Editorial
containing a lot of useful information, so please read it!
Apologies for the late arrival of this Tamesis. I was away at the beginning of the month and since then it’s taken a long time to set up a rather splendid workshop for March 17th in Oxford. Benjamin Nicholas, director of music at Merton and a well-known choral and orchestral conductor, will work with us on Handel’s Coronation Anthems with baroque orchestra. We’ve been given the use of Keble College Chapel, a magnificent Victorian Gothic building designed by William Butterfield. Please read the booking form very carefully about access to Keble. They’ve been extremely helpful and we must keep them happy.

Burnham Grammar School, the venue for our small consort days, is getting very expensive. We can simply charge a bit more to cover the cost because it’s very well suited to that sort of event, but we’re also looking around to see if there are any cheaper alternatives. Do contact one of the committee if you have any ideas. We need at least seven playing rooms not too far apart but without too much sound transfer between rooms, which are not too easily accessible by other members of the public, and onsite parking.

The Monteverdi workshop in Amersham is getting very full up but there may be more room for more instrumentalists, and possibly even some singers. Please contact Jenny Frost if you’re interested in going.

On your membership renewal form you may find you’ve been asked to sign the GDPR declaration. At the moment, only about half of you have done so. This doesn’t stop us sending you emails about forum matters but it does stop us putting you in the Membership List. The list is really only useful if it’s comprehensive, so please do sign. It doesn’t circulate in email form or appear on line but it is extremely useful for our event organisers and for people who want to find others to play or sing with.

In case you need to send him a cheque, please note that David King, our treasurer, has just changed his address.

And finally, a little discount for TVEMF members. Musica Antica Rotherhithe are putting on a concert of Chansons and Liede from the 15th and 16thC courts of France and Flanders in Rotherhithe on Saturday 23rd February. More details are in the Concerts list. They have offered us a reduced price for tickets booked online and the discount code is TVEMF.
Victoria Helby

Chairman’s Chat
I was very sorry to hear of the death of Judith Hughes who was a TVEMF member since its earliest days and on the committee for a while. Originally a singer, she took up the viol which became her passion and ran a variety of workshops in her lovely house in Byfleet. We will miss her enterprise and enthusiasm.

Another year, and therefore another Renaissance Chamber Music day. In the old days I used to run two of these a year but old age and the availability of a plethora of excellent tutors have induced me to do only one. I would like to think that these days there is more opportunity for people to form their own groups, given the increasing prevalence of viols, cornetts, sackbuts and curtals. I used to call these events “Renaissance playing days” but I'm happy to say that in recent years we usually get a fair few singers, hence the change of name. This one is nearer to Christmas than usual, but now the festivities are over it's time to dig out that form (or download one from our web site) and apply.

Mention of the naming issue reminds me of the slightly annoying lack of a decent collective noun for the cornetts, sackbuts and curtals that form the basis of three groups that I am involved in. “Loud wind” is a common term, usually used by people who don't play them, but I like to think that they are capable of playing reasonably softly if required. Indeed the cornett was held to be the instrument most like the human voice, and I don't think they had the town crier in mind. Having toyed with “sophisticated wind” (to differentiate them from shawms and crumhorns) I'm now inclining to the idea that they should be called “Venetian wind”. At the risk of being bombarded by facetious suggestions I would like to open this for other offerings.

At the event in February we will be studying the choruses from the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 but the above instruments will be welcomed, as will strings and low recorders.
David Fletcher

Letter to the editor
I (Victoria) was delighted to receive a note from Penny Vinson who couldn’t come to the Christmas event because she was having an operation, telling me that she’s getting better and she can still sing. We all signed a get-well card for her and she’s asked me to print this:

Penny Vinson thanks everyone in TVEMF who signed the Get Well Card or otherwise sent good wishes for her recovery from a lung operation before Christmas. Recovery is going well and she hopes to be singing with you all again soon.

