Samuel Foxon
Category: Programme Notes
Advent Carols Programme Notes
When does Christmas start? The shops stock Christmas in September; The Christmas adverts start in October; The radio plays songs from November; The decorations are up in December. In the Church, Christmas truly begins with the Mass on Christmas Day. The preceding weeks make up the season of Advent—a time not of celebration, but of…
Stanford Concert Programme Notes
2024 marks the centenary of the death of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, one of the most eminent composers in the early 20th Century with a well-deserved musical legacy. His time as a Professor of composition at the Royal College of Music saw him mentoring some of the most iconic voices of early twentieth-century British music,…
Madrigals Programme Notes
The Choral repertoire is dominated by music of the Church – as daily life across the centuries was too. From this wealth of music, we can glean insight into the relationship that the generations before us had with the divine, through joy and through strife. With faith comes piousness, a sense of purpose as part…
Mozart Requiem – Druce Completion – Programme Notes
The narrative surrounding Mozart’s Requiem is steeped in intrigue and drama. In the twilight year of 1791, an enigmatic commission landed in Mozart’s hands. An Austrian aristocrat desired a Requiem Mass (Catholic Mass for the Dead) to be composed in memory of his departed wife, and he would compensate generously for it. The commission arrived…
Programme Notes for Byrd Concert
William Byrd – Struggle with the Establishment 400 years ago, the eminent English composer William Byrd died, leaving a legacy of over 470 compositions and a profound impact on the musical landscape of England. On his death the Chapel Royal described him, rather uniquely as a “Father of Musick”. Not much is known about Byrd’s…
Rossini Programme Notes
Petite Messe Solennelle seems a curious name for this large-scale choral work. Translating to mean ‘Little Solemn Mass’, this title is wrong on almost every count; it is not little (it fills an entire concert repertoire), it is certainly not solemn (it is almost dripping with boisterous frivolity), and it would seem most out of…
Rutter’s Magnificat Programme Notes
Music and the Magnificat The Magnificat, as recorded in Luke’s Gospel, is a hymn that has become a cornerstone for music making within the Church for over two millennia. In the Gospel, Mary sings these words on hearing that she will bear the Son of God. Today, we see the text used liturgically in the…
Music from the British Isles – Programme Notes
The Choral music in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales has often taken a different trajectory from its European counterparts. In part, this was due to the increased time it took for artistic ideas to permeate to Britain from the various cultural centres of Venice, the Vatican, or even Vienna. It is possibly the historical context…