John Prescott, Ph.D., will present another in his series of early music lecture courses in February—an entirely new series focusing on the varieties of baroque chamber music, from viol consorts to cantatas to suites for solo instruments, trio sonatas, quartets, and more. The course runs Monday through Friday, February 15–19, from 9:30 am to 12:00 noon, at St. Mary Magdalene (Norton Hall), 2005 Berryman St., Berkeley.
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 2014’s series the transition from Renaissance to baroque in Italy, England, Germany, and the Low Countries. Last summer he focused on the history of a particular group of instruments, surveying the development of keyboards from the late Renaissance through the early Classical periods, and this new series continues down that same path.
Not only is chamber music the most intimate and subtle form of musical conversation in the baroque period. It is in many ways the most typical music of that era, performed everywhere from palaces to middle class drawing rooms, from coffee houses to churches. In this 5-part series, Dr. Prescott will explore the many ways in which composers used smaller forces to create musical masterpieces. He also will examine the specific social and cultural niches that chamber music occupied during the baroque period.
Day 1 will explore music for viols; Day 2, solo sonatas and suites; Day 3, chamber music for voices and instruments; Day 4, chamber music for various instruments, trio sonatas and Telemann’s Paris Quartets; and Day 5, the legacy—chamber music in the early Classical period.
You may register for 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). To pre-register or for further information, please contact the registrar, Suzanne Siebert, [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 children 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.