Dear Victoria
While I was helping out on the TVEMF/NEMA stand at the Blackheath Early Music Exhibition, Craig Dacey, an enthusiastic newly-appointed title manager for ‘Classical Music’ magazine, chatted to us at some length. I expressed regret that Early Music Magazine had for the second time been virtually swallowed up by Classical Music and that very few pages were devoted to music of the pre-classical era. Also it was hard to notice that ‘Early Music’ was meant to be a completely separate section of the magazine – the original intention when the Early Music Magazine was subsumed by Classical Music.

I told him that since there was no longer a separate Early Music Magazine, I have cancelled my subscription. I suggested there may be others like me who have acted similarly. I also acknowledged the general decline in magazine readership as more and more people get their news and information on line.

Anyway, as a newbie, Craig seemed keen to get feedback from the world of early music which he could pass on to his bosses. Maybe you’d like to let him have your thoughts? Craig.dacey @ rhinegold.co.uk
Jennifer Pearce

Judith Hughes, 1927 – 2018
Judith Hughes, viol player and event organiser par excellence, passed away on the 22nd November 2018.

I met Judith for the first time in 1989, at the Early Music Summer School at West Dean College, run at the time by James Tyler. Judith and I were both relative newcomers to ensemble playing, and we found ourselves struggling together with some very competent and patient violinists, on the college’s Purple Landing. We exchanged knowing glances and became friends from that point onwards.

I think it’s fair to say that we both improved subsequently, although we always recalled the Purple Landing (as Judith put it ‘we couldn’t play quavers’). We both developed interest in French baroque repertoire and there have been many occasions when I have had the privilege of accompanying her in the music of Marin Marais and his contemporaries, arguably at the pinnacle of the viol’s solo repertoire. Visits to Judith’s house in Byfleet became regular over many years, when she invariably had some interesting new music to try out. She often invited others for larger-scale and more extended playing sessions in her living room, and I particularly remember playing William Lawes Royal Consorts with 2 violins, 2 bass viols (one of which was Judith), and even 2 theorboes on several occasions. The house, the garden, and the company were always uplifting. More recently, my visits also included playing bridge of an evening, another interest Judith took up in recent years.

Judith was a great organiser of events, both at her own home and on a larger scale elsewhere. She played a large part in starting up an annual baroque orchestral weekend in late January at Springhead, near Shaftsbury, and she also arranged events closer to home such as a combined French baroque dancing/playing day in West Byfleet. Until recent years, when it became too arduous for her, she was also a regular at many music weekends and Summer Schools, including the Hawkwood baroque weekends in March and the Cambridge Early Music Summer Schools. She was also an active member of the Viola da Gamba Society.

Judith was active in her music activities, her bridge, and also in local community work until earlier this year, when her health and energy began to deteriorate. She will be sorely missed by her friends, and I think by the world of amateur music making more generally.
Peter Cains.

TVEMF Christmas Workshop 2018
‘A babe is born’ with Patrick Craig
Sunday 16th December – Amersham

Some 60 plus people assembled in Amersham for TVEMF’s annual Christmas workshop to sing and play music appropriate to the season with Patrick Craig. He had put together a beautiful sequence of pieces to take us from the Annunciation (Ave Maria, Victoria) to the infant Christ’s presentation at the temple (Nunc Dimittis, Palestrina) via a prayer for salvation to the virgin mother (Alma Redemptoris, Palestrina), Mary’s song of praise (Magnificat, Victoria), the birth of Christ (Hodie Christus natus est, Palestrina), the angels praising God (Gloria from Missa Alma Redemptoris, Victoria), more praise (Sanctus, from Missa pro Victoria, Victoria), and yet more praise with words familiar from the Messiah (Surge, illuminare, Jerusalem – Arise, shine for thy light is come – Palestrina). Patrick moulded the whole sequence together with his usual flow of illuminating commentary. This covered not only the pieces themselves and their place in the liturgy but also the relationship between Palestrina and Victoria. One tends to think of Victoria in the context of Spain and forget that he was also in Rome for many years, working alongside Palestrina.

