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.
Duarte Lobo ~ Missa pro defunctis
Frank Martin ~ Mass for double choir
Two masses for eight voices, separated by almost exactly four hundred years, provide the repertoire of this week. The plan is to assemble a group of thirty-two voices singing four to a line. Duarte Lobo (c.1565-1646) was the pre-eminent Portuguese composer of his day, and for more than forty years mestre at Lisbon cathedral. His Missa pro defunctis is a fine example of his skill at combing complex polyphony with refined and expressive interpretation of the text. Modern interest in this powerful work dates from the publication of Bruno Turner’s authoritative performing edition by Mapa Mundi in 1985. Frank Martin (1890-1974) was born in Switzerland of French Huguenot descent; from 1946 he adopted the Netherlands as his home. His mass for double choir is notable for its flowing rhythmic and melodic vitality with rich harmonic writing of considerable passion and great beauty. In the last half century its reputation has steadily grown, and it is now recognised as one of the great masterpieces of unaccompanied choral music. Although most of it was written in 1922, Martin did not allow the work to be performed until 1963. After its premiere he explained why it had remained unheard for so long: ‘I considered it to be a matter between God and myself. I felt that a personal expression of religious belief should remain secret and hidden from public opinion.’
JanJoost van Elburg is Lacock’s longest established conductor. He studied conducting with Barend Schuurman, one of the leading teachers in Holland, at the Conservatory of Rotterdam. He studied singing with Jelle Drayer of the Dutch Chamber Choir, Margaret Honig and Luciënne Bouwman, and with Ghislaine Morgan in England. He is conductor of the professional ensemble Descant for early music, the Bartholomew Consort in Oxford, and The Lelikoor (www.lelikoor.nl) in Amsterdam.
He is a teacher of ensemble technique and training, singing, theory and choral conducting, and teaches on a regular basis at the Dutch School of Arts (Hogeschool der Kunsten).
As a singer he has performed with a wide variety of ensembles, including The Tallis Scholars, The Dutch Broadcast Choir, Capella Carolina, Capella Coloniënsis in Cologne, and his own ensemble Descant on several tours.
He gives workshops and lectures at home and abroad, principally for Lacock, which has taken him to England, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Tobago; for Oakham International Summer School with Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars; and for Music Camp near High Wycombe – on such subjects as Renaissance & Baroque music, madrigals, Flemish polyphony, Tudor music and choral conducting. He is the initiator of the highly successful annual DESCANT International Choral Conductors’ Course (Amsterdam, since 2002).
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 18 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 23 June, and leave on Saturday 24 June. We all stay at the Hotel Monteconero, 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 €90.00 (for the whole course €540, about £470). There is a daily supplement of €20 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 18 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 £295, plus €350 on or before arrival. This fee does not include board and lodging, which is paid directly to the hotel, or travel. This is a week for invited singers, but you may register an interest using the form below.
