The Divine Office, 24–28 September 2018

The Divine Office

Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Westminster Cathedral Choir | The Tallis Scholars | Stile Antico Contrapunctus | Intrada | Vigilate | Magdalen College Choir Merton College Choir | New College Choir | Queen’s College Choir Instruments of Time & Truth | The Brook Street Band

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Front cover illustration: choir of Christ Church Cathedral, aquatint 1813 by F.C. Lewis after F. Nash.

This page: Merton College, etching

by Mortimer Menpes (1855–1938).

Opposite, top: Oxford High Street, after a photograph by J. Valentine.

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Contents The concerts.....................................4–5 The Divine Office Day....................6–7 Choirs and musicians..................8–10 Chapels and venues....................11–12 Accommodation and prices......13–14 Further practicalities....................... 15 Pre-festival tour: Arts & Crafts in the Cotswolds......... 16 Booking form..............................17–18 Booking details and conditions..... 19

The Divine Office

Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018 Ten choirs and instrumental groups, seven chapels and churches, seventeen concerts, four lectures: this triennial festival is a truly extraordinary musical, architectural and spiritual experience.

Caution need not inhibit the use of the word unique.

The oldest and finest college choirs

A beautiful and suitable city

Provision for music to accompany the liturgy was stipulated by the founders of the major early colleges at Oxford, and choral church music there is still very much a living tradition. Magdalen, Merton, New College and Queen’s College choirs remain among the finest in Oxford and enjoy international reputations for excellence. All perform in this festival.

Oxford is one of the world’s great historic cities: a dense accumulation of architecture in every style from the twelfth to the twenty-first century embedded in a web of picturesque streets and alleys and dappled with lawns, veteran trees and riverside meadows.

Many of Britain’s professional singers were members of college choirs here. As a consequence of this apprenticeship at Oxford and a couple of other universities, English liturgical and consort singing is the best in the world.

Reflecting their quasi-monastic origins, many colleges are equipped with cloistral layouts and magnificent chapels, which make Oxford a uniquely apposite location for a celebration of church music – and especially for a recreation of the monastic hours.

Acclaimed professional ensembles

The Divine Office Day itself

Six professional choirs also participate: The Tallis Scholars, the world’s leading performers of Renaissance repertoire; Westminster Cathedral Choir, among the most exalted of liturgical choirs and uniquely experienced in plainsong; Stile Antico, an exciting ensemble which has rapidly risen to international acclaim; Intrada, an exciting new Russia-based ensemble; Contrapunctus, a consort that couples powerful interpretations with path-breaking scholarship; and Vigilate, an Oxford-based group which specialises in chant.

A unique feature of the festival is the complete Divine Office, the eight services of the monastic day, performed at the intended times – which means beginning at 1.00am and ending at about 10.00pm.

Two top-class period instrument ensembles also participate, Instruments of Time & Truth, an ensemble drawn from among the leading specialist players in England, and The Brook Street Band, one of the country’s foremost interpreters of the music of Handel and his contemporaries.

Oxford and international composers The music ranges from the Renaissance to the present day, and is from many countries across Europe as well as Britain. Music from the Tudor and early Stuart period (Taverner, Tallis, Sheppard), the golden age of English choral composition, underpins several of the programmes, and their Franco-Flemish, Italian and Spanish contemporaries (Josquin, Palestrina, Victoria) also feature spectacularly. There are Baroque and Classical pieces – the festival finishes with Mozart’s Requiem – and also music from the Late Romantic period (Brahms, Parry, Rachmaninov). The twentieth and twenty-first centuries are also represented.

An exciting feature of the festival is that there are so many compositions by Oxford men, people who studied or taught here, from John Taverner (the first Master of Music at Christ Church) to Matthew Martin (current Director of Music at Keble), via Daniel Purcell and Sir John Stainer (both Informator Choristarum at Magdalen) and many others.