To add to this, Patrick had brought a whole display of pictures of Annunciation paintings to illustrate that moment in the story, and then, at various points, read poems appropriate to the moment. These were: The Mother of God by W B Yeats, The Annunciation by Edwin Muir, Advent Calendar by Rowan Williams, Woman to Child by Judith Williams, The Journey of the Magi by T S Eliot and A Song for Simeon also by T S Eliot. Patrick’s reading of them provided a delightful counterpoint to the music. Turning, indeed, to the music itself, a fairly well balanced group of players had assembled, although lower strings were a bit thin on the ground. The double choir, however, had all parts covered sufficiently, with the numbers of tenors and basses reasonable, after a worry a week or so before, that there wouldn’t be enough. Together, after a good warm up, we set to work on the pieces.

Victoria’s Ave Maria was a beautifully warm piece to start on, with flowing lines of adoration passed from one choir to the other. It always takes the first piece of the day a little while to settle, but I think we made a good sound by the end. Turning to Palestrina, Patrick explained that his Alma Redemptoris is a relatively early work, with the two choirs largely singing separately until brought together towards the end. Other pieces by him later in the day showed how his style had developed, with much greater interplay between the choirs. I think we caught the supplicatory nature of the piece really quite well.

The Magnificat brought variety with the need for a high and a low choir, so there was a short episode of music chairs. This piece, like the previous one, had sections with just one choir singing, including, for the words “Et misericordia eius…” a beautiful canon for the top two parts, winding round each other in prayer, with the altos providing the bass line. One quirk of the edition was that sometimes the pulse moved from triple to duple time without any indication in the score (other than the length of the notes in bar). This tripped us up first time through but was soon sorted out.

There are some wonderful settings of Hodie out there and Palestrina’s is no exception. Here the two choirs interact much more closely and pass statements of praise from one to the other. Typically for these settings there are frequent short sections of “noe, noe” which we rendered with appropriate seasonal good cheer!

We then moved on to Victoria’s setting of the Gloria from his Missa Alma Redemptoris, another joyful setting of these familiar words. We were thoroughly into the idiom by now and gave a good account of this piece, which, by way of contrast, included another brief canon between soprano and tenor for the words “Domine Deus”. This was followed by the Sanctus from his Missa pro Victoria. The word Victoria here is not the man himself but an allusion to the chanson La Battaille de Marignan by Jannequin on  which the mass, now in 9 parts, is based. This brings a warlike element into the music which is slightly odd – the music for “pleni sunt caeli” is based on a passage concerning fife and drums for example – but it was a very satisfying piece to play and sing.

Palestrina’s Surge, illuminare, Jerusalem contains some lovely word painting with swirling rising figures moving from part to part. These required a nimbleness of mind, fingers, lips and voices, challenging towards the end of a long day but great when they came together!

Finally we came to the Nunc Dimittis, also by Palestrina. This is a serene work and one which we embraced with great sensitivity (though I say it myself) under Patrick’s expert direction.

Overall, this day’s music provided a wonderfully warm structure within which to sing and play, and I think we responded well. We finished the workshop in this comfortable glow, ready for the AGM which followed! But that’s beyond the scope of this review. What is not beyond it is to express thanks to the organisers for putting the whole day together, providing the music and organising the refreshments. To that must be added thanks to the participants for bringing the usual delicious array for food to sustain us at lunch time. And, of course, a big thank you to Patrick for giving us such an enjoyable day.
Richard Whitehouse

Renaissance Flute Workshop with Clare Beesley and Worcestershire Early Music
Saturday 2nd March 2019
All players of discant, tenor and bass Renaissance flutes at A=440Hz welcome! A day of consort playing with forays into early notation and playing technique.

Venue:
Angel Centre, 14 Angel Place,
Worcester, WR1 3QN

Info and applications via email to mail clarebeesley.info or bookings directly via Eventbrite

Jonathan Boswell: Palestrina for all; Unwrapping, singing, celebrating.
Paperback, £5; Kindle edition, £3 (Amazon). 161 pp.
In his foreword, the author explains how he encountered Palestrina’s music, what qualities it had that made it special to him and how, over several decades of singing and listening, he increased his knowledge of, and enjoyment of a composer who must occupy an exalted place in the pantheon of any enthusiast (such as your reviewer) for Renaissance vocal music.

