Andrés Hernández-Salazar - tenor, lecturer & singing teacher

Baroque Music in the New World

Enjoy a day exploring the rich repertoire and fascinating lives of the intrepid first Spanish composers and musicians who travelled to South America in the early colonial period of the 16th – 17th centuries. The course includes music inspired by the native peoples, as well as the first New World opera by Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco.

 

A Selected Discography:

Baroque Music of Latin America. Camerata de Caracas

Mexican Polyphony (Works By Franco/ De Padilla/ Capillas)

Villancicos y Danzas Criollas – Hesperion XXI, Jordi Savall, cond.

Torrejón y Velasco: La Púrpura De La Rosa – Opera In One Act/Garrido


Baroque Music of Iberia

Explore the rich sacred and secular musical heritage of 17th & 18th century Spain and Portugal.


Discovering the Madrigal

The Madrigal appeared in Italy around 1520 and in England some 70 years later and lasted well into the 17th century as the quintessential form of courtly composition for several voices. During this course we will discover the richness of this most intricate musical form, while listening to some of the greatest music from the Renaissance and the Elizabethan court.


The German ‘art song’

From the gallant style of CPE Bach, via Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, the greatest song cycles of Schubert, Schumann and Brahms, to the modernistic outlook of Alban Berg and Schoenberg, we shall examine the development of the genre and listen to some of its best examples.


Handel Oratorios

After the disastrous Italian Opera enterprise in London, Handel turned to a drama in music in the English language. In these oratorios and serenades, he displayed his genius in vocal writing by creating some of the best arias and choruses of the baroque era. We explore some of these wonderful pieces, both the secular (Semele, Hercules, Acis & Galatea, etc.) and the sacred (Esther, Messiah and Theodora, among others).


Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers

During this course we explore Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine, arguably the most ambitious work of religious music before Bach. The term “Vespers” (evening prayers) is taken from the Hours of the Divine Office, a set of daily prayers of the Catholic Church, which have remained structurally unchanged for 1500 years. This 90-minute masterpiece includes soloists, chorus, and orchestra and comprises both liturgical and extra-liturgical elements.


Moors & Christians: Musical Friends or Foes?

Discover the fascinating influence bequeathed to Spanish music by centuries of Arab occupation.


Music and Spectacle at Versailles

Explore the music, dance and spectacle at the glittering courts of Louis XIV and Louis XV through the life and works of some of the greatest composers of French baroque music. The course includes, among others: Lully, Charpentier, Couperin, Marin Marais and Rameau.

 

A Selected Bibliography:

Louis XIV and The Greatness Of France

The Sun King (Vintage Classics). Nancy Mitford

Louis XIV. Ian Dunlop

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Opera

 

A Selected Discography:


Tous les matins du monde. Jordi Savall

Le Roi Danse DVD (NO ENGLISH LANGUAGE)

Les Grandes Eaux Musicales de Versailles

Lully: Les Divertissements de Versailles

Lully – Atys (Excerpts)

Baroque Opera

Michel Lambert: Airs de Cour

Henry Dumont: Motets pour la chapelle du roy

Ombre De Mon Amant – French Baroque Arias

Charpentier: Canticum ad Beatum Virginem Mariam

Charpentier: Te Deum, Missa Assumpta est Maria, Litanies

La Musique Au Temps De Marin Marais

Marais – Suitte d’un Gout Etranger (Suite in a Foreign Style)

Delalande: Dies Irae / Miserere

François Couperin: Apotheosis of Lully

Couperin: Trois Lecons De Tenebres

Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre – Harpsichord Suites Nos 1 – 6

Rameau: Les Grands Motets

Jean-Philippe Rameau: L’Orchestre de Louis XV

Rameau: Pygmalion


Music for Easter

The oratorio is a setting of religious words for solo singers, chorus and orchestra. Such works were first composed in Rome about 1600 (at the same time the first operas were written). During this course we explore among others: the Gospel narration of Carissimi, and the Lutheran musical setting of the Passion by Telemann and JS Bach, as well as Part 3 of Handel’s Messiah.


Music in Tudor East Anglia

With composers Thomas Morley, Orlando Gibbons, John Wilbye, William Inglot and Osbert Parsley (the last two buried in Norwich Cathedral) all born in East Anglia, there is a great deal of Renaissance repertoire to explore during this day course. Learn about the life and work of these musicians and listen to some of the greatest music from the court of Queen Elizabeth I.

