Discover the music of the Spanish and English royal courts of Philip II and Elizabeth I during the time of the Armada.

a journey through the mysterious Mozarabic chant in Visigoth Spain

Explore the music that accompanied the medieval Way of St James in Northern Spain, including the pilgrims’ songs in the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat and the 12th-century Codex Calixtinus with the first ever 3-part polyphonic piece.

Opera Talks 2024:

We continue the series of short opera talks to coincide with the Live Transmissions at cinemas from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Please see below for the opera titles & dates.

6-7pm on Zoom. Please see below for titles & dates.

Fee: £10 per talk

Booking:

BACS:

Barclays

ANDRES HERNANDEZ-SALAZAR

Sort code: 20-49-81

Account: 00567256

or

Cheques payable to ANDRES HERNANDEZ-SALAZAR

(Please NOT payable to AHSMUSIC) sent to:

24 Oxborough, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE33 9PS

Opera Talks

11. La Rondine (Puccini). Opera Talk 15 April 2024. Met Live Transmission 20 Apr.
12. Carmen (Bizet). Opera Talk 29 April 2024. ROH Live Transmission 1 May.
13. Madama Butterfly (Puccini). Opera Talk 6 May 2024. Met Live Transmission 11 May.
14. Andrea Chénier (Giordano). Opera Talk 10 June 2024. ROH Live Transmission 11 Jun.

We continue our new Tuesday afternoon one-term online course focusing on the anniversary composers of the year:

Summer Term 2024:

Anton Bruckner

Organist, composer of nine symphonies, instrumental music and some of the most inspired choral music. His symphonies are described as “cathedrals in music”. Come and discover the wonderful music of one of the most influential Austrian Romantic composers.

Dates & Times:

1:00–2:30 pm Tuesdays on Zoom

Bruckner Summer Term 2024: 30 April to 9 July (Half Term 28 May)

Looking ahead:

Michaelams Term 2024: Bedrich Smetana

Fees & Booking: each term is £100 (£10 per session)

BACS:

Barclays

ANDRES HERNANDEZ-SALAZAR

Sort Code: 20-49-81

Account: 00567256

or cheques payable to ANDRES HERNANDEZ-SALAZAR (Please NOT payable to AHSMUSIC)

24 Oxborough, King’s Lynn, NORFOLK PE33 9PS

In this online Opera Course we will explore some of the outstanding collaborations between composers and librettists. By focusing on some of the greatest operas and oratorios that resulted from the cooperation of Monteverdi with Striggio, Lully with Molière, Purcell with Dryden, Handel with Charles Jennens, Mozart with Da Ponte, Verdi with Boito and Strauss with Hofmannsthal, among others, we will be delving into the perennial question of what comes first: words or music?

Dates & Times:

10:30 – 12 noon Wednesdays on Zoom

Summer Term 2024: 24 April to 3 July (Half Term 29 May)

Fees & Booking: each term is £100 (£10 per session)

BACS:

Barclays

ANDRES HERNANDEZ-SALAZAR

Sort Code: 20-49-81

Account: 00567256

or cheques payable to ANDRES HERNANDEZ-SALAZAR (Please NOT payable to AHSMUSIC)

24 Oxborough, King’s Lynn, NORFOLK PE33 9PS

Four day courses on Zoom. These are all on a Saturday 10:30am to 2:30pm with 1 hour lunchbreak (12 noon to 1pm). Each session will be recorded, so if you lose connection or cannot attend, I can send you a video link with the lecture.

