Trogir Music Week

GUNPOWDER TREASON AND PLOT
Orlando Gibbons ~ O clap your hands together
Thomas Greaves ~ England receive the rightful King
Michael East ~ O metaphysical tobacco
Thomas Tomkins ~ O God the proud are risen against me
William Byrd ~ Domine tu jurasti
Thomas Tomkins ~ Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom
Thomas Weelkes ~ O Lord God almighty
John Amner ~ I will sing unto the Lord
William Byrd ~ Ad Dominum cum tribularer

The turbulent first decade of 17th century England, centred on the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, left a distinct musical legacy. Parliament decreed an annual thanksgiving on the fifth of November, with hymns and other music railing against ‘Popish Treachery’. Thomas Tomkins’s eight-part O God, the proud are risen against me was a barely concealed denunciation of the leaders of the plot to overthrow the king and government. Thomas Weelkes’s sobering O Lord God almighty articulates explicit concerns for the royal family and their security. Earlier, Thomas Greaves’s five-part England receive the rightful King was a welcome song in honour of James I and his glamorous young family. On the other side of the sectarian divide, William Byrd’s Ad Dominum cum tribularer, a masterly setting of Psalm 120, carries a stark message not just for the post-gunpowder plot country but for the world today: ‘I speak peace to them and they clamour for war’. We will explore this intriguing repertoire in the context of its gripping background story.

This is a course for experienced and confident choral singers of all ages. You should be a good reader and be comfortable singing a line by yourself, have a blending voice with full dynamic range, be used to normal choral discipline and be able to respond quickly to direction – the aim being to combine professional pace of work with amateur enthusiasm. The atmosphere is relaxed and informal. The music will be printed in a booklet and sent to you in good time before the course.

Patrick Craig is a countertenor and conductor. Since 2012 his regular Lacock courses, combining exploration of 16th and 17th century sacred music with 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.

TROGIR
Trogir is one of the gems of the Dalmatian coast: a real Adriatic pot-pourri, with its Greek street pattern, Albanian and Slav stonework and Venetian campaniles. As the best-preserved Romanesque-Gothic complex of all central Europe, it is now a Unesco World Heritage Site. We’ll be based in the historic centre, which is on a small island. Our rehearsal sessions will be in the church of St Peter, in the centre of the picture below. Split, half an hour away by bus or boat, shouldn’t be missed: a bustling port that has grown up around Diocletian’s Palace. This most evocative classical monument, was begun in AD 295 and has been occupied almost continuously ever since, gradually turning into the present warren of alleys, churches, catacombs, tenements and piles of rubble.

THE COURSE
Our plan will be to meet in time for supper on Sunday 4 September. Then on the following five days to do a full morning’s work (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 supper. 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’ll give a public performance in the evening of Friday 9 September.

TRAVEL AND ACCOMMODATION
Trogir is very easy to get to: Split airport is only ten minutes away by bus or taxi. Services from Britain are Easyjet from Gatwick, Stansted and Bristol, Wizz Air from Luton, Jet2 from Manchester and Croatia Airlines from Heathrow and Gatwick. A full list of the airlines flying to Split may be found here. There are ferries to Split from Venice, Ancona and Pescara and there are many that ply the Dalmatian coast. From the excellent Man in seat 61 you can find out how to reach Split by train. You arrange your own accommodation. There is a wide choice of places to stay in the historic centre itself: they are typically old houses converted fairly recently into small hotels, or into rooms that can be rented by the week (apartmani), which can be very cheap. These can be best be found through the very helpful Anna Maria Latincic of Kairos Travel, who knows all about the course: info@kairos-trogir.com, www.kairos-trogir.com +385 21 796 290. Anne-Maria will know all the accommodation available in the historic centre, much of which is not advertised on the internet.

LACOCK STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS
Singers of student age – which we will not define too closely – are invited to apply for up to four full scholarships to the Trogir Music Week. These places are intended for current, recent or prospective university choral scholars, music students or other singers seriously interested in developing their vocal skills and ensemble musicianship. The scholars are exempt from the course fee but pay for their own travel and accommodation costs. We can help in finding inexpensive lodgings. To apply, just email us giving brief details of your singing experience.

FEES AND ENROLMENT
The fee for the course is £535, paid in two parts: a deposit of £235 or the equivalent in euros on registration and £300 by the end of July. 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 containing all the music, which will be sent to you in advance, but not meals, travel or accommodation.