Telemann Fantasias

TELEMANN FANTASIAS Telemann Fantasias is made up of three films which you can buy as a series, or as individual films.

HARPSICHORD FANTASIAS WITH STEVEN DEVINE Fantasia No. 12 (first dozen) for solo harpsichord Fantasia No. 1 (second dozen) for solo harpsichord Fantasia No. 11 (third dozen) for solo harpsichord

VIOLA DA GAMBA FANTASIAS WITH JONATHAN MANSON Fantasia No. 6 in G major for solo gamba Fantasia No. 8 in A major for solo gamba Fantasia No. 9 in C major for solo gamba

VIOLIN FANTASIAS WITH KATI DEBRETZENI Fantasia No. 1 in B flat major for solo violin Fantasia No. 5 in A major for solo violin Fantasia No. 7 in E flat major for solo violin Fantasia No. 9 in B minor for solo violin Fantasia No. 10 in D major for solo violin

FLUTE FANTASIAS WITH LISA BEZNOSIUK Fantasia No. 1 in A major for solo flute Fantasia No. 8 in E minor for solo flute Fantasia No. 2 in A minor for solo flute Fantasia No. 3 in D minor for solo flute Fantasia No. 7 in D major for solo flute

We are grateful for the support of Jenny and Tim Morrison and our friends at the Fitzrovia Chapel

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PROGRAMME NOTES

by Richard Bratby

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)

HARPSICHORD FANTASIAS WITH STEVEN DEVINE No.12 (First Dozen) in E flat major

Allegro – Largo - Allegro

Georg Philipp Telemann’s family didn’t want him to become a musician: they feared (he wrote) “that I would end up as charlatan, tightrope walker, minstrel, or marmot trainer, if I did not stop my involvement with music”. But he persevered, “in a sort of innocent disobedience, by beginning to play my spinet again, trying to figure out basso continuo on my own, and writing down my own set of rules”.

By the time Telemann published his 36 Fantasias for keyboard – in Hamburg, between 1732 and 1733 – he was a prosperous and highly skilled composer.

But his spirit of gleeful, evergreen invention never left him. The Fantasias were intended for sale to amateur musicians: and in each one, Telemann packed several short sections filled with musical fantasy and fun into just a few minutes of music. This final Fantasia from the first of his three “dozens” – a bustling Allegro framing a solemn central interlude is a spirited case in point.

No.1 (Second dozen) in C minor

Tendrement – Vivement – Tendrement – Très vite

As a composer who was effectively self-taught, Telemann was perfectly equipped to write keyboard Fantasias.

The very title implied freedom and imagination: in the words of the 17th century theoretician, “the most free and unrestrained method of composing; it is bound to nothing, neither to words nor to a melodic subject”. By the time he published his 36 Fantasias for keyboard – in Hamburg, between 1732 and 1733 – he was a prosperous and highly skilled composer in a thriving commercial city. In writing short, fantastic keyboard pieces aimed at the amateur market, he’d found a perfect way to monetize his teeming imagination.

But this was an age of increasing Sensibility too: and the first of Telemann’s second “dozen” of keyboard fantasies is abreast of its times from its very first notes (headed Tendrement). Bristling, brilliant high speed passages offer a striking contrast – and a bracing challenge to the player’s head (and fingers) as well as heart.

No.11 (Third dozen) in B flat major

Telemann was generous with his friendships: a lifelong friend of Johann Sebastian Bach, he was a supportive godfather to Bach’s most musically gifted son, Carl Philipp Emanuel. So when CPE Bach, later in the 18th century, defined the fantasia as an improvisatory keyboard composition in which a composer may “move audaciously from one effect to another”, the better “to stir the heart of the listener into a gentle emotion and thence to lead him wherever he wishes”, it’s fair to suppose that he might have been reflecting Telemann’s opinion too.

It’s certainly not a bad description of the last of the 36 Fantasias for solo keyboard that Telemann published in Hamburg in 1732-3. At first hearing, it’s a swirling minuet on the most expansive scale.

But in the central section – in the minor key – Telemann shows himself a master of dignified pathos as well as courtly ceremonial: offering his (often amateur) performers a gateway into a new world of musical emotion.

VIOLA DA GAMBA FANTASIAS WITH JONATHAN MANSON No.6 in G major Scherzando – Dolce – Spirituoso

By 1735, when Telemann published his Twelve Fantasias for solo viola da gamba, he could almost afford to name his own price. From his home in Hamburg, he offered subscribers a 20% discount on the new work; the final list included names from as far afield as Amsterdam, Paris and London. It was a remarkable level of interest in an instrument that was already fading from widespread use; all the more remarkable, then, that this music was only rediscovered by the scholar Francois-Pierre Goy in in Osnabrück in 2015.

The Fantasias have proved to be a musical treasure trove – as Telemann pushes the gamba to its limits in order to make it viable in a new and expanding musical world. In the three concise movements of this Sixth Fantasia, he uses chords to imitate a bagpipe, shapes a plangent dolce slow movement in the newly fashionable galant style, and sends the instrument whirling across its whole register in a playful final dance.

