Comments by Bayan Northcott on the 1965 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.

Filed under: General details of the Summer Schools, Interviews, What music was performed?, Babbitt, Bach, Bedford, Beethoven, Bethany Beardslee, Bill Colleran, Birtwistle, Busoni, Cage, Cardew, Debussy, Edward Downes, Eisler, Emmanuel Hurwitz, Feldman, Gibbons, Goehr, Holloway, Leonard Stein, Martirano, Maxwell Davies, Melos Ensemble, Messiaen, Mozart, Northcott, Philomel, Pierrot Lunnaire, Schoenberg, Schubert, Sherlaw Johnson, Smalley, Stephen Pruslin, Stockhausen, Subotnick, Taverner, Tragoedia, Webern

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)

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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

Funding, the SPNM and the ICA

The archived documents for the Arts Council of England’s annual report for 1965/66 includes a brief report from the SPNM accounting for its activities, which closes with the sentence:

‘In addition to these activities, a contribution of £250 was also made towards first performances of new works by young composers at the Wardour Castle Summer School of Music.’ (ACGB/51/265, ACGB/50/1310; see 1)

The Arts Council’s annual report included the following about the SPNM:

Filed under: How was it funded?, Arts Council, Berg, Birtwistle, Crosse, Gambier, ICA, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Lawrence Foster, Maxwell Davies, Melos Ensemble, Sherlaw Johnson, SPNM, Stockhausen, Webern, Yun