The text of the book is divided into ten chapters. Chapter 1 (‘Prince of Music ?’) outlines the content of each of the first five chapters and of the remaining five as a group, and includes a useful survey of the structure of the book. Broadly speaking, the first two chapters (Chapter 2 is entitled ‘Palestrina in his own time’) put Palestrina into context, the next two survey the various genres in which he wrote and the fifth is largely concerned with music as symbolising interpersonal and social harmony. Four of the remaining five chapters take the reader through the Ordinary of the Mass and the symbolism and significant features of each movement. This orderly exposition is interrupted by chapter 8 (‘Controversies, choirs, conductors’) which is part history of performance of Palestrina’s work, picturing both revival and neglect, and part the author’s personal view on why Palestrina should be prominent in the singer’s repertoire, and of what conductors get right or wrong in performance.

Throughout the book, the descriptions (with well-chosen examples) of the music are interwoven with discussions of philosophical, social and religious issues and of the changing attitudes towards Palestrina’s music which, in the author’s opinion, had for many years made it, to a large extent, inaccessible or forbidding to the music-lover. Because of that interweaving, this review is structured more by reference to certain themes which appear from time throughout the book, rather than by the dictates of linear progression.

In his opening chapter, the author deplores an overly academic approach to Palestrina and the use of his music as a dry-as-dust learning exercise for music students. In this context we may note that Parry, Stainer and Stanford, three of the leading nineteenth-century  composers of English church music, were all professors of music (Parry and Stanford were both professors of composition at the Royal College of Music before going on to Oxford and Cambridge respectively), that there are no indications of Renaissance influence in their church music and that, as far as can be gleaned from music reviews of that time, there was little professional or public interest in Renaissance music. This was Palestrina for the few (if any), not for all. In advancing his criticism of Parry’s 1893 book on ‘The Art of Music’ G.B.Shaw (Music in London 1890-94, vol. iii) clearly attempted to push musicologists away from technical analysis and towards describing the music in a manner which would enhance understanding and enjoyment of it by ordinary music-lovers, be they singers, players, or listeners.

That, it appears to your reviewer, is the underlying purpose of the book, and of course that purpose cannot be achieved without laying a foundation of fact about the circumstances in which Palestrina wrote, the conflicting currents of religious doctrine which pervaded Western Europe at the time, the extent to which he had to accommodate to the prevailing authoritative views about how liturgical music should be written, the patronage which he from time to time enjoyed and the broad range of genres in which he composed. The list of his compositions takes up six complete pages of volume 14 of the New Grove and although his one hundred and four Masses represent the most substantial of his achievements, he also composed several hundred motets, over a hundred madrigals (the secular predominating slightly over the sacred), lamentations, litanies, Magnificats and offertories. All of this is concisely and clearly recounted in the next two chapters of the book.

Chapter 3 (‘Love Poetry and Devotional Diversions’) traces Palestrina’s shift, as a composer of madrigals, from the theme of unrequited love such as that suffered by Petrarch for Laura which pervades his earlier works, published in collections dated between 1555 and 1586, to the ‘sacred-erotic’ which featured settings of texts from that fertile source, the Canticum Canticorum, and are found in the 1581 and 1594 collections, the latter being entitled Delle madrigali spirituali, libro secondo and appropriately exemplified, given the frequency with which breasts are celebrated in compositions of this period, by a discussion of the five-part Duo ubera tua. The Devotional Diversities of this chapter are illustrated in a section which discusses his treatment of the well-known texts Hodie Christus natus est, O magnum mysterium, Quem vidistis, pastores? and Surge, illuminare. Chapter 4 (‘Sorrowing, suffering, hope and glory’) begins, appropriately enough in view of its title, with a discussion of Super flumina Babylonis and takes the reader through to a more general perspective which emphasises the qualities of stability, balance and fluidity exhibited by Palestrina’s works, ending with a discussion of some pieces written for specific feasts of the Church year.