No.8 in A major

Allegro – Grave – Vivace

Georg Philipp Telemann was a composer with a lively mind; and when he was not working in Hamburg he enjoyed gardening – cultivating the rare plants that his equally green-fingered friend Handel sent him from London. There’s something of the gardener in the way that, in 1735, he took a fading instrument and nurtured it, trained it and drew it out into a final, exuberant blossoming in his Twelve Fantasias for solo viola da gamba.

This Eighth Fantasia is a case in point, as over three miniature movements, Telemann applies the full range of modern techniques – bariolage (string crossing), chords and pizzicato - to create new and vivid expressive colours from an increasingly rare instrument. The Fantasias sold well across Europe, but it was a late flowering for the viola da gamba. After Telemann’s death they were lost for nearly 250 years until being rediscovered in an archive in Osnabrück in 2015.

No.9 in C major

Presto – Grave – Allegro

Telemann was generous with his friendships: a lifelong friend of Johann Sebastian Bach, he was a supportive godfather to Bach’s most musically gifted son, Carl Philipp Emanuel.

So when CPE Bach, later in the 18th century, defined the fantasia as an improvisatory composition in which a composer may “move audaciously from one effect to another”, the better “to stir the heart of the listener into a gentle emotion and thence to lead him wherever he wishes”, it’s fair to suppose that he might have been reflecting Telemann’s opinion too.

That’s certainly the impression created by Telemann’s Twelve Fantasias for solo viola da gamba – published in 1735 in Hamburg but then lost until rediscovered in Osnabrück in 2015. The gamba was already an instrument in decline, but in the brief, three-part Ninth Fantasia Telemann deploys all his craft and fantasy to give it a new voice: one whose buoyancy and even brilliance (in the outer sections) can’t quite erase the melancholy of the central Grave – a sort of elegy for the instrument itself.

VIOLIN FANTASIAS WITH KATI DEBRETZENI

No.5 in A major

No.1 in B flat major

Allegro – Presto – Allegro – Andante Allegro

Largo – Allegro – Grave - Si replica l'allegro Telemann learned the violin the hard way. When his parents banned him from studying music, he pieced together his own musical education: learning from folk-musicians as well as from his contemporaries Bach and Handel (both of who would become lifelong friends). He was tireless, and in his twenties, directing the court orchestra in Eisenach, he redoubled his efforts. “When we were required to play a concerto together, I used to shut myself away for several days beforehand, the violin in my hands, my left sleeve rolled up and my nerves rubbed with a fortifying balm, engaged in my own learning” he recalled.

It paid off: by the time he was a successful and famous composer in Hamburg, he knew from the inside what made enjoyable, playable music for the violin, and his Twelve Fantasias for violin without bass (1735) were aimed at both amateurs and professionals alike. The first is an Italian-style Sonata da Chiesa in four distinct movements, saturated with the influence of the great Italian violin-master Corelli - all in less than four minutes.

In this fifth Fantasia, Telemann goes all-out for brilliance. From its opening flourish, through its contrasting slower music to its bravura finale, he’s replicating the form and effect of one of Arcangelo Corelli’s hugely popular concerti grossi, but on one instrument, and in less than five minutes.

Invest in Telemann’s latest publication and – if you were good enough – you could become a whole orchestra in your own home.

No.7 in E flat major Dolce – Allegro – Largo - Presto Hamburg, where Telemann worked for most of his life, was (and is) a port city: a crossroads of ideas and cultures where the latest musical innovations arrived early and were swiftly embraced. (It’s no coincidence that the Beatles found their voice there). As a leader of the city’s musical life, Telemann was also a leader of musical fashion – and never more so than when his compositions, such as his Twelve Fantasias for violin without bass (1735), were intended for sale to the city’s prosperous and lively musical public.

This Seventh of the set is what Telemann described as a Galanterie – an example of a new musical fashion that simultaneously prized unaffected simplicity in song and dance, and the thrills of virtuoso display. Like each of his Fantasias, it compresses several movements into a remarkably short period of time: but it begins dolce (sweetly) and delivers enough flamboyance to satisfy the most style-conscious of 1730s Hamburg hipsters.

No.9 in B minor

No.10 in D major

Siciliana—Vivace—Allegro

Presto – Largo - Allegro

Georg Philipp Telemann’s Twelve Fantasias for violin without bass (1735) are often compared to Bach’s great sonatas and partitas for solo violin. Telemann – a kindly and sociable man - would have accepted the comparison with good grace.

He and Bach were lifelong friends, and in fact Telemann was the godfather of Bach’s son, Carl Philipp Emmanuel (hence the “Philipp”). But Telemann, in commercial Hamburg, was writing as a business proposition. His Fantasias were intended to delight amateur and professional players alike, while entertaining then with Telemann’s mastery of the most fashionable musical styles.

