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Thank you all for your hard work and commitment during the long haul from Mayfield to Mantua and back again. Monteverdi’s Vespers (1610) is a magnificent work and provides a rare opportunity for a medium-large choir to perform anything pre-Purcell. As I said early on in our rehearsals, the work was probably originally intended for a much smaller group – basically soloists plus perhaps a few extras for the tutti sections. Indeed, one of the sackbut players on Sunday, Tom Lees, was telling me that the night before he had performed the work with only 8 or so singers in Manchester Cathedral, directed by Christopher Stokes, the Cathedral Organist. (Incidentally, Chris is an old friend and colleague of mine – back in the mid-70s he was in charge of music at St Martin-in-the-Fields and I was his assistant, with these roles reversed at Alleyn’s School, Dulwich – it’s a small world!)

I expect that Monteverdi had quite a number of high tenors in mind and available (hence all those low ‘alto’ parts). Another mystery is that composers often printed text underneath the notes in instrumental parts in order to indicate phrasing and thus not every line with words necessarily was sung...but I digress...

The work presented us with a huge challenge in terms of (to many singers) unfamiliar Latin texts, strange clefs (the alto parts sounding down an octave in much of the work), bass parts sometimes unusually creating inner parts, rather than being at the bottom of the texture, unfamiliar notation (what look like slow notes being fast), quite complicated time signature changes, a plethora of tenor parts, a tapestry-like interweaving of solo and tutti, and so on. But then many of the most rewarding works of art require huge effort in order to perform (and also, sometimes, to appreciate). I must say that I was very impressed with the dedication of those of you who gathered together to rehearse separately, beyond the MFC schedule; of those who bought CDs and DVDs of performances in order to appreciate the overall pattern of the work and to hear the unfamiliar instruments in advance. I know that, at times, some of you felt overwhelmed and perhaps frustrated by the challenges presented, but I am full of admiration for your determination to overcome these. Certainly, the best parts of your performance were thrilling, powerful and rhythmically punchy, as well as, in other places, calm and sensitive to harmonic nuance. However, no-one can ignore the fact that there were places where entries and ensemble were ragged, moments where entries were uncertain and intonation insecure, and times when too few were watching the beat. But there were also many, many more exciting sections where Monteverdi’s extraordinary vision was strongly realised and projected

We were blessed with some very talented young soloists indeed (although the last-minute tenor substitution – I heard after our rehearsal on Saturday - and his late arrival on the day caused me some anxiety for a while in the final rehearsal!). Canzona had within its ranks many of the most famous players in Early Music and, as always, they were a joy to work with. The next time Canzona plays at Mayfield, Theresa Caudle will probably be playing not cornett but baroque violin! Having such talent alongside us was a delight.

Of course, overall, the effectiveness of Monteverdi’s Vespers is down to ‘the sum of its parts’ – and all those fabulous instrumental passages, passionate arias and solo sections, the memorable echo duets, as well as the massive range of styles compiled by the composer as Renaissance gave way to early Baroque, remain in the mind. The fusion of sacred and secular styles, to be so crucial in later decades and centuries in the development of church music (Purcell, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven and so on) creates unusual juxtapositions and a heady mix. But, above all, it is the sheer range of emotion and sound – from intimate love songs to grand public statements, from motet-style passages to extravagantly florid sections that impress us. So, I hope that you will treasure memories of being part of such a re-creation. Many in the audience had their ears opened to the genius of early 17th century Italy (a contemporary of Shakespeare) and will be inspired to explore music from this period further. Let us not forget that our duty is towards the composer, and to the audience – we are merely the conduits of genius, on a good day!

I hope that you all have a really good summer and I look forward to tackling works Mozart & RVW with you in the early autumn. Many thanks and congratulations!

May I end by firstly thanking the guest singers who gave us so much support in the performance, and, secondly, both the choir and Festival committees with Robin Howden and Val Buddle for all their help over the concert and choir organisation this term – as always, this is not only vital but also hugely appreciated.

Graham

I think that Graham’s ‘end of term report’ is the final word on the concert and as cogent and thoughtful as one would expect. Work for our next concert (November 23rd) will begin on Sept 11th. The first rehearsal will be for the full choir with Andrew, the next rehearsal will be for sopranos and altos only and the following one for tenors and basses: from October 2nd Graham takes over and he may well decide to run more rehearsals on a sectional basis and be very specific about areas of the scores he would wish us to practise diligently for the next rehearsal.