Even were you to skip the less agreeably timed Offices, you would still be exposed to the oldest living musically-enriched ritual in the world. The most spiritually charged and aesthetically intense experience to have emerged from western civilization has, in essentials, changed little in fifteen hundred years.

With nine fine choirs taking part, this rendering of the Divine Office will be musically as sublime as any in its history.

Highly complex but immaculately administered Since 1994, Martin Randall Travel has devised and run nearly ninety music festivals in a dozen European countries. Their defining feature is that they place great music, brilliantly performed, in appropriate historic buildings.

The company has won accolades not only for promoting exceptional musical experiences but also for its skilful management of these highly complex events.

An all-inclusive festival Access to the concerts is exclusive to those who buy a package which includes accommodation in hotels or college rooms, some dinners, lectures and much else besides. See page 13 for details of what is included.

The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

The concerts Magdalen College Choir in Magdalen College Chapel

The Tallis Scholars in Christ Church Cathedral

Drawing on the wealth of music connected with Oxford, Mark Williams directs the choir in a programme entirely by Oxford composers including works by John Sheppard (Libera nos, salva nos), John Taverner (Dum transisset sabbatum), Daniel Purcell (Nunc Dimittis), John Stainer (God so loved the world from The Crucifixion) and Bernard Rose (Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house).

The Oxford connection lies with Matthew Martin, whose Lamentations were composed in 2017. Otherwise the programme consists of Continental Renaissance pieces: Palestrina’s Credo from the Missa Papae Marcelli, Gombert’s Credo a 8, Absalom fili mi

by Josquin and two versions of Virgo prudentissima, by Palestrina and Heinrich Isaac. This programme will display the world’s finest interpreters of Renaissance polyphony at their very best.

Merton College Choir in Merton College Chapel

New College Choir in New College Chapel

Merton’s choristers begin their concert with motets by Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1555–1612), Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) and Johannes Brahms (1833–1897). There follows a carol by Benjamin Britten (1913–1976), Hymn to the Virgin, written when the composer was a schoolboy. The Magnificat by Ēriks Ešenvalds was commissioned for the Merton Choirbook, a celebration of the College’s 750th anniversary in 2014. The programme ends with an anthem by Edward Elgar and a piece by one of Oxford’s youngest undergraduates, William Walton.

Programme to be announced.

Illustration below: New College, late-18th-century engraving.

Opposite; photographs, from top: audience members on The Divine Office in 2015 in Merton College Chapel ©Bill Knight; Instruments of Time & Truth ©Nick Rutter.

‘It would be impossible to experience such a wonderful programme except with Martin Randall Travel.’

Previous participant on The Divine Office.

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Queen’s College Choir in Merton College Chapel The programme is dedicated to one of the greatest of English composers, and the first organist of Christ Church College (then Cardinal College), John Taverner (c. 1490–1545). Works include Leroy Kyrie, Audivi vocem de caelo and the magnificent Mass setting, Missa Gloria tibi trinitas.

The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Please see pages 6–7 for details of all performances on The Divine Office Day; pages 8–10 for information about the choirs and musicians; and pages 11–12 for chapels and venues.

Stile Antico in New College Chapel Arguably the finest work of the Spanish Renaissance, Tomás Luis de Victoria’s intense settings of the Tenebrae Responsories provide an unrivalled glimpse into the Catholic liturgy at the height of the church year. The Responsories were traditionally performed in the services at the end of Holy Week, and the emotionally charged motets follow the story of Christ’s passion from his betrayal to his burial.

Intrada in the University Church of St Mary Sergei Rachmaninoff ’s Vespers is the best-known, and perhaps quite simply the best, musical setting of Russian Orthodox liturgy.

More properly named All-Night Vigil as it also includes Matins, Lauds and Prime, it was the product of a movement to recover the authentic sounds of church singing before it was corrupted by western influence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Composed in 1915 – turbulent times – it immediately won popularity; after the Revolution two years later it was rarely heard in its native land. Russian choirs have now reclaimed it, splendidly.