Telemann's audience in Hamburg would certainly have recognised what he was doing in this Tenth of his Fantasias: with its bracing, vigorous first section (different voices seem to call and answer), its pensive central Largo and the ebullient, folksy final gigue. It’s essentially a full-scale Italian concerto for a single player. Orchestral music, formerly the preserve of noblemen, was now – in bustling, bourgeois Hamburg – available in your own home.melancholy through virtuoso bustle and operatic song, to a dance-finale guaranteed to set toes tapping - whether amateur or pro.

And in 1735, that meant galanterie – a fusion of artless expressive simplicity with glittering display. Telemann’s challenge, as in all of his Fantasias, was to cram maximum entertainment value into a concise and playable miniature. This Ninth Fantasia opens with a lilting Italian siciliano (Hamburg was nothing if not cosmopolitan) before breaking out in brilliant virtuoso fireworks followed by headlong dance.

FLUTE FANTASIAS WITH LISA BEZNOSIUK No.1 in A major

Vivace – Adagio – Allegro

Georg Philipp Telemann published his Twelve Fantasias for Flute without Bass at his own expense in Hamburg, most probably at some point between 1725 and 1733. The precise date is uncertain; in fact, for many years these twelve wonderfully inventive mini-masterpieces were assumed to have been written for the violin, with contemporary theorists maintaining that it was inappropriate – indeed, impossible – to write serious music for unaccompanied woodwind instruments.

That didn’t bother Telemann: a musician’s musician who, as a boy, taught himself the flute, and learned his craft entertaining miners and townsfolk in the Harz mountains. He knew exactly what was practical and enjoyable and a keen amateur flautist, opening his copy, would find twelve pages of music, each containing a complete, self-contained work in several distinct sections. No.1 sets the pattern: displaying the flute’s ability to dance, to sing and to weave kaleidoscopic patterns of sound – all in less than four minutes.

No.8 in E minor

Largo – Spirituoso – Allegro

From Biber’s Mystery Sonatas to Bach’s extraordinary suites, sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin and cello, the baroque era produced a rich harvest of music for solo string instruments. But contemporary theorists maintained that it was inappropriate – indeed, impossible – to try and do anything similar for woodwind instruments. That didn’t bother Georg Philipp Telemann: a true

musician’s musician who, as a boy, taught himself the flute, and learned his craft entertaining miners and townsfolk in the Harz mountains.

Telemann knew what was possible, and he knew what gave delight: and in his Twelve Fantasias for Flute without Bass – published

by Telemann himself in Hamburg, probably between 1725 and 1733 – he proves it in gloriously inventive style. As in each of the Fantasias, the Eighth squeezes a sequence of characterful mini-movements into less than five minutes of music: a reflective Allemande, a spirited gigue, and (to finish) his own crazily syncopated take on a polonaise.

No.2 in A minor Grave – Vivace – Adagio – Allegro In the mid-eighteenth century, the flute was the instrument of choice for dilettantes, from the humblest busker to King Frederick the Great of Prussia, who regularly performed concertos at his palace of Sans Souci. Georg Philipp Telemann harboured no prejudices against amateurs. He’d taught himself the flute as a boy, and as a businessman, he knew that his Twelve Fantasias for Flute without Bass would find an enthusiastic public.

He published them at his own expense in Hamburg, some time between 1725 and 1733.

Upon opening his copy, an 18th century amateur flautist would find twelve pages of music, each one containing a complete, self-contained mini-masterpiece in several distinct sections. This second Fantasia (in the form of an Italian church sonata) moves from deceptively artless melancholy through virtuoso bustle and operatic song, to a dance-finale guaranteed to set toes tapping whether amateur or pro.

No.3 in B minor Largo / Vivace – Allegro From Biber’s Mystery Sonatas to Bach’s extraordinary suites, sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin and cello, the baroque era produced a rich harvest of music for solo string instruments. But contemporary theorists maintained that it was inappropriate – indeed, impossible – to try and do anything similar for woodwind instruments. That didn’t bother Georg Philipp Telemann: a true musician’s musician who, as a boy, taught himself the flute, and learned his craft entertaining miners and townsfolk in the Harz mountains.

Telemann knew what was possible, and he knew what gave delight: and in his Twelve Fantasias for Flute without Bass – published

by Telemann himself in Hamburg, probably between 1725 and 1733 – he proves it in gloriously inventive style. The Third squeezes a sequence of characterful mini-movements into less than five minutes of music. A haunting, melancholy melody is repeatedly interrupted by whirling faster music, before the accumulated tension finally finds its release in a lively gigue.

No.7 in D major Alla Francese – Presto In the mid-eighteenth century, the flute was the instrument of choice for dilettantes, from the humblest busker to King Frederick the Great of Prussia, who regularly performed concertos at his palace of Sans Souci. Georg Philipp Telemann harboured no prejudices against amateurs. He’d taught himself the flute as a boy, and he knew that his Twelve Fantasias for Flute without Bass would find an enthusiastic public. He published them at his own expense in Hamburg, probably between 1725 and 1733.

