Music Appreciation Facilitator – Peter Marks, tel: 01671 830395

Last updated 27th January

Our group continues to flourish; altogether we have a membership of nineteen, and attendances at all our meetings are usually well into double figures.

We have had over thirty meetings since our Group began, under the banner Journeys into Music – An Historical Perspective in which we have traced
both the sources and the development of music from medieval times up to the twentieth century, from Hildegard of Bingen to Copland, Stravinsky and Bernstein.

In our meetings this year, we have featured:

• Musical Post Cards from America in our January session, when we listened to music by Delius, Copland, Barber, Bernstein, and Dvorák.
• Thoughts of Spring in February when we listened to music by Vivaldi, Stravinsky, Beethoven and Schumann’s Symphony No.1 in B flat (“Spring”).
• The Symphony (March), when we traced the development of the Symphony from Gabrieli, Vivaldi, J S & J C Bach, William Boyce, finishing with an analysis of Beethoven’s Symphony No.1 in C.
• The King of Instruments in April, when we listened to an anthology of music composed for the organ, including works by Böhm, J S Bach, Handel and Haydn, and some pieces played on a bamboo organ in the Philippines.
• A Pastoral Setting in our June session, with music by Debussy, Vaughan Williams (‘In the Fen Country’), Scarlatti and Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 in F (‘Pastoral’)

During this year, we will be exploring further themes, including music from the Renaissance, Vivaldi’s contemporaries, the Concerto, and further incursions into 20th century and contemporary music – no one should be put off by these last two labels, since the choice of music will be made on the basis of interest and approachability.
As always, the emphasis throughout all the sessions has been to listen to and enjoy music rather than being bogged down with the technicalities. In so doing, we have considered how music developed from one style to another and to how one can recognize differences in styles.

Our meetings are usually held at 2.00 pm on a Wednesday each month, on a date mutually convenient to all. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 15th February at 2.00pm, when the theme will be to compare the music of Haydn and Mozart. I hope that you can come and I look forward to seeing you all again.