The Brook Street Band in The Queen’s College Chapel Baroque chamber music is offered as an instrumental interlude midway through the festival, of similar date to the chapel in which it is played. The Brook Street Band perform trio sonatas (three parts, more players) by J.S. Bach and also G.F. Handel, a regular visitor to Oxford, where the university conferred on him an honorary doctorate.

Merton College Choir & Instruments of Time & Truth in New College Chapel The final concert consists of Mozart’s Requiem Mass, on which the composer was working at the time of his death. There have been many attempts to finish the work, but generally the first, that by Mozart’s pupil, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, is regarded as the most loyal to the style and spirit of the master. The piece has come to occupy the highest pinnacle in the cannon of western music, its heartrending beauty and emotional force bursting beyond the ‘Classical’ category to which it is formally assigned. The soloists are Daisy Brown (soprano), Alex Chance (alto), Gwilym Bowen (tenor) and James Rutherford (bass). Benjamin Nicholas, director of music at Merton College, is the conductor.

This brochure was written and designed in house. The text was written and edited by Martin Randall and Sarah Pullen. The layout was designed by Jo Murray. It was sent to print on 25th August 2017.

More about the concerts Exclusive access. The concerts are private, being planned and administered by Martin Randall Travel exclusively for an audience of c. 200 who have taken the full festival package.

Tickets for individual concerts may be put on sale from August 2018, if any spare places remain, to those who have registered interest before this date.

Secular. All performances are concerts rather than religious services.

Duration. Most are a little less than an hour. Matins may be 80 minutes, while four of the Offices are about half an hour. None of the concerts has an interval.

Seats. Specific seats are not reserved. You sit were you want or where there is space. Most seating is in stalls or pews.

Repeats. Only two of the venues used for this festival, the University Church of St Mary and New College Chapel, can accommodate the whole audience with satisfactory acoustics and sightlines. Concerts in the other venues are therefore repeated – or, for the Divine Office itself, there are two simultaneous performances.

You don’t have to attend them all! Seventeen concerts is a lot to absorb in five days. To conserve energy it might be wise to omit one or two.

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The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

The Divine Office Day

The central component of the festival is the performance of the complete Divine Office, within the span of a single day and at the appropriate times. There are eight Offices of the Hours; the first, Matins, begins at 1.00am and the eighth, Compline, finishes towards 10.00pm.

The principal features of the Offices are the chanting of psalms with their antiphons, the singing of hymns and canticles, and the chanting of readings from the Bible with sung responsories. The most spiritually charged musical tradition to have emerged from western civilization has, in essentials, changed little in nearly fifteen hundred years. Aspects may go back further: the roots of plainchant (‘Gregorian’ chant) may lie in Jewish or Pharaonic practice.

Though this ‘performance’ of the Divine Office (they are concerts, not services) is basically an authentic rendering as might have been performed in late-mediaeval or Renaissance Britain or Europe, there are some departures from liturgical correctness. It does not follow the texts prescribed for a particular day, and we err on the side of musical elaboration beyond what is canonically necessary. The polyphonic passages have been selected from among the finest ever composed, within an overarching Marian theme, though this is hardly limiting.

Seven choirs take part, two of which – The Tallis Scholars, Westminster Cathedral Choir – have opted to participate in all eight Offices. There are two challenges facing contemporary choirs wishing to perform the complete Divine Office, apart from sleep deprivation: vocal stamina, and the quantity of plainchant whose singing is a specialist skill not easily mastered. Our solution is to engage two choirs for most of the Hours, one to perform the chant and the other the polyphony, which used to be standard practice in the better endowed cathedrals and colleges.

Were you to attend all eight Hours, you would become one of an elite few among living souls who had done so, so rare is the opportunity now. Even were you to skip the less agreeably timed ones, you would be exposed to what is one of the most potent spiritual and aesthetic experiences available in the world today.

