Faronel

December 12th 7.30pm

Following our concert earlier this year in the atmospheric surroundings of All Saints’ church in Herstmonceux, we are delighted that the Rector and churchwardens have invited us back to give a Christmas concert on 12 December. The programme will include merry carols, rousing dances, and some more reflective works. Many of them will be tunes you might recognise, but hadn’t realised were originally that old. There will be suitably festive refreshments to enjoy in the interval, and if you’re still looking for interesting Christmas gift ideas you could also buy a copy of our CD, Douce Dame Jolie!

We are very pleased to have been invited to present the opening concert of the 2015 Hailsham Arts Festival on September 12th at 12.00pm in Hailsham Parish Church. The festival has been running for some years now and contains a wide range of events spanning a multiplicity of disciplines within the arts. A particular feature is its spotlight on the many cultural activities within the local community, and as Faronel is based in East Sussex not far from Hailsham we are ourselves part of that diverse local arts scene! We shall be presenting a programme of lighter music from the medieval and renaissance periods featuring the wide diversity of instruments that we play (about twenty at the last count!) and some vocal works too. More details of the festival may be found at www.hailshamartsfestival.co.uk.

Saturday 29 August 7.30pm, St George’s Church, Wrotham, Kent

Our next concert focuses on music for pilgrimages, and appropriately enough we will be presenting it in a church that stands on the ancient Pilgrims Way to Canterbury in Kent, along which Geoffrey Chaucer travelled in the late 1300s. The first half will feature music from Chaucer’s time, including examples of rondeaux, virelais and ballades, and songs and dances from fourteenth century England and France. All of the instruments we will play are mentioned in Chaucer’s works – organ, harpe, fidel, ribible (rebec), cornamuse and shalmeys (bagpipes and shawm), pype (recorder) and nakers (drum).

The second half will concentrate on music associated with pilgrimages to the tomb of St James at Santiago de Compostela in Spain; the repertoire will include works from the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat and the Codex Calextinus as well as music from trecento Italy. See http://www.wrothammusicfestival.com for more details.

If you can’t make it to Wrotham you’ll have another chance to hear the programme at the the pilgrim church of St Mary de Haura, Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex in the spring – more details soon!

Our Music and Murals concert in the picturesque setting of West Somerton church in Norfolk was geared towards celebrating the restoration of the church and its magnificent murals with music appropriate to the various periods of the building’s construction. From the 13th century, when the church was first constructed, we played some early dances and English songs; from the 14th century, when the murals were painted, we included music by Machaut, Landini, the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat and some French Ballades.

We finished the concert with English music of the early 15th century contemporary with the beautiful chancel.

Our thanks go to the Rev. Selwyn Tillett and his parishioners who made us so welcome during our visit.

We are hugely looking forward to our next concert in Norfolk which is inspired by the magnificent newly-restored wall paintings at West Somerton church. The programme will include 14th century repertoire contemporary with the paintings, including works by Machaut, Landini and Vaillant and music from the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat as sung by pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostella.

Pastyme with Good Companye

Early Music in All Saints, Herstmonceux: Saturday 25 April 7.30

Faronel will be giving a concert at All Saints’ Church on 25 April. Faronel consists of a trio of musicians who aim to demystify this fascinating area of repertoire with entertaining and informative explanations about the music and its instruments, many of which are rarely heard today. All Saints’ will ring to the sound of crumhorns, bagpipes, rebecs, harp and much else in a programme which will begin with medieval music from France, England and Italy, and move on to focus on works from the court of Henry VIII, including some pieces by Good King Hal himself.

Among the medieval works to be performed will be many which are as old as the church itself, such as the Hymn to St Nicholas by St Godric (the earliest surviving song in English), the 12th Century Hymn of St Magnus from the Orkneys, and the world’s oldest piece of keyboard music from a 14th century manuscript discovered just a few miles away in Robertsbridge. The second half will include love songs by Henry VIII, ceremonial music from the Tudor court and sacred works by some of the foreign musicians who were attracted to England by the generous artistic patronage of the monarch.

Tickets £8 on the door, free for under 18s.

Two concerts booked already for 2015 – but we’ve room for more if you would like us to perform for you!

All Saints, Herstmonceux – 25 April 2015

Faronel will be performing a programme featuring a sequence exploring fourteenth century music in England, together with a visit to the court of Henry VIII to find out about the music that was written for him, and the music he wrote himself.

St Mary’s, West Somerton (near Great Yarmouth) – 6 June 2015

St Mary’s church in West Somerton has a wonderful series of fourteenth-century wall paintings. Faronel will be performing a concert devoted to music that might have been heard while the wall paintings were new! This will be an exciting evening because there will also be an explanation of the paintings and their significance.

Apologies for the late updating of the website but a slight technical problem separated us from the website content!

Faronel has just enjoyed the hospitality of Eastbourne College for an exciting concert of music around the court of Henry VIII.

The programme included music from church and court as well as some of the popular dances of the period and – of course – some of Henry’s own music.

The performance was well received and, to judge by the numbers of questions and the animated discussions afterwards, excited a lot of interest and curiosity.

We really enjoyed the concerts over the summer and it looks as though our audiences did too.

After the Whitstable concert we spent a couple of days recording some of our repertoire and our first CD is due to be released in mid December. Douce Dame Jolie features many of the instruments we play plus some vocal pieces too. The music ranges from the 11th to the early 17th centuries, and includes works from some early collections such as Odhecaton, the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat and the Henry VIII manuscript, plus music by composers such as Dufay, Machaut, Cavazzoni, Susato and Gibbons. Details of how you can obtain your copy will be posted here soon. In the meantime you can listen to some extracts by clicking the links below:

Douce Dame Jolie

O Virgo Splendens

Emperorse Pavan

Dit le Bourgignon/Branle d’Ecosse

We are now busy planning our 2013 concert series: watch this space for details in the new year!

9 June  Pastyme with Good Companye: Medieval and Renaissance Music with Faronel
A concert of music for voices and a variety of early instruments, including rebecs, recorders, crumhorns, harp, organ, symphony, bagpipes and medieval fiddle. The programme includes sacred and secular music from the medieval period, and celebrating the royal theme of the Diamond Jubilee week, the second half will feature music from the court of King Henry VIII
St Peter and St Mary’s Church, Wilmington, East Sussex. 7.30pm. Tickets £10 concessions £8. Tickets: 01323 488824
14 July All Saints, Waldron, East Sussex. 7.30pm
27 July Between the earth and the sphere. St Alphege’s Church, Whitstable, Kent. 3.30pm. Tickets: 07802 735190