 

A Selected Discography:

 

Byrd ~ Mass for Five Voices (Darlington, Cccc)

16th Century Music for Viols

Renaissance – Music for Inner Peace. The Sixteen

Armonia di Flauti – Consort Collection, Vol.1

English Madrigals. The Tallis Scholars

Dowland: Second Booke of Songs. The Consort of Musicke

The Dark is my Delight. Evelyn Tubb & Michael Fields


Music in Venice

“Music pervades the soul of Venice as surely as the waters of the surrounding Lagoon penetrate to the heart of the city” [John Julius Norwich]. During this course we explore five centuries of music created at and inspired by the Most Serene Republic, ranging from the Gabrielis and Monteverdi to Vivaldi, Rossini and Reynaldo Hahn.

 

A Selected Discography

Il cantar Moderno Venetian and Neapolitan songs /Ensemble Daedalus

The Glory Of Venice : Music by Willaert, A Gabrieli, Merulo and Rore/Concordia

Venice Preserv’d/Hogwood

Orlande de Lassus Mass ‘Tout les Regretz’ and Motets

Gabrieli: Music for San Rocco (1608) /Gabrieli Consort & Players · McCreesh

A New Venetian Coronation, 1595. Gabrieli Consort & Players

Monteverdi: Soprano Duets & Solos /Kirkby, Tubb

Monteverdi: Eighth Book of Madrigals Vol 1 /Concerto Italiano, Alessandrinil

Monteverdi: Eighth Book of Madrigals Vol 2 /Concerto Italiano, Alessandrini

Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine /Concerto Italiano, Alessandrini

Monteverdi: L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Concerto Vocale/Rene Jacobs)

Venezia 1625 – The Golden Age of Ventian Instrumental Music (Maurice Steger and Ensemble)

Music for a While, Mélodies Baroques, Anne Sofie von Otter

A Portrait of Barbara Strozzi. Catherine Bott, soprano

Concerto Delle Donne, Madrigalli. Consort of Musicke

Vivaldi: Operas

Vivaldi – Arie d’Opera

Vivaldi: Arie per tenore. Topi Lehtipuu, tenor

Lamenti. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano

Vivaldi – Gloria; Magnificat. Concerto Italiano

Vivaldi: Salve Regina/Il Seminario Musicale. Lesne, cond.

Folksongs. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano


The Music of Hildegard von Bingen

The 12th-century German abbess is well known as a religious leader, poet and visionary, naturalist and writer of medical treatises. She was also a pre-eminent medieval composer. In this course we explore several of her works, including the Chants for the Feast of St Ursula, sequences, hymns and the religious musical drama Ordo Virtutum.

 

Selected Bibliography

Hildegard of Bingen The Woman of Her Age by Fiona Maddocks

Hildegard of Bingen: A Visionary Life by Sabina Flanagan

Most Wise and Valiant Ladies by Andrea Hopkins

 

Selected Discography

Hildegard of Bingen: A feather on the breath of God. Gothic Voices

Hildegard von Bingen Symphoniae. Sequentia

Hildegard von Bingen: O Jerusalem. Sequentia

Hildegard von Bingen: Laudes de Sainte Ursule. Organum

Vision – Music of Hildegard von Bingen


Music of the Spanish Baroque

Music had a great importance in Spanish theatre during the Golden Age, as did church music during the entire baroque era. During this course we explore the richness of the Spanish repertoire; from traditional Castilian songs in the comedias of Lope de Vega, to the large sacred choral works and the emergence of the zarzuela.


Music & Religion: A History of Sacred Music

Sacred music dominated the world of composers and performers from the Middle Ages and has been responsible for some of the greatest masterpieces ever since. If you like Gregorian Chant, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem or Verdi’s Requiem and want to enjoy them even more, this course has you in mind!  We explore the different musical forms that dominate sacred music, as well as the lives and works of some of the greatest composers in Europe and the New World, while enjoying plenty of fabulous musical examples.