Moreover it could be said, at the risk of divine wrath for extreme hubris, that, musically, this manifestation of the Divine Office will rank as the finest ever performed (along with the two previous editions of this festival), it being unprecedented for so many firstrate choirs to participate.

As the capacity of the chapels is limited, all but one of the Offices are performed in two chapels simultaneously. Audience members are assigned to a particular stream of the eight Hours to ensure maximum variety of choirs and chapels.

We shall ask that there be no applause at any time during this extraordinary day, and that silence prevail while in the chapels.

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The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Matins, 1.00am

None, 3.30pm

The liturgical day starts with the Night Office, potentially the longest of the Canonical Hours, though we are limiting it to 60 minutes. Musically it is also one of the most important of the Offices, including some of the most ancient chants and finishing with a Te Deum.

The last of the ‘Little Hours’, with a duration of about half an hour.

Merton College Chapel: Merton College Choir (polyphony) and the men of Westminster Cathedral Choir (chant).

Christ Church Cathedral: The Tallis Scholars (polyphony) and Vigilate (chant).

Lauds, 4.00am Also called Morning Prayer, Lauds, which in high summer might be at daybreak, is musically also one of the three most important Offices. It includes the canticle Beata es Maria.

Christ Church Cathedral: The Tallis Scholars (polyphony) and Vigilate (chant).

The Queen’s College Chapel: The Queen’s College Choir (polyphony) and the men of Westminster Cathedral Choir (chant).

All Souls College Chapel: The Tallis Scholars (polyphony) and Vigilate (chant).

Vespers, 6.45pm Vespers is musically the most significant of the Offices, being the first to admit polyphony and progressing to become the arena for some of the greatest music ever written. The Magnificat is the principal canticle. The boys join the men of Westminster Cathedral Choir.

Merton College Chapel: The Tallis Scholars (polyphony) and Vigilate (chant).

The Queen’s College Chapel: Westminster Cathedral Choir.

Merton College Chapel: Stile Antico (polyphony) and the men of Westminster Cathedral Choir (chant).

Supper follows in either Magdalen or Trinity College Hall.

Prime, 6.30am

The last Office of the day features the singing of the votive antiphon of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

A short service, the first of the ‘Little Hours’, we have timed this so that the congregations enter the chapels before dawn and leave in daylight – and therefore chosen chapels with outstanding stained glass.

Magdalen College Chapel: the men of Westminster Cathedral Choir (chant and polyphony).

All Souls College Chapel: The Tallis Scholars (polyphony) and Vigilate (chant).

Terce & Mass, 9.15am The second of the ‘Little Hours’ is followed immediately by Morning Mass, the principal service of the Catholic Church.

New College Chapel has the capacity to accommodate the whole audience so there is only one performance of this Office.

Compline, 9.15pm

All Souls College Chapel: Stile Antico (polyphony) and the men of Westminster Cathedral Choir (chant).

Christ Church Cathedral: The Tallis Scholars (polyphony) and Vigilate (chant).

‘I doubt I will ever again have such an educational and aesthetic experience. To say “I was there” at the Divine Office is something I shall treasure.’

Previous participant on The Divine Office.

New College Chapel: The Tallis Scholars (polyphony) and the men of Westminster Cathedral Choir (chant).

Sext, 12.00 noon The third of the ‘Little Hours’ is at the hour which is the sixth, according to the system by which twelve hours are counted from dawn to sundown.

Christ Church Cathedral: The Tallis Scholars (polyphony) and Vigilate (chant).

Magdalen College Chapel: Magdalen College Choir (polyphony) and the men of Westminster Cathedral Choir (chant).

Illustrations. Opposite, from top: Oxford High Street, with Queen’s College and St Mary’s Church, etching c. 1880 by H. Toussint; All Soul’s College, watercolour by Yoshio Markino, publ. 1910. Background image: New College Chapel, lithograph c. 1850 by William Gauci after William Delamotte.

