by Lee McRae
Singers can again look forward to a stimulating weekend of sight singing and lectures (as well as enjoying our infectious mix of good company and good food!) at the Fall 2015 Singers’ Retreat, to be held September 26–27 at the Braun Music Building at Stanford University. Please note the new venue for this retreat! We meet again under the inspired direction of Professor Bill Mahrt, who brings his combination of scholarship and musical challenge.
Dr. Mahrt has chosen the Spanish Vespers for St. Michael the Archangel as our focus. During the 16th century, Vespers was a major service in Spain, and Spanish masters left a wealth of music for it, including especially psalms, hymns, and Magnificat settings. Our featured composers for this session will include Tomás Luis de Victoria, Cristobal de Morales, Francisco Guerrero, and Antonio de Cabezón.
The pieces feature alternation of polyphonic music with simple chants, a remarkable method of performance that brings into relief both the richness of the polyphony with the purity of the chant. Both Morales and Victoria spent substantial time in Rome, and their music is a synthesis of Classical Roman and mystical Spanish elements. Guerrero worked entirely in Spain (Seville) and produced music distinguished by its rich musical colors.
The following quotation to me seems to express the universal experience which we, who have been fortunate to study with our renowned conductor, Dr. Mahrt, have enjoyed:
Above all—at least to me—music is the perfect universal language. This is a platitude only because it happens like other platitudes to be based on incontrovertible truth. The only times when I have witnessed a state approaching the brotherhood of man have been moments of music when hundred of hearts beat to the same rhythm and lifted to the same phrase and when all hate, all envy, all—good music—can only build. And to learn the language of music—at least to respond to it—one needs only an ear and a heart. It is only the deaf or the spiritually atrophied who do not somehow feel themselves exalted and purified in the presence of great music (David Mannes, 1866–1959).
We convene Saturday morning, September 26. Please arrive between 9:00 and 9:15 a.m. to check in. Find your place and be ready to warm up and then start singing promptly at 9:30. We’ll sing all day Saturday and Sunday. We end our weekend with a performance on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. for our friends and the public at St. Ann Chapel. A donation will be requested to benefit the San Francisco Early Music Society, of which the Singers’ Retreat is an Affiliate. SFEMS enables us to do two sessions per year through its Affiliates program, which provides the insurance necessary to perform in a public place.
In addition to frequent visits to our loaded snack table (both days), we take plenty of breaks during which we rest our voices and are treated to our internationally known conductor’s vast knowledge about the background of the music we are singing. Professor Mahrt’s approach is both easygoing and demanding, which makes for a stimulating and rewarding weekend for all. Besides, we are famous for our enjoyment of these sessions. Our Saturday afternoon session ends with Sherry Hour at 5:00. Tuition is $125 and includes music.
To register or for more information, please contact Co-coordinators Lee McRae ([email protected], 510-848-5591) or Ralph Prince ([email protected], 510-778-3253).