Those of us, of the author’s generation and later (it appears from the foreword that he became acquainted with Palestrina in the late 1950s), and who have been fortunate enough to spend their musical lives in an environment populated by the musical directors listed in the foreword, have never had their enjoyment of Palestrina or any other composer blighted by the dead hand of arid analysis. But, having said that, your reviewer wonders if all of the readers would find the advice which is given in the matter of engagement with Palestrina’s music, in the section of Chapter 1 headed ‘Listening to the total sound’, entirely congenial or, indeed, easy to adhere to in practice. Your reviewer, when first entranced by the sheer beauty of Sicut cervus nearly seventy years ago, had no preconceptions and was rapidly and unconditionally immersed in the total sound. But to him, the recipe for engagement seems, in a word, too conscientious, and it would appear that he is not alone in that view.

In the admirable but long out of print Musical Companion (A.L. Bacharach, ed., Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1934-15th impression, 1947), the distinguished musicologist Eric Blom (1888-1959) wrote:-‘It is at the best of times not at all easy to listen to a radio performance with attention. In fact, speaking for myself, I find it amazingly difficult. I cannot tell what it is, but somehow it does not seem sufficiently absorbing just to sit there and let the music stream at you out of an apparatus. A score in my hand will help me to concentrate, it is true; but without that I soon begin to grow restless, however compelling the music may be’. He also makes the interesting distinction between hearing and listening, that is, between ‘merely soaking up by the ear’ and ‘the penetration by that channel to the brain’. In ‘Palestrina for all’, the reader is exhorted and instructed how to listen, but mere hearers such as your reviewer can undoubtedly have an entirely satisfactory engagement with the music on their own terms, whether or not they are conscious of what they are missing.

Chapter 1 contains a section entitled ‘Religious intensity, diversified outreach’. There is room to doubt whether the gap referred to in that section actually needs any bridging or whether the fact that the admirer of the music does not subscribe to its religiousness has any adverse effect on his or her enjoyment of it. The experience of singing under the direction of a conductor with deep love for and knowledge of the music (particularly if he wears his learning lightly) is well capable of transcending those difficulties, and one does not have to subscribe to any religious belief in order to realise how powerfully the performance of music can relate to one’s emotions, imagination or core convictions, whatever these may be. At the conclusion of this section the author claims that Palestrina’s counterpoint offers a form of social symbolism, and that theme is developed in chapter 5 (‘A music of amity and ideal community’), most fully in the section entitled ‘Music as a symbol of good community?’. The chapter draws many interesting parallels between features of Palestrina’s music, such as his deployment of voices and his use of consonance and dissonance, and the social ideas and ideals which he perceives as being reflected in those features.

Chapter 6 (‘The Quality of Mercy: Kyrie Eleison’) does not immediately launch into the liturgical role, devotional purpose and symbolic potential of each movement of the Mass, but begins with a survey of Palestrina’s emancipation from the received wisdom of Mass composition and development of his own individual style. The chapter aims to emphasise the general influence of the Council of Trent and, more particularly, the influence of its Catechism and of belief in the Real Presence or the doctrine of transubstantiation on his Mass settings. The significance of the Kyrie is illustrated by discussion of the opening phrases of the Missa Papae Marcelli and the chapter ends by contrasting Palestrina’s Kyrie settings with those of other composers; the author rejects the anthropocentric view of the Kyrie which gives primacy to human need over ‘the transcendent mystery that lies inside as a gift from God’.

In Chapter 7 (‘Gloria and Credo’) the author is much concerned with the demands on the composer of setting the two largest and most complex texts of the Mass; these movements, we are told, consist of 79 and 160 words, respectively. A path has to be carefully navigated between skeletal and over-elaborate treatment, and while the author sees much ingenuity in Palestrina in that regard, he finds it hard to claim that Palestrina’s Credo settings represent the best of his work. One may wonder if there is any composer for which that claim could be sustained. Your reviewer would suggest that there is a case to be made for the section of Bach’s Mass in B minor from numbers 12 (Credo in unum Deum) to 19 (Confiteor) but, as the author notes, that Mass was never intended for regular liturgical use. The chapter first contrasts the gentle atmosphere of Palestrina’s Kyrie settings with the burst of energy of the Gloria (with an illustration from Missa O Rex Gloriae) and then embarks on a skeletal analysis of his Credos. The chapter ends with a fascinating section on the relatively neglected category consisting of the ten Masses which were the fruits of the relationship between Palestrina and the then Duke of Mantua, and were composed (with one exception, in 1569) in the years 1578-79. The chapter ends by describing them as ‘Another example of Palestrina’s gift for spiritual-aesthetic synthesis’.

