair flight on Sunday 12 June and we will arrange the sharing of taxis for other arrivals. The nearest railway station is Ancona.
The cost of the week is a deposit of £265, plus €300 on or before arrival. This covers all the musical arrangements including a booklet containing all the public domain music, but not board and lodging or travel. This is a week for invited singers, but you may register an interest using the form below.