A keen amateur flautist, opening his copy, would find twelve pages of music – and on each one a complete, self-contained mini-masterpiece. A good amateur could make a decent impression with any of them: but to bring out their full potential still demands a player of the highest artistry; ideally one who’d recognise that the Seventh was actually a full-scale Overture in the French style, complete with ceremonial introduction and folk-dance finale. A whole concert in your drawing room…

BEHIND THE SCENES Kati Debretzeni, OAE Leader, violin "This recording was such a special and wonderful experience. I didn’t know the the sumptuous Fitzrovia Chapel, and was completely taken by surprise. Through this hidden gem in the middle of Bloomsbury I was transported to Ravenna for the day.

The only problematic detail was the 35OC heat - it turned to be the hottest day this August. Better that than freezing!

The plan was to record five Fantasias out of the twelve that Telemann had written in 1735, each a miniature jewel capturing a very different mood.

The OAE’s in-house recording team worked their magic in getting a lovely recorded sound and our brilliant Netty Isserlis, usually seen playing the viola, lent her outstanding pair of ears in ‘producer’ capacity. This made the process much smoother and easier, as I didn’t have to use my ‘critical’ inner ears at the same time as playing, I could concentrate on what I wanted to say with the music, whilst Netty gave me feedback on what didn’t quite work at the end of each take.

The Fantasias are very close to my heart.

I feel fortunate to have had the chance to engage with five of these miniature musical worlds. "

Lisa Beznosiuk, OAE Principal Flute

"Summer 2020, a few months into lockdown; what a delightful surprise to be asked to choose some Telemann Flute Fantasias to record for OAE Player. Like many of us, I had spent most of my time walking, gardening and cooking, so it was wonderful to have a little solo project to prepare and a joy to revisit these brilliant, challenging gems. Telemann's quicksilver imagination, sense of drama and rigorous technical demands make the pieces endlessly rewarding.

Three of the five (Nos 1,2 & 3) begin with an improvisatory prelude in which the flautist must judge just how free and ‘fantastical’ to be with rhythm and embellishment. The more one gets to know the works, the more possibilities seem to present themselves - so I cannot imagine ever arriving at a definitive interpretation; it is almost as though Telemann is inviting, perhaps even teasing the player to experiment and go a bit further…and then a bit further still. This can be risky for various reasons - but it’s also a lot of fun and certainly encourages spontaneity!

All five of these Fantasias have second movements with a fugal structure – this is where the flautist longs to be able to play two notes at once, or pop in the occasional chord as one can so easily on the harpsichord, viola da gamba and violin.

Each final movement, though not named as such, bears a close resemblance to a baroque dance form – Minuet/Passepied (no.1), Gigue (no.3), Hornpipe (no.8), Rigaudon (no.2) and Tambourin (no.7).

Having prepared in the relative cool of a Shropshire barn, it was really tough recording in London during a heat-wave, with minimal editing. However, the support, professionalism and flexibility of Zen, Sophie and the OAE team plus the warm acoustics and stunning backdrop of Fitzrovia Chapel made the task enjoyable and worthwhile. Thanks everyone.

I'd also like to acknowledge Giovanni Tardino, maker of the gorgeous boxwood flute which I played on this recording.

It is copy of a rare instrument by 18th century flautist Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin, found just five years ago... on ebay! Buffardin was a significant figure in the history of the flute - a French virtuoso and teacher, famous for playing extremely fast notes, who played principal flute in the Dresden court orchestra for 34 years."

BIOGRAPHIES

Steven Devine

Kati Debretzeni

Steven Devine enjoys a busy career as a music director and keyboard player working with some of the finest musicians. He made his London conducting debut in 2002 at the Royal Albert Hall and is now a regular performer there - including making his Proms directing debut in August 2007 with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Born in Transylvania, Kati studied the violin with Ora Shiran in Israel, and the Baroque violin with Catherine Mackintosh and Walter Reiter at the Royal College of Music in London. Kati has taken a starring role in several OAE performances. She performed alongside the dancers in our fresh take on Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons when we collaborated with renowned choreographer Henri Oguike in 2013 and fused authentic performance with contemporary choreography. Also, Kati directed our concert with mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly from the violin in 2017, which was an unusual, challenging and rewarding feat.

Since 2007 Steven has been the harpsichordist with London Baroque in addition to his position as Principal Keyboard Player with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He has recorded over forty discs with other artists and ensembles and made many solo recordings including Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and Goldberg Variations.

Steven is Early Keyboard Consultant at both the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and a regular teacher and examiner at many other institutions.

Jonathan Manson

Lisa Beznosiuk

Jonathan Manson enjoys a busy and varied career as a performer on both cello and viola da gamba.

Born in Edinburgh to a musical family, he studied viola da gamba with Wieland Kuijken at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Born in England of Ukrainian/Irish descent Lisa Beznosiuk is one of the world's leading performers on historical flutes. In her dual capacities as solo flautist and orchestral principal she has travelled the world playing a wide range of 18th and 19th century repertoire with some of its finest interpreters.