1. Saturday 28 January: The Seven Last Words of Christ. Come and explore different musical settings of this intensely moving sacred Easter text, including versions by Schütz, Haydn and César Franck, among others.
2. Saturday 25 February: Stabat Mater. The poignant prayer of the Virgin Mary at the foot of the cross has prompted some of the most expressive and emotive choral masterpieces. We will be listening to works by Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Haydn and Dvorak, among others.
3. Saturday 25 March: Leçons de ténèbres. The service of ténèbres has inspired some of the most exquisite music from Renaissance and Baroque composers. We will enjoy compositions by Gesualdo, Couperin and Delalande, among others.
4. Saturday 22 April: Magnificat. The beautiful canticle of the Virgin Mary is sung in the Office of Vespers of the Catholic rite. Come and explore the great polyphonic settings of the Magnificat, from Lassus to J S Bach and beyond.
5. Saturday 24 June: Handel’s Acis and Galatea. Somewhere between a cantata and an opera, this pastoral serenade by Handel has remained a favourite for Baroque music lovers. In this day-course we will look at this vocal setting of the Greek myth, in both its original Italian and English versions.

Fee: £25 per day course

Booking: BACS

Barclays

Name: ANDRES HERNANDEZ-SALAZAR

Sort Code: 20-49-81

Account Number: 00567256

or

Please send cheque payable to ANDRES HERNANDEZ-SALAZAR (Please NOT payable to AHSMUSIC)

24 Oxborough

King’s Lynn

Norfolk

PE33 9PS

He may have composed only one opera, but Fidelio is an all encompassing work which includes not only sublime and dramatic vocal music, but interestingly it is also a German Singspiel based on a French play that explores the Romantic humanist ideas of love, corruption, justice, equality and liberty.

What is an Oratorio? A choral masterpiece, a religious drama, or is it simply an opera in disguise? During this new 3-term course we will explore the soundscape of this music form. Each term will focus on ten different oratorios, not in strictly chronological order but grouping them by themes: the Michaelmas Term will centre on Old Testament Oratorios, the Spring Term on Christian Oratorios, and the Summer Term on Secular Oratorios. In this vast repertoire we will listen to music from the baroque to the 21st century, from Carissimi to Walton, Handel and Mendelssohn to John Adams and Kaija Saariaho.

The Croatian composer we didn’t know we loved! Explore the life and work of Split born composer Franz von Suppé. Once regarded as the godfather of Viennese operetta, now only a few of his ouvertures feature mainly in classical pop concerts. However, during his lifetime his 40 or so operettas bridged the gap between the satirical works of Offenbach and the musical romances of Lehár.

During this we will explore the seismic revolution that shook the Western soundscape during the Renaissance: music printing and notation, new families of instruments, new musical styles and genres, lute songs and consort music, madrigals and the great choral masterpieces, as well as the dawn of opera!

Der Freischütz

2021 celebrates the 200th anniversary of the premiere of Carl Maria von Weber’s groundbreaking opera, Der Freischütz. Much admired by Wagner, and the first German Romantic opera, explore this fascinating piece and watch video extracts on this day-course, plus a link to a complete performance with English subtitles.

Viva VERDI! Two terms exploring all 26 Verdi operas

Enjoy the best of Italian opera and lose yourself in a world of political intrigue, love and betrayal, with gypsies, wicked dukes, African princesses, hunchbacks, consumptive courtesans, troubadours, Egyptian pharaohs and more!

This brand new course consists of 26 webinars discovering the entire operatic output of the pivotal figure of Italian romantic opera. From all the favourites of the world’s leading opera houses, Traviata, Rigoletto, Aida, to the more obscure ones, Aroldo, Jerusalem, Il corsaro, and including Verdi’s Shakespearean reworkings, Macbeth, Otello, Falstaff.

The class will be on Zoom webinars every Wednesday morning, with optional time for questions and comments at the end. All sessions will be recorded in case you miss it on the day!

Times: Wednesdays 10.30am – 12 noon (plus optional Q&A at the end)

From the first polyphonic mass in the 14th century until the present day, composers of Western classical music have dedicated some of their greatest creative endeavours to the musical setting of the Mass. In this course we shall dedicate two weeks each to the different sections of the Ordinary of the Mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus & Agnus Dei. Plus the last two weeks will be dedicated to the Requiem Mass.