Whereas, in Chapter 7, the Credo settings are not adjudged to be among Palestrina’s best work, in Chapter 9 (‘Sounding the Mystery: Sanctus and Benedictus’) - these movements are said to take us to the highest peaks of Palestrina’s art. We move from the wordiness of the previous movements to a change of mood portraying wonder, awe and amazement. And yet, there appear to be troughs between the peaks; but particular praise is reserved for the Missa Brevis, described as a miniature classic; although the Sanctus, which gets four paragraphs to itself, is a difficult act to follow, the Benedictus does not disappoint. Once again, symbolism features in the discussion, with some reflections on how persistent features in Palestrina’s music can be taken as intimating or reflecting certain beliefs about God. Following this, the chapter reverts to musical analysis with a short section on the Mass Viri Galilei, an unfairly neglected masterpiece whose beauties are illustrated by short excerpts from the Sanctus and Benedictus.

Chapter 10 (‘Peace and Eternity: Agnus Dei’) introduces us to the last full decade of Palestrina’s life, in which, so the author thinks likely, he benefited from the care and companionship of his second wife, Virginia. From 1581 to 1594, the year of his death, nearly four hundred of his works were published. The chapter recounts his death on 2 February 1594, considers the possibility that the funeral music might have been his own Missa pro Defunctis, and discusses some key features of that work. Various realisations of the text of the Agnus Dei are then surveyed, with particular attention being paid to the melodic climax of the Missa Aeterna Christi Munera, based on the plainchant model. The chapter continues with a more general discussion of Palestrina’s use of melodic structures and concludes with a survey of the significance of the Agnus Dei text and of its realisation in the Masses Viri Galilei and O Sacrum Convivium. To sum up: ‘Palestrina for all’ is worthy of its title. It provides a valuable survey of Palestrina’s life and times, demonstrates his versatility, illustrates important features of his technique with well-chosen examples, and is in every way a suitable introduction for music-lovers of all descriptions. There will be some, perhaps many, who will benefit from the advice given as to how to listen to or engage with Palestrina’s music, or who will agree with and, perhaps, have their enjoyment of the music enhanced by finding themselves in tune with the religious and philosophical concepts which permeate the work. That your reviewer does not find himself among them in no way detracts from the value of the book, which can be read with pleasure and profit by all existing and intending devotees of a composer rightly described as a Prince of Music.
Sidney Ross

The Musicians’ Church
TVEMF used to use St Sepulchre’s Church for workshops, so we were all sorry when it became unavailable. The Musicians’ Church is two things – a website and an actual church.

Just over a year ago the Diocese of London launched the Musicians’ Church website, www.musicianschurch.org. Its aim was to provide an online home for musicians to identify, view and book the many churches throughout the City and beyond that have facilities for concerts, events and rehearsals. Over the past few months, much work has been going on behind-the-scenes to grow and develop this new online resource.

The Diocese of London have also announced a new home for the Musicians’ Church – St Stephen Walbrook, a beautiful Wren church in the heart of the City of London. St Stephen’s is already home to an exciting music programme.

To quote from the website: The Musicians’ Church aims to encourage the growth of music in our places of worship by working with a number of partner churches throughout the Diocese of London, and beyond, to:
1. Facilitate the hiring of church buildings by musicians and assist in finding the right venues for the right performances
2. Showcase an annual programme of concerts, services, workshops and other activity aimed at developing relationships and partnerships across the musical community and supporting musicians and the musical life of our churches
3. Offer an online resource of helpful information for musicians and churches 4. Provide pastoral and spiritual support for members of the musical community

The first thing that appears when you open the website is a search box to “find a musicians’ church near you”, so I’m sure it’s going to be a very useful resource.