For ten years he was the principal cellist of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, performing and recording more than 150 Bach cantatas and, together with Yo-Yo Ma, Vivaldi’s Concerto for two cellos. Nowadays Jonathan devotes most of his time to chamber music. He is a founding member of the viol consort Phantasm, which won Gramophone Awards in 1997, 2004 and 2017. Jonathan is also the cellist of the London Haydn Quartet, and frequently appears as a principal and continuo player with the Dunedin Consort, Arcangelo, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and other leading early music groups.

As a concerto soloist he has appeared at the Wigmore Hall and the Southbank Centre, as well as further afield, in Hong Kong, Potsdam, the Haydn Festspiele in Eisenstadt and New York’s Carnegie Hall

Whilst a modern flute student at Guildhall School of Music, London, she became fascinated by the sound world and the rich repertoire of the simple, wooden baroque traverso and took lessons with Stephen Preston. She also found herself busy playing harpsichord continuo - something which has been very useful in her teaching career.

Lisa regularly receives enthusiastic critiques for her live and recorded performances. Her solo recordings include the complete sonatas of Bach and Handel, concertos by Vivaldi and Mozart and several versions of Bach’s Suite in B minor and Fifth Brandenburg Concerto. Her recording of Mozart’s Flute Quartets and Beethoven’s Serenade was performed on an original Grenser 4-keyed flute. As a valued principal player in some of Europe's best period instrument orchestras she also features prominently on many discs of orchestral music from Bach to Brahms playing original and reproduction flutes from her collection. She is proud to have been amongst the group of musicians who got together in 1986 to found the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Lisa enjoys teaching and holds an international reputation as a flute teacher and coach. Many of her former students are successful and well-known flautists

“Not all orchestras are the same” Three decades ago, a group of inquisitive London musicians took a long hard look at that curious institution we call the Orchestra, and decided to start again from scratch. They began by throwing out the rulebook. Put a single conductor in charge?

No way. Specialise in repertoire of a particular era? Too restricting. Perfect a work and then move on? Too lazy. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was born.

And as this distinctive ensemble playing on period-specific instruments began to get a foothold, it made a promise to itself. It vowed to keep questioning, adapting and inventing as long as it lived. Those original instruments became just one element of its quest for authenticity.

Baroque and Classical music became just one strand of its repertoire. Every time the musical establishment thought it had a handle on what the OAE was all about, the ensemble pulled out another shocker: a Symphonie Fantastique here, some conductor-less Bach there. All the while, the Orchestra’s players called the shots.

At first it felt like a minor miracle. Ideas and talent were plentiful; money wasn’t. Somehow, the OAE survived to a year. Then to two. Then to five. It began to make benchmark recordings and attract the finest conductors. It became the toast of the European touring circuit. It bagged distinguished residencies at Southbank Centre and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. It began, before long, to thrive. And then came the real challenge.

The ensemble’s musicians were branded eccentric idealists. And that they were determined to remain.

In the face of the music industry’s big guns, the OAE kept its head. It got organised but remained experimentalist. It sustained its founding drive but welcomed new talent. It kept on exploring performance formats, rehearsal approaches and musical techniques. It searched for the right repertoire, instruments and approaches with even greater resolve. It kept true to its founding vow.

In some small way, the OAE changed the classical music world too. It challenged those distinguished partner organisations and brought the very best from them, too. Symphony and opera orchestras began to ask it for advice. Existing period instrument groups started to vary their conductors and repertoire. New ones popped up all over Europe and America.

And so the story continues, with ever more momentum and vision. The OAE’s series of nocturnal Night Shift performances have redefined concert parameters. Its home at Acland Burghley School, Camden has fostered further diversity of planning and music-making. The ensemble has formed the bedrock for some of Glyndebourne’s most ground-breaking recent productions.

Remarkable people are behind it. Simon Rattle, the young conductor in whom the OAE placed so much of its initial trust, still cleaves to the ensemble.

Iván Fischer, the visionary who punted some of his most individual musical ideas on the young orchestra, continues to challenge it. Mark Elder still mines it for luminosity, shade and line. Vladimir Jurowski, the podium technician with an insatiable appetite for creative renewal, has drawn from it some of the most revelatory noises of recent years. And, most recently, it’s been a laboratory for John Butt’s most exciting Bach experiments. All five of them share the title Principal Artist.

Of the instrumentalists, many remain from those brave first days; many have come since. All seem as eager and hungry as ever. They’re offered ever greater respect, but continue only to question themselves. Because still, they pride themselves on sitting ever so slightly outside the box. They wouldn’t want it any other way. ©Andrew Mellor

ABOUT THE FITZROVIA CHAPEL The Fitzrovia Chapel was built by architect John Loughborough Pearson as a quiet place for reflection for the medical staff and patients at Middlesex Hospital.

