SWEMF Workshop for voices and instruments with Stephanie Dyer
4th October 2025 – Freshford Village Hall, nr Bath.
Stephanie promised a wonderful day of polychoral splendour, and that is certainly what we got! Four German psalm settings were studied in some detail before a final play-through to an appreciative audience of two.
Freshford Village Hall is an excellent venue, with (just) sufficient parking and a large and comfortable space for music. For this event we had around thirty musicians, half singers and half instrumentalists, which made for a grand sound.
We started with the canonic setting of Psalm 103, Nun lob mein seel (Praise the Lord, my soul). This was based on an early Lutheran hymn, but set by Kugelmann for two four-part choirs, one starting four bars later and a fourth lower. Mainly homophonic and restricted in harmony, this was a perfect warm-up for the instruments, and the tuning quickly settled. The biggest challenge was the notation, in breves and semi-breves with inconsistent setting of the rests.
Next was a nine-part Beati omnes by the little known Christopher Strauss (1575-1631). This was more complex, and in madrigalian style, each phrase of the text set appropriately. Stephanie drew out the differing textures and the word-painting to make it a very satisfying work. It was probably the trickiest piece of the day, so she was careful to work on it in the pre-lunch session!
After lunch we were in three four-part choirs for Hassler’s In te Domine speravi, a rather beautiful setting of the Compline Psalm 31. Hassler studied in Venice and knew Giovanni Gabrieli well, but returned to Germany to work in Augsburg, Nurnberg and Dresden. His music often features extravagant decorations and is very suitable for instruments, though in this case we had a much calmer piece, the text passed round the three choirs before being brought together at ‘in manus tuas’. Stephanie was able to clarify each phrase of the text with attention to the phrasing, dynamics and articulation, which was particularly useful for the instrumentalists.
The last piece, Laudate Dominum by Jakob Handl (aka Gallus), was in sixteen parts, essentially two eight part choirs though there was some interplay between four-part groups within each eight. By this time we were generally not more than a single singer and instrument on each part. The singers should be congratulated on their reading of the music throughout.
Stephanie was an excellent tutor, always encouraging and judging how much to work on each aspect of the music. She pushed us a little harder as the day went on, and the final play-through was very creditable. In summary, a wonderful day.
Jonathan Tribe