Gibbons verse anthems, for voices and strings.
St Monica’s Chapel, Cote Lane, Bristol, BS9 3UN
10am to 4.30pm
£25 (non-members); £20 (EMF members); £5 (18-25's).
Organiser: Jenny Tribe / jenny_tribe@hotmail.com
https://swemf.org.uk/event/12477/
The Workshop
2025 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of one of England’s greatest composers of the polyphonic era; despite dying at the age of only 42, Orlando Gibbons left a wide-ranging body of music including anthems, madrigals, and instrumental works. In this workshop we will explore his wonderful legacy of verse anthems with instruments, including ‘See, see, the Word is incarnate’, which reprises the entirety of salvation history in a few astonishing pages, and ‘Behold Thou hast made my days’.
The original texture of these works was quite low, and modern editions are often transposed up into keys which are not friendly to period instruments. We will therefore stick to the original keys, but pitch will be A 440; all voices, viols, modern strings and (low) recorders are welcome.
The Tutor
Clare Griffel, who from 2012 to 2022 was chair of SWEMF, has a busy singing teaching practice in Bristol. She was for many years voice tutor to the Norvis summer school, and has led numerous workshops for SWEMF, as well as for other early music fora. She was a member of the BBC West of England Singers, and of the early music groups Musica Mundi and the Bristol Early Music Consort. As both singer and viol player, Gibbons’ consort anthems are high on her list of all-time great music!
The venue
St Monica’s spacious Chapel is within St Monica’s Home of Rest adjacent to Clifton Downs. It is a lovely grade II listed building in Perpendicular Gothic Revival style, designed by Sir Geoffrey Oakley for H.H.Wills and built in 1925.
At the end of the day there will be a run-through of the pieces we have studied which will be open to the residents.
Please bring your own food for lunch. Tea & coffee will be available, but please supply your own mug.
Lifts from Temple Meads station may be possible.
Further Details and Application Forms coming soon...