A three-term course exploring the development of secular art-song in Western classical music from the Middle Ages to the present day. Each term we shall be covering two eras in music history: Medieval & Renaissance, Baroque & Classical, and Romantic & Modern. We shall focus on the song repertoire from the troubadours to contemporary music via cancioneros, lute songs, French mélodie, German Lied, and much more, from Europe and Russia to the Americas.

A Selected Bibliography:

Music, Words and Voice: A Reader. Edited by Martin Clayton

Music (Eyewitness Guides)

The Story of Music: From Antiquity to the Present. H F Ullmann

Dictionary of Early Music: From the Troubadours to Monteverdi

Source Readings in Music History: Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Oliver Strunk

Antiquity and the Middle Ages (Man and Music Series)

A History of Song. Edited by Denis Stevens

A Performer’s Guide to Music of the Classical Period. ABRSM

The Classical Style: Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart. Charles Rosen

A Performer’s Guide to Music of the Romantic Period (ABRSM)

The Romantic Generation by Charles Rosen

Francis Poulenc: ‘Echo and Source’ Selected Correspondence 1915-1963

Why Mahler?: How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed the World

Alma Mahler-Werfel: Diaries, 1898-1902

Messiaen by Robert Sherlaw Johnson

A Ned Rorem Reader

A Selected Discography:

Music of Ancient Greece

The Dante Troubadours. Martin Best Medieval Ensemble

Love Songs in the Middle Ages 1150-1450. Sequentia

Sumer Is Icumen In, Medieval English Songs. The Hilliard Ensemble

Canciones españolas. Teresa Berganza, mezzo

Alfonso X El Sabio: Cantigas de Santa Maria. Hesperion XX, Jordi Savall

Carmina Burana, Vol. 2. The New London Consort, Philip Pickett

The Art of Courtly Love: Machaut, Binchois & Dufay. David Munrow

Emma Kirkby Collection

Machaut Chansons – Dreams in the Pleasure Garden. Orlando Consort

Codex Chantilly – Ballades & Rondeaux /Ensemble Organum · Pérès

Codex Faenza-15c.Italy. Ensemble Organum

Johannes Ciconia: Vocal Works

The Garden Of Zephirus: courtly songs of the early 15th Century

Oswald von Wolkenstein: Songs of Myself – Andreas Scholl, countertenor

La Sublime Porte: Voices of Istanbul. Hesperion XXI, Jordi Savall

Sepharad: Songs of the Spanish Jews

Il Cantar Moderno – Venetian and Neopolitan Songs of the 15th Century

Alfons V El Magnanim – El Cancionero de Montecassino. Hesperion XX

El Cancionero de la Colombina. Hesperion XX, dir. Jordi Savall

El Cancionero de Palacio. Hesperion XX, dir. Jordi Savall

El Cancionero de Medinaceli. Hesperion XX, dir. Jordi Savall

Frottole: Songs from the courts of Rennaisance Italy

Luys Milan: El Maestro. Montserrat Figueras, sop. & Hopkinson Smith, vihuela

Virtuoso Chamber Music of 16th Century

Dowland: Second Booke of Songs. The Consort of Musicke

Dowland & Britten: Lute Songs. Mark Padmore, tenor

Ancient Airs and Dances: Rogers Covey-Crump, tenor

The Dark is my Delight. Evelyn Tubb, soprano, Michael Fields, lute

Caccini: Le Nuove Musiche. Montserrat Figueras, sop.

Monteverdi, Caccini, Peri: Canti Amorosi. Nigel Rogers, tenor

Lamenti: Monteverdi, Purcell, etc. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo

Monteverdi: Arie e Lamenti. Montserrat Figueras, sop.

Stefano Landi: Homo fugit velut umbra… /L’Arpeggiata · Pluhar

Virtuoso Italian Vocal Music. Catherine Bott, sop.

Music for a While. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo.

Elizabethan Songs / Lady Musick. Emma Kirkby, sop.

The Dark is my Delight. Evelyn Tubb, sop. & Michael Fields, lute

Lambert: Airs de Cour. Les Arts Florissants, William Christie, cond.