Construction began on the chapel’s red brick exterior in 1891, when Pearson was already nearing the end of his life. His son and apprentice, Frank, took over after his father’s death, writing to the board of hospital governors to tell them of his father’s death, and his own wish to complete the project. The finished chapel is a combination of both their designs, and reflects the influences of Gothic European architecture in the work of both men. The first service in the chapel was held on Christmas Day 1891, with an official opening ceremony by the Bishop of London taking place in June 1892.

The chapel took more than 25 years to complete. It includes 17 types of marble used in its finished design. In its early life, it housed candlesticks, effigies, pews and altar cloths — all purchases which were made possible through fundraising by the medical community The chapel hosted regular services throughout the week, led by the Middlesex’s resident chaplain.

Sermons were broadcast throughout the wards over hospital radio so that those too sick to visit could be a part of the chapel’s activity. On two occasions, the BBC broadcasted from the chapel as part of a series of national hospital radio shows.

Never fully consecrated, the chapel served as a place of solace, reflection and rest for staff and patients and their families. It was always open between services, and groups of different faiths (and none) from within the hospital gathered in the tiny building throughout the working week. Marriages between medical staff, or between very ill patients and their partners, took place here, as well as concerts, memorials, seasonable celebrations and choir rehearsals.

Many present-day visitors have spent time here before, whether as a medical professional, family member or patient and the memories they share contain moving descriptions of chapel life in the past.

Doctors or nurses visiting to find quiet after a difficult shift; porters sitting quietly in the candlelight reflecting on a day’s work; mothers taking their first trip out of the ward with their new-borns; or families and friends returning to the chapel time after time while caring for their loved ones. This tiny chapel provided a space for the population of the Middlesex Hospital to attend to their interior lives — their needs, hopes, griefs and celebrations were routinely observed beneath its starry ceiling.

The chapel is open to the public each Wednesday between 11am and 4pm. Entrance is free. It is also available to hire for weddings, exhibitions, shoots and recordings. For more information about this beautiful venue, please visit Fitzroviachapel.org Instagram @fitzroviachapel

OAE TEAM

Orchestra Consultant Philippa Brownsword

Life President Sir Martin Smith

Chief Executive Crispin Woodhead

Choir Manager David Clegg

Finance and Governance Director Pascale Nicholls

Librarian Colin Kitching

Board of Directors Imogen Overli [Chairman] Steven Devine Denys Firth Adrian Frost Nigel Jones Max Mandel David Marks Rebecca Miller Roger Montgomery Andrew Roberts Katharina Spreckelsen Matthew Shorter Dr. Susan Tranter Crispin Woodhead

Development Director Emily Stubbs Projects Director Jo Perry Education Director Cherry Forbes Communications Director Elle Docx General Manager Edward Shaw Education Officer Andrew Thomson Projects Officer Sophie Adams Finance Officer Fabio Lodato Digital Content Officer Zen Grisdale

Leaders Huw Daniel Kati Debretzeni Margaret Faultless Matthew Truscott Players’ Artistic Committee Steven Devine Max Mandel Roger Montgomery Andrew Roberts Katharina Spreckelsen Principal Artists John Butt Sir Mark Elder Iván Fischer Vladimir Jurowski Sir Simon Rattle Sir András Schiff Emeritus Conductors William Christie Sir Roger Norrington

Marketing and Press Officer Anna Bennett Box Office and Data Manager Carly Mills Head of Individual Giving and Digital Development Marina Abel Smith Development Operations Officer Kiki Betts-Dean

Life President

OAE Trust Adrian Frost [Chairman] Mark Allen Paul Forman Steven Larcombe Alison McFadyen Caroline Noblet Imogen Overli Rupert Sebag-Montefiore Maarten Slendebroek Sir Martin Smith Caroline Steane Honorary Council Sir Victor Blank Edward Bonham Carter Cecelia Bruggemeyer Stephen Levinson Marshall Marcus Julian Mash Greg Melgaard Susan Palmer OBE Jan Schlapp Diane Segalen Susannah Simons Lady Smith OBE Rosalyn Wilkinson Mark Williams

SUPPORTERS OAE Thirty Circle

We are particularly grateful to the following members of the Thirty Circle who have so

generously contributed to the re-financing

of the Orchestra through the OAE Trust.

