10-17 August 2024

LE NUOVE MUSICHE - Caccini, Luzzaschi, Monteverdi, Rossi, Frescobaldi, Kapsperger

Cantatas, Madrigals and Instrumental Music from 17th century Italy

The Renaissance Workshop Summer School 2024 will take place in the historic town of Wolfenbüttel, home to Michael Praetorius and Johann Rosenmüller. Also Johann Theile, Reinhard Keiser, Johann Adolf Hasse, Carl Heinrich Graun, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and many other great composers were linked to this most important art loving court. Today it is known for the Herzog-August-Bibliothek, one of the greatest libraries in the world. The churches were Praetorius and  Rosenmüller worked and are buried still stand and the town is absolutely charming, nothing more then a short walk away.

Caccini, Luzzaschi, Monteverdi, Rossi, Castello and Frescobaldi are some of the first to compose 'new music', invented in Italy around 1600.

This year we'll focus on vocal music and instrumental sonatas and concertos, starting with Caccini's wonderful songs and Luzzaschi's Madrigals for 1, 2 and 3 sopranos. A main work will be Monteverdi's Book VIII 'Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi'. This contains great music for tenors and basses too. It will be great for singers who like to take over a solo line.

Also in this week diminutions can be worked on, especially in the solo cantatas by Kapsperger, Frescobaldi, Puliaschi, Cesti and Mazzocchi. When the right number of singers and players comes together, we might be able to do some early opera.

Wind and viol players can work on the instrumental music of Fontana, Castello, Frescobali, Salomone Rossi and Selma e Salaverde. Harpsichordists will focus on Frescobaldi, lute players on Kapsperger. Also everybody who plays the continuo parts should have a look at this new book:
https://forschung.schola-cantorum-basiliensis.ch/en/forschung/keyboard-a...

Our team of teachers is the same as every year for the Summer School:

Ibrahim Aziz - Viol

Lee Santana - Lute - Chitarrone - Renaissance guitar

Michael Dollendorf - Recorder - Renaissance winds - Lirone

Pieter Dirksen - Harpsichord

Sven Schwannberger - Voice - Vocal Ensemble

There will be individual lessons and consort classes in the morning.  Singers will study Madrigals, their solo songs and can work on ornamentation. As in previous years we try to match them early on with lute and harpsichord players to prepare the repertoire.

Winds, viols and lutes will also focus on consort playing.

In the afternoon we will arrange for chamber music in mixed settings. Please don't expect to spend all day with your group of instruments!

We'll be working at [408 Hz] and mostly at 458 Hz since we have matched sets of recorders, flutes, cornettos, viols and a harpsichord at these pitches, exactely a whole step apart for easy transpositions. For the wind players we provide these consort instruments. We do have a nice consort of Henry Jaye viol copies (to late and wrong country for this year - we know) for players from abroad who don't want to fly with their instruments. If you have Renaissance viols - that would be great. The lute players should adapt to the high pitch of 458 Hz this year either by re-stinging their lutes if the scale is short enough or by tuning to 408 Hz and setting a capo to the second fret. Dieter Schossig can make these capos. Please measure the width of our lute neck at the second fret and place an order not later than 8 weeks before you need it.

Flute and recorder players, who like to work on Frescobaldi or Castello Sonatas with 'Ganassi' instruments at another pitch are welcome. There will also be a 440 keyboard available.

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Registration ends on 15 June 2024 but we work on a first come first serve basis. The number of participants is limited to six per instrument. Please sign up early. It helps us a lot with the planing ...

Once we received your registration form and payment we start sending music and try to match singers with instrumentalists, so you can prepare for up to one year in advance.

Each class needs four participants to make it happen, the maximum number is six. This is to ensure intense work. We reserve the right to cancel the class if there aren't enough registrations. In this case the full amount will be refunded. Participants can also cancel until 15 June 2024 and get a refund. If you have to cancel thereafter, you are free to send somebody else to take your spot and replace you but we can't pay you back.

The workshop starts with a reception at 4:00 pm on Saturday 10 August at the Prinzenpalais, and some ensemble playing with everybody. There will be a guided tour through town at some point. Visits to the famous Herzog-August library and the Palace Museum should be arranged during lunch breaks. The Prinzenpalais has no weelchair access. If you have special needs, please tell us before you register and we see how we can accommodate you. Classes are 10:00 am - 1:30 pm and 3:00 - 6:30 pm. The Summer School ends with a final concert at 11:00 am on Saturday 17 August.

Price: the Renaissance Workshop Summer School is € 630,- for the eight days. Active participants only. There is no such thing as 'just sitting in as a listener'. Guest are welcome to the final concert.

Sign up: your are registered after we received your registration form and your money transfer.

Getting there: Wolfenbüttel is a 10 minutes train ride south of Braunschweig. If you fly into Berlin it takes about two hours to get there, from Hannover it's just an hour.

Staying there: There is a Jugendgästehaus, a Bundesakademie, many hotels, holiday apartments and a campground. Please arrange for your own housing according to your needs and budget. Jugendgästehaus is very nice and close to the Villa Seeliger and the Rosenmüller church, the Hotel Bayrischer Hof is the most central, the Park Hotel the most fancy.... your choice....