We will be issuing scores from 7.30pm on Sept 4th before rehearsals begin. This will be at the normal rehearsal venue and will be combined with an informal social event. Drinks and light refreshments will be provided: we hope it will offer an opportunity for members of the choir to meet and talk; so often we are very focused and busy and don’t have much time to get to know one another. The programme for the November concert is a very appealing one with the centre piece the Mozart Great C Minor Mass.

On May 3rd next year we will be venturing into a new area by presenting a joint concert with a Dutch choir. They are a small choir of 25 voices who usually sing unaccompanied. Graham is still working out the final details but the programme is pretty much set and is currently as set out here.

As I am sure everyone agrees, we are very lucky to work with musicians of the quality of Graham and Andrew. Equally we are very fortunate to perform with professional orchestras and soloists of such a high standard. It is especially pleasing to see how the careers of the young soloists we have worked with are developing: they are performing at venues such as the Royal Opera House, Sadlers Wells and at the Proms and winning prizes such as the Ferrier. Graham certainly has a great talent for picking our soloists.

You will see from the Treasurer’s report how important is the support given by our vice-presidents and patrons. The vice-presidents donate £200 pa and the gold patrons £50; gift aid adds another third. A number of people have told me that they find the names confusing and so the proposal is to try to make the distinction clearer by changing the names to gold patrons (£200) and silver patrons (£50). Regardless of the name used, we are most grateful for their support.

I am sure we have a really exciting time in front of us in the coming year.

David

We will be joined once again by London Primavera who will also perform Holst’s St Paul’s Suite.

Rehearsals will commence with Andrew on Sept 11th & continue on 18th (sops & altos only), 25th (tenors & basses only) & will continue thereafter with Graham on October 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd. & 30th and November 6th, 13th, 20th with the usual pre-concert rehearsals on the afternoons of Sat 22nd and Sun 23rd November.

Music will be available to hire on 4th September when we will be meeting in the school as usual. For those who wish to buy their own copies, we are using the Peters edition of the Mozart and the Stainer & Bell edition of the Five Mystical Songs. It is suggested that for the Mozart we shall keep to the two choir arrangement which we had for the Monteverdi although some adjustments may have to be made to balance numbers.

The following CDs are now available from Barnett’s Bookshop in Wadhurst (Tel.783566):

Mozart C Minor Mass

Naxos £5.99

Vaughn Williams Five Mystical Songs (& On Wenlock Edge) with Antony Rolfe Johnson (tenor) and Simon Keenlyside (baritone)

Naxos £5.99

or

Five Mystical Songs and Five Tudor Portraits with Sarah Walker (mezzo- soprano) and Henry Herford (baritone) with the Guildford Choral Society conducted by Hilary Davan Wetton (formerly of Tonbridge School amongst many others) on Helios

£5.99

First of all I would much like to thank all of you for being so helpful with our request for increased subscriptions and particularly to those of you who have set up Standing Orders.

The financial position of the Choir remains strong, mainly due to a number of increasingly successful concerts and therefore to complete sell outs for tickets. Well done to all of you!

We now have 10 gold and 6 silver patrons, Richard Nabavi having very kindly agreed to upgrade (as they say), becoming a GP. Yet, from year to year, we assume a cost of £10k per concert, requiring an annual income of £20k, so we are heavily dependent on our patrons and other generous donors to top up our funds. If any of you know any likely people whom you could approach to invite to become a patron, or suggest any names to me, I would be most grateful to hear from you.

Sadly, a Treasurer’s contribution to a Newsletter is inevitably about money and normally about lack of it! So, to continue the theme, but with some spoonfuls of sugar: our Music Director and Committee are exploring some ambitious and exciting new ideas as you can see in other parts of this letter, some of which would make over heavy demands on the coffers. Yet we do not want to curtail these ambitions just for financial reasons, so, at our last committee meeting, it was agreed that I should start to seek annual sponsorship on a larger scale, targeting £5k per year, which would permit us to continue to expand our wings and continue to raise the quality of performance of the choir. If by any chance you could suggest any likely contacts please let me know.

Have a very happy break over the summer months.

Chris

And if you’ve ever wondered what we are all about – this is the definitive version!

The object of the Society shall be to educate the public in the art and science of music, by the presentation of concerts and other activities, and to raise funds for registered charities from time to time as decided by the Committee.