Thirty Circle Patrons Bob and Laura Cory

Sir Martin Smith and Lady Smith OBE Thirty Circle Members

Victoria and Edward Bonham Carter

Nigel Jones and Françoise Valat-Jones

Selina and David Marks

Julian and Camilla Mash

Mark and Rosamund Williams

OAE Experience scheme

Ann and Peter Law

Corporate Partners

Jonathan and Tessa Gaisman - Viola

Michael and Harriet Maunsell - Principal Keyboard

Champagne Deutz

Jenny and Tim Morrison

Swan Turton

Caroline Noblet

Corporate Associates

Andrew Nurnberg

Bannenberg and Rowell

Professor Richard Portes

Mark Allen Group

Aston Lark Gelato

Season Patrons

John Armitage Charitable Trust Julian and Annette Armstrong Adrian Frost

Nigel Jones and Françoise Valat-Jones

Selina and David Marks

Imogen and Haakon Overli

Sir Martin Smith and Lady Smith OBE Philip and Rosalyn Wilkinson

Mark and Rosamund Williams

One Anonymous Donor Project Patrons

Anthony and Celia Edwards Bruce Harris

One Anonymous Donor Aria Patrons

Steven Larcombe Stanley Lowy

Gary and Nina Moss

Rupert Sebag-Montefiore

Maarten and Taina Slendebroek

Caroline Steane Eric Tomsett

Chair Patrons

Mrs Nicola Armitage

- Education Director

Hugh and Michelle Arthur - Double Bass

Katharine Campbell - Violin

Victoria and Edward Bonham Carter -PrincipalTrumpet

Christina - Flute

Ian S Ferguson and Dr Susan Tranter - Double Bass

James Flynn QC

- Principal Lute/Theorbo

Paul Forman

- Principal Cello, Principal Horn, Violin

- Second Violin - Oboe

- Principal Oboe

- Principal Bassoon

John and Rosemary Shannon - Principal Horn

Sue Sheridan OBE - Education

Roger and Pam Stubbs - Clarinet

Crispin Woodhead and Christine Rice - Principal Timpani

Education Patrons

Mrs Nicola Armitage

Patricia and Stephen Crew Rory and Louise Landman

Sir Timothy and Lady Lloyd

Andrew & Cindy Peck

Professor Richard Portes CBE FBA Rising Stars Supporters

Annette and Julian Armstrong Denys and Vicki Firth Bruce Harris

Ms Madeleine Hodgkin Mrs Sarah Holford

Nigel Jones and Francoise Valat-Jones Peter & Veronica Lofthouse Mr Andrew Nurnberg

Old Possum's Practical Trust Imogen and Haakon Overli

Associate Patrons

Charles and Julia Abel Smith Noël and Caroline Annesley

Sir Richard Arnold and Mary Elford

Catherine and Barney Burgess David and Marilyn Clark David Emmerson

Elisabeth Green in Memory of June Mockett

Peter and Sally Hilliar

Moira and Robert Latham

Sir Timothy and Lady Lloyd

Alison McFadyen

Roger Mears and Joanie Speers

David Mildon in memory of Lesley Mildon

Stuart Martin

Michael Marks Charitable Trust

Stephen and Penny Pickles

Old Possum’s Practical Trust

Paul Rivlin

Palazzetto Bru-Zane

MM Design - France

Cynthia and Neil McClennan

Jonathan Parker Charitable Trust

John Ransom

Peter Rosenthal

Alan Sainer

Emily Stubbs and Stephen McCrum

Mr and Mrs Tony Timms

The Patrick Rowland Foundation

David Wilson

Peter Stebbings Memorial Charity

John Nickson and Simon Rew Andrew and Cindy Peck

Ivor Samuels and Gerry Wakelin Shelley von Strunckel Mr J Westwood

Matthew & Sarah Shorter Mrs Joy Whitby

Two Anonymous Donors

Six Anonymous Donors

Gold Friends

Young Patron

Gerard Cleary

Elizabeth George

Michael Brecknell Mr and Mrs C Cochin de Billy

Ed Abel Smith David Gillbe

Chris Gould

Sam Hucklebridge

David and Ruth Samuels

Peter Yardley-Jones

Anthony and Carol Rentoul Mr Anthony Thompson

Henry Mason

Two Anonymous Donors

Young Ambassador Patron

Silver Friends

Jessica Kemp

Haylee and Michael Bowsher

Rebecca Miller

Dennis and Sheila Baldry

Tony Burt

Christopher Campbell

Marianne and William Cartwright-Hignett Breandán Knowlton

Apax Foundation

Rachel & Charles Henderson

Ashley Family Foundation

Malcolm Herring

Patricia Herrmann

Rupert and Alice King

Alison and Ian Lowdon

Chivers Trust

Chapman Charitable Trust Derek Hill Foundation

Bronze Friends

Dyers Company

Dan Burt

D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Ernest Cook Trust

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Fidelio Charitable Trust Foyle Foundation

Sir Anthony & Lady Cleaver

Garfield Weston Foundation

Roger Easy

Geoffrey Watling Charity

Michael A Conlon Mrs SM Edge

Mrs Mary Fysh

Stephen & Cristina Goldring Martin and Helen Haddon

Garrick Charitable Trust Henocq Law Trust

JMCMRJ Sorrell Foundation J Paul Getty Jnr

General Charitable Trust

Ray and Liz Harsant

John Lyon’s Charity

Mrs Auriel Hill

Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust

The Lady Heseltine Julian Markson

PF Charitable Trust

Pitt-Rivers Charitable Trust Radcliffe Trust

Rainbow Dickinson Trust RK Charitable Trust

Schroder Charity Trust Sir James Knott Trust Sobell Foundation

Stanley Picker Trust

The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust The Loveday Charitable Trust

The R&I Pilkington Charitable Trust The Vernon Ellis Foundation

Brian Mitchell Charitable Settlement

Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust

Simon and Karen Taube

Graham and Claire Buckland

Peter Cundill Foundation

Boshier-Hinton Foundation

Two Anonymous Donors

Robin Broadhurst

Paul Bassham Charitable Trust

Barbour Foundation

The Charles Peel Charitable Trust

Tony Baines

Parabola Foundation

Arts Council England

Susannah Simons

Her Honour Suzanne Stewart

Orchestras Live

Trusts & Foundations

Mr and Mrs Michael Cooper

Anthony and Jo Diamond

National Foundation for Youth Music

Linbury Trust

Metropolitan Masonic Charity

The OAE continues to grow and thrive through the generosity of our supporters.

