Evocation: Descriptive Music and How it is Created

Music Appreciation

Residential course

Gwyn Parry-Jones

20 July 2021 to 22 July 2021

From £233 Non-resident fee

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Description

Descriptive music has a long history, dating back to the 16th century.  Its heyday was in the late 19th and early 20th century, and we shall trace the line of development.

The urge to create music that reflects and describes extra-musical events and ideas goes all the way back to the late sixteenth century.  As instrumental music developed, this grew to almost an obsession with some late 19th century and early 20th century composers – Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss and Sibelius to name but three of the best-known.

We shall explore the provenance of such forms as the symphonic poem and the programme symphony and observe the use of descriptive elements in musical theatre – opera, dance and incidental music.

Residential Fees From: £348.   Non Residential: £233

Course runs from Dinner on Tuesday to Lunch on Thursday.

Tutor information

Gwyn Parry-Jones has a richly experienced background, both as a performer and a conductor, and has held academic posts at the universities of Oxford, Gothenburg and Reading. At Reading he was, until 2007, the Director of Music in the Faculty of Education, and remains a visiting lecturer at Reading and Oxford Universities. As a professional musician Gwyn worked with the Hallé and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestras, and played under the batons of some of the world’s greatest conductors, including Sir John Barbirolli, Carlo-Maria Giulini and Sir Simon Rattle. Gwyn is also well known as an adjudicator, and has this year again been a Mentor at the National Festival of Music for Youth in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Reading. Gwyn has a number of published compositions and arrangements too, mostly for wind instruments or voices.

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