 

A Selected Discography:

Ancient Greek Music. Atrium Musicae

Music of the Middle Ages ~ The Early Music Consort, David Munrow

Chants de l’Église Milanaise ~ Ensemble Organum · Pérès

Musique et poésie à Saint-Gall ~ Ensemble Gilles Binchois · Vellard

Chant Mozarabe ~ Ensemble Organum

Byzantine Hymns of the First Female Composer

Hildegard von Bingen: O Jerusalem

Hildegard of Bingen: A feather on the breath of God

Virgine bella ~ Andrés Hernández-Salazar, tenor (please see Recordings page above)

Compostela. Codex Calixtinus ~ Ensemble Organum · Pérès

Leonin. Sacred Music From 12th-Century Paris

Perotin ~ The Hilliard Ensemble

Bach: Mass in B minor ~ Andrew Parrot, cond.

Alfonso X El Sabio: Cantigas De Santa Maria. Hesperion XX

Llibre Vermell de Montserrat. Hesperion XX

Gabrieli: Music for San Rocco. Gabrieli Consort & Players · McCreesh

Vivaldi: Gloria/Magnificat. Concerto Italiano. Rinaldo Alessandrini

Bach, J.S.: Magnificat; Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, Cantata BWV51

Johanne Ciconia: Vocal Works/Alla Francesca & Alta

Renaissance – Music For Inner Peace/The Sixteen

Twenty Favourite Hyms/The Guildford Cathedral Choir

Lassus: Mass ‘Tout les Regretz’ & Motets/Choir of New College Oxford

Portrait: Philippe Herreweghe

Bach: Motets /La Chapelle Royale · Herreweghe

Rameau: Les Grands Motets

Tallis: Spem in Alium /The Tallis Scholars · Phillips

Poulenc: Mass In G & Motets/RIAS-Kammerchor. Creed, cond.

Bruckner: Mass in E Minor & Motets/La Chapelle Royal. Herreweghe

Century Of Ars Nova

Taverner: Missa Mater Christi Sanctissima

Byrd: Mass for Five Voices/Christ Church Cathedral Choir

Bach: Arias & Choruses/John Eliot Gardiner, cond.

Stravinsky/Gesualdo: Choral Works

Messa Per Rossini (Rilling)/ Verdi, etc.

Carissimi: Jonas; Jephte /Monteverdi Choir · Gardiner

Schütz: Weinachtshistorie / Oxford Camerata. Summerly, cond.

A Scarlatti : La Santissima Trinita / Europa Galante. Biondi, cond.

Bach: St John Passion / Monteverdi Choir. Gardiner, cond.

Mark Padmore – As steals the morn (Handel arias & scenes for tenor)

Magdalena Kozena, mezzo. ‘Ah! mio cor’ Handel: Arias

Handel: Messiah. Trevor Pinnock, cond.

Monteverdi Madrigale Erotici e Spirituale

Couperin – Leçons de ténèbres / Gens, mezzo & Piau, sop.

Villancicos y Danzas Criollas – De La Antigua al Nuevo Mundo

Schoenberg – Moses und Aron

American Songs. Barbara Bonney, sop & Andre Previn, piano.


The Songs of Schubert

A day exploring the history and character of the ‘art songs’ of Franz Schubert. Viennese composer of more than six hundred songs as well as much orchestral and chamber music: “the product of my genius and my misery, and that which I have written in my greatest distress, is that which the world seems to like best.”


Vauxhall Gardens: Music & Entertainment

During the 18th century, the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens represented the height of fashion, and of vice, for the inhabitants of London. The great composers of the day, Handel, Arne, Abel and Boyce, all reigned supreme in the evenings of song and dance at this most chic of leisure destinations in the capital. During this course, we explore some of this enchanting music.

 

A Selected Bibliography:
Life in Georgian Britain (Pitkin guides). Michael St John Parker

The English Pleasure Garden: 1660-1860. Sarah Jane Downing

 

A Selected Discography:
Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks. Neville Marriner, cond.

A Vauxhall Gardens Entertainment. Emma Kirkby & London Baroque

Handel & Arne: Arias. Emma Kirkby & The Academy of Ancient Music

Gay/Pepusch: The Beggar’s Opera. Jeremy Barlow, cond.

Handel – Opera Arias & Cantatas. María Bayo, sop.

Mark Padmore – As steals the morn (Handel arias & scenes for tenor)

The Art of the Prima Donna: Joan Sutherland

The Three Baroque Tenors. Ian Bostridge, tenor

Dr Arne at Vauxhall Gardens. Emma Kirkby/Richard Morton

Arne: Alfred. Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra · McGegan

The Mad Lover. Evelyn Tubb, sop. & Frances Kelly, harp

Boyce: Solomon, A Serenata · The Parley of Instruments · Goodman


Women Composers: the Famous and the Infamous

Explore the lives and works of some of the most fascinating women composers, starting with the Byzantine Kassia of Constantinople, and virtuous 12th-century German Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, and including 17th-century Venetian courtesan Barbara Strozzi and Florentine singer Francesca Caccini. We also take a look at some of the talented wives and sisters of famous composers, such as Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn.


