John Prescott, Ph.D., will present another in his early music lecture series in September-an entirely new course focusing on the development of keyboard music from its beginnings in late Renaissance Italy, England, and Spain, through the baroque, to the era of Haydn and Mozart.
The format will be somewhat different this year. Responding to a number of requests from his audience members in the past, John will hold his new series on five consecutive Saturday afternoons (rather than five weekday mornings) beginning September 12 and continuing through October 10. The lectures will run from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m., and once again will be held in the Parish Hall of St. Mary Magdalen Church, 2005 Berryman, Berkeley. Please note that the entrance to the Parish Hall is off of the parking lot, next to the playground; please pull into the parking lot (entrance at the corner of Shattuck and Berryman) and the Parish Hall is down a set of stairs and through a set of glass-paneled double doors.
Dr. Prescott’s lectures for interested adults have become a beloved institution for SFEMS members, as he has used his extensive scholarship, intelligence and wit to make early music and its historical context come alive for enthusiastic audiences. Over the past seven years, his well-attended, in-depth courses-always including many audio samples-have covered the biographies and works of such musical giants as Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Telemann and surveyed entire periods or historical movements, such as his 2013 lectures on the French baroque or last year’s series on the transition from Renaissance to baroque in Italy, England, Germany, and the Low Countries.
This year, the ever-creative Dr. Prescott has devised a new way of coring the historical apple, honing in on one of Western music’s most important instrument groups, keyboards (organ, harpsichord, clavichord fortepiano, and pianoforte), discussing how the instruments themselves and the music written for them developed, from the Virginalists to Viennese Classicism.
Day 1 of the series (September 12) explores the flowering of keyboard music in the late Renaissance, with special attention to the work of composers in England, Spain, and Italy, where early developments of dedicated music for these instruments were especially rich.
Day 2 (September 19) turns to the keyboard music of the German speaking world–from the methodical counterpoint of the south Germans to the wild extemporaneous style of their northern cousins. The German music for organ and harpsichord of the early baroque culminated in the hundreds of keyboard masterpieces of J.S. Bach.
Day 3 (September 26) samples the sumptuous world of French keyboard music. Composers of the French baroque reveled in the sheer sonorous beauty of the harpsichord in highly stylized dance movements, and quirky and humorous character pieces.
Day 4 (October 3) turns to the work of a single composer, Domenico Scarlatti, whom Dr. Prescott calls the Chopin of the Baroque. Scarlatti is the only major baroque composer for whom the great majority of music is for solo keyboard. An Italian, and maybe one of the best keyboard players of his time, who lived in Spain for many years, he incorporated the fire and spicy dissonance of Spanish guitar music into his more than six hundred sonatas.
The lecture series ends on (October 10) with the world of Haydn, Mozart and their contemporaries in which one of the most important developments was the emergence of the piano. In the late 18th century, the harpsichord, clavichord and the newly developed forte piano all coexisted, providing composers of keyboard music new frontiers of expression and musical possibilities.
You may attend all five days or individually by day. Musical experience or ability to read music are not necessary. Come listen, learn, and join in the adventure! Tuition is $25 per lecture ($20 for SFEMS members) or $100 for the full, five-week course ($85 for SFEMS members). You can register and pay at the door. If you have questions, please contact Katie Hagen, [email protected].
As with Dr. Prescott’s previous lectures, proceeds from this course go to benefit the SFEMS Music Discovery Workshop and Youth Collegium, a week-long summer day camp that introduces elementary and high school-aged students to early music and Renaissance social history through music instruction and theater projects.
John Prescott is an affiliate of the San Francisco Early Music Society.
