| |
Photo by Debbie Davies (Debs Photography) |
Normal rehearsals take place at Castlegate Congregational Hall between 6.45pm and 9.00pm with a 15 minute break between about 7.45pm and 8.00pm. The Hall will be open from 6.15pm to 9.30pm to allow for early arrivals and discussions/departure after rehearsal. If you would like to join the choir the process is quite easy: you can simply turn up to a rehearsal and join in. After about three weeks, if you decide you would like to join us, you will be asked to take an audition. |
Yorkshire Libraries (Music and Drama collection)
Following their meeting on 3rd November about the future of the Music and Drama service,
this is a link to the Yorkshire Libraries press statement
more help needed for Yorkshire Libraries / Making Music
We will be able to purchase parking permits for a car park not far from Nottingham Station, for use in the evenings when we have rehearsals and for concerts.
The car park is off station street which you can access from the A60/London Road. The following links give its approximate position/satelite view from
google maps
and bing maps
Directions:
Coming out of Nottingham from the Canal Street/London Road roundabout driving south on the A60/London Road
Turn into Station Street about 150m after the roundabout before crossing the railway bridge. (Jurys Inn is on the corner).
The car park entrance is 2nd on the left, under a glass arch.The exit is 1st on the left.
Alison plans to be there from 6.15 in a 'high vis' jacket to assist with parking....
You are requested by the manager of the site to park along the edges, being careful not to block Network Rail's entrance at the far end.
There will be space for about 50 cars.
The car park will be open on Monday 23th January. Permits wll cost £ 10.
Help Support the Choir - EasyFundraising
Still in Castlgate Congregational Hall in AUtumn 2011
Autumn Term (2011)
Monday 5th September to Monday 12th December
Additional rehearsals:
Sunday 27th November 2:30pm - 5:00pm
Thursday 15th December 6:45pm - 9:00pm
Spring Term (2012)
Monday 9th January to Monday 2nd April
Additional rehearsal:
Sunday 25th March 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Summer Term (2012)
Monday 16th April to Monday 21st May (including 7th May Bank holiday)
Additional rehearsals:
Sunday 29th April 2:30pm - 5:00pm
Sunday 13th May 2:30pm - 5:00pm
--
Chairman of Nottingham Harmonic Choir:
Julie King
Email: julie.king10@ntlworld.com
10 Ayscough Avenue, Nuthall, Nottingham, NG16 1BY
0115 9386187 (answerphone please leave a message)
--
Handel, Israel in Egpyt (1739)
Why we’re doing it:
A monumental piece for double chorus, Israel in Egypt is ideally suited to a large choral society with a fine sense of drama.
It’s an unusual piece, giving only small roles to the soloists, and requiring great stamina from the choral forces. The lack of well-defined,
character-driven solo roles was one reason that Israel in Egypt failed to find much success in Handel’s lifetime – at this time Italian
opera was the most fashionable form of music. In addition, religious texts being performed in secular theatres was anathema to much of the public.
These might have been drawbacks in Handel’s time but now Israel in Egypt is second in popularity only to Messiah among Handel’s oratorios.
Practicalities:
There are opportunities for one soprano and two basses from the choir to perform solos. We’re hiring just three professional soloists:
one soprano, one counter-tenor and one tenor, so we need a choir soprano to sing the second part of the duet ‘The Lord is my strength’
near the beginning of Part Two, and two choir basses to sing the duet ‘The Lord is a man of War’ shortly after it.
Auditions for these parts will be held in the first few weeks of the Autumn term.
For all rehearsals and for the concert we will be split into Choir I (stage right) and Choir II (stage left).
To check which part you should sing when the choir divides into two equal choirs please look at the pdf below
This is a list of choir numbers and parts, so you need to know your choir number.
Choir members list (pdf)
Editions:
We’ll be singing from the Novello edition. I find the old Novello editions easier to read from than the new ones, though page numbers and bars are the same.
Those of you singing from your own copies may want to avoid the new Bärenreiter edition (which in other circumstances would normally
be my edition of choice) which includes the excised First Part. Nowadays most performances, including ours, omit the section which was originally
the first part, and begin with the story of Exodus, starting with the tenor recitative, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt”
Italian terms:
| Adagio: | slowly, unhurriedly |
| Allegro: | cheerful, happy, merry, bright. Not strictly speaking a tempo marking at all! Therefore Andante allegro is not an oxymoron. |
| Andante: | at a walking pace – a relaxed, easy-going speed |
| Andante larghetto: | Larghetto is the diminutive of largo. Andante larghetto is therefore somewhere between Largo and Andante. |
| A Tempo giusto: | at a fair, precise or appropriate speed. Can also mean ‘in strict time.’ |
| Grave: | heavy, serious, weighty, solemn, momentous. For Bach and Purcell, grave meant ‘very slow.’ |
| Larghetto: | the diminutive of largo. I.e. ‘fairly broad’ but not as broad as largo. |
| Largo: | broad, dignified. In Rousseau’s dictionary of 1767 largo was listed as the slowest tempo marking, though Purcell and his contemporaries saw adagio as slower than largo. |
| Largo assai: | there is some debate about this. Assai is sometimes used to mean ‘extremely’ and sometimes ‘moderately.’ Beethoven certainly used allegro assai to mean ‘quite fast’ or ‘fast enough.’ For mvt 4 of the Handel I’m opting for ‘moderately broad.’ |
--
Summer concert in Southwell Minster - follow link for map and directions
--
2011-2012 (Current Season)
Sat 12 Nov 2011 Handel Israel in Egypt
Sat 3 Dec 2011 Handel Messiah
Sat 17/Wed 21 Dec 2011 Family Carol Concerts
Sat 17 Mar 2012 Belshazzar's Feast & British Classics
Sat 26 May 2012 Rachmaninov Vespers
2012-2013 (Next Season)
Sat 10 Nov 2012 Elgar Dream of Gerontius
Sat 1 Dec 2012 Handel Messiah
Wed 19/Sat 22 Dec 2012 Family Carol Concerts
Sat 6 April 2013 Elgar The Music Makers (nottingham classics)
NB rehearsal on Friday 5th April in the evening. (Easter Sunday 2013 is 31st March)
Sat 11 May 2013 Carl Rütti Requiem