Breaking news about the Beachamp early music week
I was about to send Tamesis for printing when I heard that, due to problems at the old venue, the Beauchamp summer school is moving to Glenfall House near Cheltenham. The good news is that Glenfall is rather luxurious. The bad news is that there are fewer bedrooms and we have lost our lovely catering team. Also the course is almost certainly full! Do try it next year, though, if you love renaissance music.

PRIZE CIRCULAR QUIZ ANSWERS
There were six entries to the quiz in the November Tamesis but only one was totally correct. Congratulations to Ruth Harris who wins her 2019 subscription to TVEMF.

The problem question was number 7. Everybody found a different solution, but when you know the answer it seems so obvious!

1. Great German, little Welshman (4) Bach
2. Carries a revolver without hesitation (5) Holst 3. But he doesn’t come round to repair your set ! (8) Telemann 4. Condition for unsuccessful butterfly hunt (5) Nonet
5. Composer of great stature, apparently (6) Tallis 6. Proverbially wise pianist (7) Solomon 7. Not a single chorister originally sang for him (5) Nasco
8. Reaction to the Threepenny Opera ? (7) Obrecht 9. Innkeeper of note (8) Taverner 10. Hires pig, being wholly disorganised (8) Respighi 11. Venerated in Huntingdon and Cornwall (4) Ives
12. Composer and decorator (7) Stainer 13. Farmland set aside for Tower guardians (11) Ravenscroft 14. Harmonious gang ? (5) Triad 15. Electrical direction to performers (1,1) D.C.
16. Two-thirds of him was absolutely heavenly (9) Cherubini 17. Distance between members of 14 (8) Interval 18. Unchanging composer ?(7) Lambert 19. Tragic heroine gets into scary situation...(5) Tosca 20. ...but does she help another one ?(4) Aida
21. Colourless, approaching Ulster... (8) Albinoni 22. ...with which he has no connexion (7) Ireland 23. Mode that is Wildly uninteresting (6) Dorian 24. See his new publication (7) Novello 25. It is frequently on the programme, so we hear (9) Offenbach

18-25 August 2019
Irish Recorder and Viol Course
An Grianán, Termonfechin, Ireland
Tutors: Ibi Aziz, Marion Doherty, Pamela Flanagan,

Emma Murphy, Philip Thorby

A course designed for players of recorders, viols and other early instruments, covering a wide repertoire from ancient to modern. Sessions include one-to-a-part groups, workshops, consort songs, trio sonatas, choir, large and small ensembles.

Further information from:
Mrs. Patricia Flanagan, 110 Kincora Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin D03 X767, Ireland info @ irishrecorderandviolcourse.org https://www.irishrecorderandviolcourse.org

News of Members’ Activities
TVEMF members Cynthia Haliburn, Hilary Potts and Ron Keefe are all members of Ealing Choral Society which is performing Bach’s St John Passion at the Cadogan Hall on Saturday 23rd March. The orchestra is Sinfonia Britannica, which includes members of the OAE and Academy of Ancient Music, playing on period instruments.

TVEMF member Jonathan Boswell has written a book on Palestrina for the general reader. “Palestrina for all; Unwrapping, singing, celebrating” is available from Amazon in paperback for £5 and a Kindle edition for £3 – an absolute bargain! This very comprehensive book is given a very comprehensive review by Sidney Ross on page 7.

EMFS the Early Music Forum of Scotland
I recently received an online newsletter from EMFS. They don’t produce them very often, and I’m not surprised. It’s a 64 page PDF, in full colour, filled with listings, articles and booking forms for courses. No short listings for them; everything is described in detail and there are many illustrations. I haven’t attempted to extract their events for our listings because they are embedded too well into the text and I’d be surprised if many TVEMF members get to Scotland for workshops. If you’re interested, have a look at their website http://www.emfscotland.org.uk/.