Music Appreciation: Anniversaries and Events on the System

The main emphasis on the course concerns local events and significant anniversaries of composers or artists. 2024 Is a particularly good year for Anniversaries. The National Gallery will be celebrating 200 years since its Foundation and the bulk of the artistic content of the course will focus on its permanent Collection.

This will include a chronological survey of key artworks with musical accompaniment. The Renaissance will feature works by Giotto, Van Eyck, Boticelli, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Holbein and Titian, inter alia. The musical element will include Dufay, Josquin, Taverner, and Tallis (inter alia).

The Baroque era of Rubens Velazquez Carravaggio and Rembrandt (et al) will be complemented by the music of Monteverdi, Purcell and Bach (inter alia).

The eighteenth century Hogarth, Gainsborough ,Canaletto and Joseph Wright will be accompanied by Handel, Mozart Vivaldi and Haydn. Beethoven and Schubert will accompany Turner and Constable. The sessions on Turner will serve as a taster for next year’s anniversary celebrations.

We will also refer to exhibitions of Expressionism at Tate Modern and John Singer Sargent at Tate Britain. Significant Anniversaries will include composers Josef Suk, Bedrich Smetana and Charles Villiers Stanford. Anniversary artists will include Theodore Gericault, Josef Israels, Eduardo Paolozzi and Anthony Caro.