Comments by Bayan Northcott on the 1964 WCSS

Speaking with Bayan Northcott uncovered a wealth of information about the WCSSs and the period in which they occurred. This post draws together some clips from the interview. The interview progressed with Northcott going through his diary.

He began with some contextual remarks about the scene, and the position of Maxwell Davies, Birtwistle and Goehr.

First a comment about the number of people in attendence:

(LS100049, 1’53″)

Filed under: Commentary from Interviews, General details of the Summer Schools, What music was performed?, What was analyzed/discussed?, Who was there?, Alldis, Bayan No, Bedford, Birtwistle, Brahms, Britten, Bruckner, Byrd, C.P.E. Bach and Satie, Carr-Boyd, Cocke, Cornish, Cowie, Dunstable, Ellis, Gabrielli, Gambier, Gilbert, Goehr, Holloway, Isaac, Maschera, Maxwell Davies, Melos Ensemble, Mendelssohn, Messiaen, Monteverdi, Morley, Mozart, Northcott, Patrick Carnegie, Pezel, Pilkington, Scheidt, Schoenberg, Schubert, Smalley, Stravinsky, Taverner, Tippett, Tomkins, Verdi, Wilbye, Wood, Zipoli

1965 Concert Programme with comments

1965 Programme of Concerts submitted to the Arts Council. (ACGB/51/265; see 1)

The comments are those by Hugh Wood. As further composers are interviewed their comments will be added alongside those by Wood.

Filed under: Commentary from Interviews, What music was performed?, Alldis, Birtwistle, Eisler, Goehr, Melos Ensemble, Smalley, Tragoedia, Wood

1965 Concert Programme

1965 Programme of Concerts submitted to the Arts Council following their support of some of the concerts in the series. More on that later. One of the aims of this research was to make accessible information of the kind present here. There are some fascinating concerts, with lots of early music alongside new works. I would love to hear the Busoni (arranging Bach), Bach (arranged Goehr), Mozart, Holloway, Gibbons, Eisler concert. Fascinating.

I haven’t included the programme notes, and no author is given for most of these. A playlist of those works here that are also available on spotify can be found here: WCSS. It’s a collaborative playlist so if you find a work that I haven’t listed you can add it. You can also delete tracks and add new ones (perhaps you don’t like my choice of performers?). The recording of Birtwistle’s Tragoedia is by the Melos Ensemble with Lawrence Foster conducting.

(ACGB/51/265; see 1)

[5]

WARDOUR CASTLE SUMMER CONCERTS

President: MICHAEL TIPPETT

Director: HARRISON BIRTWISTLE

Filed under: What music was performed?, Alldis, Arnold de Lantins, Aronowitz, Babbitt, Bach, Barbara Elsy, Beardslee, Beethoven, Birtwistle, Blitheman, Brian Dennis, Busoni, Cage, Cardew, Chambers, Chansons de Bilitis, de Peyer, Downes, Dunstable, Ecce Manus Tradentis, Edward Downes, Eisler, Feldman, Geoffrey Shaw, Gibbons, Goehr, Goethe, Hacker, Hillary Wilson, Holloway, Hurwitz, Ian Partridge, Jacopo da Bologna, John White, Martirano, Mayrhofer, Melos Ensemble, Messiaen, Mozart K. 454, Orlando di Lasso, Pauline Stevens, Philomel, Pierrot Lunaire, Praetorius, Pruslin, Purcell, Robin Holloway, Roger Smalley, Roseberry, Schoenberg, Schubert, Shakespeare, Sherlaw Johnson, Stockhausen, Stoliberg, Subotnick, Tavener, Taverner, Tippett, Tragoedia, Veni sancte spiritus, Webern, Weil, Westron Wynde, William York

Advertisement for the 1965 WCSS

The following is the text from a flyer/booklet advertising the 1965 WCSS.

[1]

THE WARDOUR CASTLE SUMMER SCHOOL OF MUSIC

14th–22nd AUGUST, 1965

President:

MICHAEL TIPPETT

Musical Directors:

HARRISON BIRTWISTLE

PETER MAXWELL DAVIES

ALEXANDER GOEHR

Filed under: General details of the Summer Schools, Other information, Who was there?, Alldis, Aronowitz, Beardslee, Bedford, Birtwistle, Cranborne Chase School, Crowson, de Peyer, Downes, Friedman, Goehr, Hurwitz, J. S. Bach, Mahler, Maxwell Davies, Melos Ensemble, Pierrot Lunaire, Sanders, Schoenberg, Tallis, Thomas, Tippett, Vennett, Weil, Wood

1965

Name: Source

‘some 50 composers’: 1

• Alldis, John: 1 ‘John Aldis trained the choir at the Wardour Castle Sumer School in 1965′ (Venn, Edward (2008) The Music of Hugh Wood (Aldershot: Ashgate) 69.), ACGB/51/1265
• Aronowitz, Cecil: 1, ACGB/51/1265
• Beardslee, Bethany: 1, (Seabrook, Mike (1994), Max: The Life and Music of Peter Maxwell Davies (London: Victor Gollancz), 94.), ACGB/51/1265
• Bennett, William: 1, ACGB/51/1265
• Birtwistle, Harrison: 1, 2, 3, (Seabrook, Mike (1994), Max: The Life and Music of Peter Maxwell Davies (London: Victor Gollancz), 100.), ACGB/51/1265
• Buller, John: 1
• Crowson, Lamar: ACGB/51/1265
• Downes, Edward: ACGB/51/1265
• Friedman, Leonard: ACGB/51/1265
• Gilbert, Anthony: 1
• Glanville, Ranulph: 1
• Goehr, Alexander: 1, 2, (Seabrook, Mike (1994), Max: The Life and Music of Peter Maxwell Davies (London: Victor Gollancz), 100.), ACGB/51/1265
• Hacker, Alan: (Seabrook, Mike (1994), Max: The Life and Music of Peter Maxwell Davies (London: Victor Gollancz), 100.)
• Hurwitz, Emmanuel [Emanuel] : 1, ACGB/51/1265
• Maxwell Davies, Peter: 1, 2, 3, (Seabrook, Mike (1994), Max: The Life and Music of Peter Maxwell Davies (London: Victor Gollancz), 100.), ACGB/51/1265
• Peyer, Gervase De: 1, ACGB/51/1265
• Sanders, Neill: 1, ACGB/51/1265
• Smalley, Roger: 1
• Thomas, Michael: ACGB/51/1265
• Tippett, Michael: 1 ACGB/51/1265
• Weil, Terence: 1, ACGB/51/1265
• Wood, Hugh: 1, 2, (Wood, Hugh (2003) ‘On music of Conviction… and an enduring friendship’ in Sing, Ariel (Aldershot: Ashgate) 328.), ACGB/51/1265

Filed under: Who was there?, Alldis, Aronowitz, Beardslee, Bennett, Birtwistle, Buller, Crowson, Davies, Downes, Friedman, Gilbert, Glanville, Goehr, Hacker, Hurwitz, Peyer, Sanders, Smalley, Thomas, Tippett, Weil, Wood