Ombre De Mon Amant – French Baroque Arias. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo

José Marín – Tonos Humanos. Montserrat Figueras, sop.

The Mad Lover. Evelyn Tubb, sop.

Purcell: Secular Solo Songs Vol.1

Purcell: Airs and Instrumental Music. Howard Crook, tenor

Gay: The Beggar’s Opera

Dr Arne at Vauxhall Gardens

Telemann & the Leipzig Opera

O Tuneful Voice: Songs and Duets from late 18th-century London

Mozart & Haydn: Songs and Canzonettas. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo

Mozart Lieder. Guy de Mey, tenor

Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart Lieder. Wolfgang Holzmair, baritone

Mozart, Debussy, Wolf. Edita Gruberova, soprano

Beethoven, Meyerbeer, Spohr: Lieder. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo

Beethoven An die ferne Geliebte. Thomas Hampson, bar. Geoffrey Parsons, piano

Song Recital: Schubert/Verdi/Donizetti/Bellini. Lawrence Brownlee, tenor

Voice & Guitar: Schubert/Spohr/Brahms. Christoph Prégardien, tenor

Simply the Best – Songs and Lieder. Fischer-Diskau, Ameling, Popp etc

Ian Bostridge, tenor. Schubert, Schumann etc

Las Mujeres y Cuerdas: Fernando Sor guitar songs. Marta Almajano, sop.

Beethoven/Meyerbeer/Spohr: Lieder Melodies. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo

Rossini Recital: Marilyn Horne, mezzo

Soirées musicales: Songs & Duets by Rossini

Cecilia Bartoli – An Italian Songbook Rossini/Bellini/Donizetti

Canzone-Art of Bel Canto: Verdi/Rossini/Bellini/Donizetti. Carlo Bergonzi, tenor

Schumann: Dichterliebe & Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder

Liszt/Meyerbeer/Verdi etc. Il primo dolce affanno – Il Salotto, Vol 7

Liszt/Wagner/Berlioz: Romantic Songs. Thomas Hampson, baritone

Véronique Gens, mezzo – Nuits d’étoiles (Mélodie françaises)

La Bonne Chanson. French chamber songs. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo

Songs by Reynaldo Hahn

Ravel: Mélodies

Voyage A Paris: The Mélodies of Francis Poulenc. Felicity Lott, sop.

Songs of Travel: Vaughan Williams, Butterworth, Ireland, Gurney, Warlock

Roger Quilter Songs: Benjamin Luxon, baritone, David Willson, piano

An Anthology Of English Song: Janet Baker, mezzo, Martin Isepp, piano

Hugo Wolf – 150th Anniversary Edition

Folksongs: Dvorak, Grainger, Hahn, Kodály, Britten. A S von Otter, mezzo

Montserrat Caballé Sings Granados

Canteloube: Chants d’Auvergne. Federica von Stade, mezzo

Berg / Korngold / Strauss: Lieder. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo

Messiaen: Poemes pour Mi; and Dallapicola. Phyllis Bryn-Julson, soprano

Cage: Litany for the Whale

Berio: Folk Songs

American Songs: Copland, Barber, Previn, Argento. Barbara Bonney, sop.

Songs of Ned Rorem. Susan Graham, mezzo & Malcolm Martineau, piano

Pärt, etc: A Simple Song. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo & Bengt Forsberg, piano

In this course we will be exploring Beethoven’s groundbreaking development of the symphonic form, including some of the most iconic and epoch-making orchestral and choral music of the entire Classical repertoire.

 

A Selected Bibliography:

Beethoven: His Life and Times (Composer’s Life & Times S.)