The A-Z of Musical Forms

During this course we concentrate on some of the most important forms in music. In each class we discuss and listen to examples of a particular musical form, ranging from Gregorian chant to the madrigal, the motet, the sonata, the concerto, the symphony, binary & ternary forms, the cantata, the opera seria and the opera buffa.

 

A Selected Bibliography:

Form in Music by Stewart MacPherson

The Classical Style: Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart ~ by Charles Rosen

The Oxford Junior Companion to Music

The Elements of Music: Melody, Rhythm and Harmony

 

A Selected Discography:

Cruel Amaryllis ~ Andrés Hernández-Salazar, tenor (please see Recordings page at top)

Vivaldi: Operas

Mozart: Horn Concertos/Concert Arias

Lambert: Airs de Cour

Music for a While ~ Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo

Coloratura Spectacular ~ Sumi Jo, Joan Sutherland & Marilyn Horne

Monteverdi: Il Combattimento ~ Les Arts Florissants

Janet Baker ~ Bach, Purcell, Ravel

Schubert: Trout Quintet

Virgine bella ~ Andrés Hernández-Salazar, tenor (please see Recordings page at top)

Alfonso X El Sabio: Cantigas De Santa Maria ~ Hesperion XX

Mozart & Haydn: Songs and Canzonettas ~ Anne Sofie von Otter

Bach: Mass in B minor ~ Andrew Parrot, cond.

Morimur. J S Bach ~ The Hilliard Ensemble

Vivaldi ~ Il Seminario Musicale. Gerard Lesne, cond.

Bach: The Musical Offering BWV 1079 /Ensemble Sonnerie

Bach: Arias & Choruses. Gardiner, cond.

Bach: Magnificat BWV243 / Kantate Bw51. Gardiner, cond.

Handel: Messiah. Pinnock, cond.

Tranquility – Holy Week Liturgy

Chants de l’Église Milanaise/Ensemble Organum · Pérès

Musique et poésie à Saint-Gall/Ensemble Gilles Binchois · Vellard

Chant Mozarabe – Mozarabic Chant: Toledo Cathedral

Venice Preserv’d/The Academy of Ancient Music. Hogwood

Anne Sofie Von Otter Sings Baroque Arias

Concerto Delle Donne/Consort of Musicke

English Madrigals/The Tallis Scholars. Phillips

Monteverdi: Madrigale Erotici e Spirituale/The Consort of Musicke

Monteverdi: Eighth Book of Madrigals, Vol 1 /Concerto Italiano

Villancicos y Danzas Criollas – Hesperion XXI, Jordi Savall

Byrd: Mass for Five Voices/Christ Church Cathedral Choir

Renaissance – Music For Inner Peace/The Sixteen

Portrait. Philippe Herreweghe

Poulenc: Mass In G & Motets/RIAS-Kammerchor. Marcus Creed, cond.

Monteverdi: L’Orfeo

The Best Opera Album In The World Ever

Ravel: L’enfant et les sortilèges. Rattle, cond.

Carissimi: Judicum Extremum; Jonas; Jephte /Gardiner, cond.

Bach: St John Passion /Gardiner, cond.

Scarlatti: Sonatas – Pinnock

CPE Bach: Instrumental Chamber Music

Alfred Brendel – Collection Vol. 3 Beethoven

Armonia di Flauti – Consort Collection, Vol.1

Habanera: Elina Garanca, mezzo


The Building Blocks of Music

All music is constructed with the same elements: rhythm, pulse, tempo, pitch, melody, harmony, texture, timbre, and dynamics. The difference between one composition and another is in the ways in which composers and performers use these raw materials. During this course we explore the basic elements of musical language.

 

A Selected Bibliography

The Elements of Music: Melody, Rhythm and Harmony (Wooden Books Gift Book)

The Concise Encyclopædia of Music and Musicians

The Concise Encyclopaedia of Music and Musicians (Paperback)

Introducing Music (Penguin music)

Essential Dictionary of Music Notation

An ABC of Music (Oxford Paperback Reference), Imogen Holst

Music (Eyewitness Guides)