We are very grateful to our sponsors and Patrons and hope you will consider joining them. We offer a close involvement in the life of the Orchestra with many opportunities to meet players, attend rehearsals and even accompany us on tour.

For more information on supporting the OAE please contact Emily Stubbs Development Director

emily.stubbs@oae.co.uk

0208 159 9318

WE MOVED INTO A SCHOOL We are thrilled to announce that we are now the resident orchestra of Acland Burghley School in Camden, North London. The residency – a first for a British orchestra – allows us to live, work and play amongst the students of the school.

Three offices have been adapted for our administration team, alongside a recording studio and library. We use the Grade II listed school assembly hall as a rehearsal space, with plans to refurbish it under the school’s ‘A Theatre for All’ project, so for the first time, we will all be in the same place: players, staff and library!

Crispin Woodhead, our chief executive who came up with the idea of a new partnership, says: “Our accommodation at Kings Place was coming to an agreed end and we needed to find a new home. I felt that we should not settle for a conventional office space solution. We already had a strong relationship with many schools in Camden through our education programme and our appeal hit the desk of Kat Miller, director of operations at Acland Burghley School. She was working on ways to expand the school’s revenue from its resources and recognised that their excellent school hall might be somewhere we could rehearse.

It felt like a thunderbolt and meant we wanted to find a way for this place to be our home, and embark on this new adventure to challenge and transform the way we engage with young adults.”

The school isn't just our landlord or physical home. Instead, it will offer the opportunity to build on twenty years of work in the borough through OAE’s long-standing partnership with Camden Music. Having already worked in eighteen of the local primary schools that feed into ABS, the plans moving forward are to support music and arts across the school into the wider community. This new move underpins our core ‘enlightenment’ mission of reaching as wide an audience as possible.

A similar project was undertaken in 2015 in Bremen, Germany. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie moved into a local comprehensive school in a deprived area and the results were described as “transformational”, with improved academic performance, language skills, mental health and IQ scores; reputational benefits; greater interest in and engagement with music among pupils; strengthened links between school, orchestra and community; and even, according to some of the musicians who took part, an improvement in the Kammerphilharmonie’s playing.

Margaret Faultless, OAE leader and violinist, said: “As classical musicians, it can often feel as though we exist in a bubble. I think I can speak for the whole Orchestra when I say that we’re all looking forward to this new adventure. We are all used to meeting with people from outside the classical music world of course, but the value of our new project lies in the long-term work we’ll be doing at the school and the relationship that will hopefully develop between the students, their parents and teachers and the orchestra.”

“The members of the Bremen Kammerphilharmonie said their experience actually improved them as an orchestra and I think the same will happen to us over the next five or so years, and it will remind all of us of the reasons we make music, which are sometimes easy to forget, especially in our strange and troubled times.” continues Margaret. “I am certainly looking forward to learning from the young people at Acland Burghley and in turn introducing them to the joys of our music and music-making.”

The move has been made possible with a leadership grant of £120,000 from The Linbury Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts. Their support is facilitating the move to the school and underwriting the first three years of education work.

OAE EDUCATION A PROGRAMME TO INVOLVE, EMPOWER AND INSPIRE Over the past twenty years OAE Education has grown in stature and reach to involve thousands of people nationwide in creative music projects. Our participants come from a wide range of backgrounds and we pride ourselves in working flexibly, adapting to the needs of local people and the places they live.

The extensive partnerships we have built up over many years help us engage fully with all the communities where we work to ensure maximum and lasting impact. We take inspiration from the OAE's repertoire, instruments and players.

This makes for a vibrant, challenging and engaging programme where everyone is involved; players, animateurs, composers, participants, teachers, partners and stakeholders all have a valued voice.

SUPPORT OUR EDUCATION PROGRAMME The work we do could not happen without the support of our generous donors.

If you would like to support our education programme please contact Marina Abel Smith, Head of Individual Giving and Digital Development marina.abelsmith@oae.co.uk 0208 159 9319

OAE TOTS at Saffron Hall

oae.co.uk orchestraoftheageofenlightenment theoae oae_photos

The OAE is a registered charity number 295329 Registered company number 2040312.

Acland Burghley School, 93 Burghley Road, London NW5 1UH 0208 159 9310 | info@oae.co.uk Photography | Zen Grisdale