Beethoven (Master Musicians Series) by Marion M. Scott

The Treasures of Beethoven (John Suchet)

The Classical Style: Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart (Charles Rosen)

Beethoven: The Philosophy of Music (Theodor W Adorno)

The Nine Symphonies of Beethoven (Antony Hopkins)

Analyses of Musical Classics Book 1 (Annie O Warburton)

The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824, by Harvey Sachs

 

A Selected Discography:

Haydn: 12 London Symphonies

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos 1 & 4. Berliner Philharmoniker/Herbert von Karajan

Beethoven: Symphonys No 1 & No 2. Sir Neville Marriner (Vinyl LP)

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 8. Sir Roger Norrington

Beethoven For All: The Symphonies 1-9. Daniel Barenboim/West-Eastern Divan

Beethoven: Symphony No.6 Pastorale. Vienna Phil/Karl Böhm

Beethoven / Arr Liszt : Symphonies Nos 1 – 9. Cyprien Katsaris, piano

Beethoven – Symphony No 7; Triple Concerto (LSO, Haitink)

Beethoven: Symphony No.9. The Academy of Ancient Music/Hogwood

Explore the operatic revolution brought by the ground breaking musical dramas of Richard Wagner.

 

A Selected Bibliography:

The Faber Pocket Guide to Wagner by Michael Tanner

The Good Wagner Opera Guide by Denis Forman

Winnie And Wolf by A N Wilson

Opera & Its Symbols: The Unity of Words, Music, and Staging/Robert Donington

Wagner’s Ring: Turning the Sky Around by M. Owen Lee

 

A Selected Discography:

Wagner – Die Feen /THE FAIRIES

Wagner: Das Liebesverbot/The Ban on Love

Wagner: Rienzi

Jonas Kaufmann: Wagner Tenor Arias

Wagner: Der Fliegende Holländer

Wagner: Tannhäuser

Wagner: Lohengrin

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Highlights)

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Wagner: An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen

Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen

Wagner: Parsifal (highlights)

This course focuses on the contemporary composers that are currently forging the new musical paths: from the well established names of Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Ned Rorem, John Adams and Max Richter, to the new generation, including James MacMillan, Roxana Panufnick and Thomas Ades, among others.

 

Selected Discography:

 

Glass: Violin Concerto/Bernstein: Serenade/Rorem: Violin Concerto

Philip Glass: Akhnaten-Complete Opera

Songs of Ned Rorem: Susan Graham, mezzo/Malcolm Matineau, piano

American Songs: Barbara Bonney/André Previn

Ren̩e Fleming РI Want Magic

Arvo Pärt: Alina/Spiegel im Spiegel

Arvo Pärt: Arbos/Stabat Mater

James MacMillan: Stabat Mater

Thomas Adès: Asyla/Chamber and Orchestral Works

John Adams: Century Rolls/Lollapalooza

John Adams: Nixon in China

Music of Hikari Oe, Vol.1

Sir John Tavener/Roxanna Panufnik: 99 Words

Roxana Panufnik: Angels Sing/Westminster Mass

A Song More Silent: Beamish/McDowall/O’Regan/Plowman

The Very Best of John Rutter

Karl Jenkins: The Armed Man – A Mass For Peace

Great Movie Themes: John Williams, Hans Zimmer, etc

The Lion King: Music & Lyrics by Elton John and Tim Rice, score by Hans Zimmer

Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons

Gabriela Montero : Baroque

Sonic Philosophy: Hugo Ticciati, violin & Henrik MÃ¥we, piano

Explore the life and works of the 18th-century composers that form the Neapolitan School, and their legacy in the operas of the bel canto composers. Discover the masterpieces of Alessandro Scarlatti, Pergolesi and Jommelli, as well as the operas composed for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples by Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti.

2016 marks the 200^th anniversary of the premiere of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. Discover why the opening night was a fiasco, and compare and contrast this most beloved bel canto masterpiece with the previous – and at the time greatly revered – Barber by Giovanni Paisiello.

 

A Selected Bibliography:

Rossini: His Life and Works. Richard Osborne

The Golden Century of Italian Opera from Rossini to Puccini. W Weaver

 

A Selected Discography:

Paisiello: Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Fasano, cond.

Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia. Humburg, cond.

Rossini: Colbran, The Muse. Joyce DiDonato, mezzo.

Rossini Arias. Juan Diego Flórez, tenor.

Rossini: La cenerentola. Ferro, cond.