Alexander P Kapp / St Mark’s Church, Natland / CC BY-SA 2.0
Purcell, English madrigals and more
VOICES
Tutor: Evelyn Tubb
Location: St Mark’s Church, Natland
Reviewer: Kate Jackson
From Purcell to Pearsall, 18th May 2013
Some 40 singers from far and wide gathered at St Mark’s Church, Natland on May 18th to attend a workshop led by Evelyn Tubb. Although outside the weather was pretty miserable, inside the church the mood was far from gloomy. We were energised by the vocal and physical warm up, practical exercises and lovely music and we also picked up lots of tips and techniques, not least dispensing with the need for a conductor which, for such a large group of singers in terms of consort singing, worked remarkably well.
The workshop provided the opportunity to sing repertoire ranging from larger-scale English madrigals through the music of Purcell to the English 19th-century madrigal revival in the works of Robert Pearsall. We began by working on Purcell’s ‘Funeral Music for Queen Mary’, music composed for the Westminster Abbey funeral of Queen Mary II, wife of William III. The music comprises two of the sentences from the burial service, ‘Thou Knowest, Lord, the Secrets of Our Hearts’ and ‘Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live’. Appropriately enough given the weather, we then tackled the ‘Chorus of Cold People’ from King Arthur, which calls for more or less continuous tremolo, a technique challenging to produce and challenging to sustain in a controlled way.
We then moved on to madrigals by Thomas Tomkins and Thomas Weelkes. In ‘When David heard’, by Thomas Tomkins, we explored the strong expressive qualities of the piece by speaking the text, taking time to understand the word stresses and direction of the line. This was followed by the bellicose and descriptive 6-part madrigal ‘Like two proud armies’ by Thomas Weelkes. Based on a piece by Alessandro Striggio, it begins as a battle scene, likening love to a battle. It proved a bit of a battlefield for the singers in the first run through but was ultimately performed to great effect.
The workshop drew to a close by working on Purcell’s ‘Hear my prayer’ and two 8-part madrigals by Robert Pearsall: the sublime ‘Lay a Garland’ and the lovely, but lesser-known, ‘Great God of love’. It was an excellent day, providing a rare opportunity to work with such a distinguished performer of early music: a day thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended.
Kate Jackson
First published in June 2013 Newsletter.