Photograph: audience members making their way through Oxford for a night-time Office, ©Bill Knight 2015

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The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Choirs and musicians Instruments of Time & Truth Instruments of Time and Truth is a period-instrument ensemble whose aim is to present world-class performances of Baroque and Classical music in Oxford and the surrounding region. The ensemble is a showcase for the exceptional talents of international period musicians resident in and around Oxford. Many hold Principal positions with established groups such as The Academy of Ancient Music, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and The English Baroque Soloists.

Intrada Founded in 2006 by Ekaterina Antonenko, the group has performed throughout Russia in its most prestigious concert venues. Intrada enjoys performing early music in collaboration with leading European artists. In 2014 a joint concert of The Tallis Scholars and Intrada dedicated to the memory of Sir John Tavener took place at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. It is regularly invited to perform with Moscow’s leading orchestras including the Russian State Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski.

Contrapunctus Coupling powerful interpretations with path-breaking scholarship, Contrapunctus presents music by the best known composers as well as unfamiliar masterpieces. The scholarly facet of the group’s work allows audiences to experience the first performances of many works in modern times. Since its foundation in 2010, the group has appeared in many prestigious music festivals including Martin Randall Travel’s Seville: A Festival of Spanish Music. The group is Vocal Consort in Residence at the University of Oxford.

Magdalen College Choir Magdalen’s internationally famous choir has changed little since its foundation in 1480, still being composed of sixteen boys from Magdalen College School and twelve undergraduates.

As well as performing its duties in the college chapel services, it regularly gives concerts and broadcasts and makes recordings. The current Informator Choristarum – Director of Music – is Mark Williams, formerly of Jesus College, Cambridge. As a conductor he has worked with the Britten Sinfonia and the London Mozart Players, and he is the Principal Guest Conductor of the City of London Choir.

Merton College Choir Described by Gramophone magazine as ‘one of the UK’s finest choral ensembles’, Merton College Choir is a mixed-voice choir which came to the fore a few years ago after the generous Reed Rubin benefaction. It has performed recently in the USA, France, Sweden and St Peter’s Rome – from where its Choral Evensong was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. During term-time the choir sings the services in Merton College Chapel, and it has made several recordings. The current Organist & Director of Music is Benjamin Nicholas, an Oxford organ scholar who has worked at, inter alia, St Paul’s Cathedral and Tewkesbury Abbey.

Left: Christ Church Cathedral, engraving 1816 by John Coney.

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The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Queen’s College Choir

The Tallis Scholars

The Choir of The Queen’s College, directed by Owen Rees, is among the finest university choirs in the UK. Its repertory includes a rich array of music from the Renaissance to contemporary.

During term the choir sings for services in the college’s splendid Baroque chapel. It performs in many parts of the UK and abroad and broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio. It records for the Signum and Avie labels and appears on the Grammy-nominated soundtrack of Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince.

The Tallis Scholars were founded in 1973 by Peter Phillips.

Through their recordings and concerts they have established themselves as the world’s leading exponents of Renaissance sacred music. Peter Phillips has worked with the ensemble to create, through good tuning and blend, the purity and clarity of sound which he feels best serves the repertoire from the late fifteenth to the early seventeenth centuries. They have performed in sacred and secular venues on six continents (plans are afoot for the seventh), and give around seventy concerts each year. Gimell Records was set up in 1980 solely to record the group, and their recordings have attracted many awards throughout the world.

Stile Antico Stile Antico is an ensemble of young British singers who are now established as one of the most original and exciting voices in its field. The group performs regularly throughout Europe and North America and its recordings have received major awards including the Diapason d’Or de l’Année. Working without a conductor, they rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing to the musical result. Their performances have repeatedly been praised for their vitality, expressiveness and imaginative response to the text.

The Brook Street Band Taking its name from the London street in which Handel lived 1723–1759, The Brook Street Band was formed in 1996 by baroque cellist, Tatty Theo (a graduate of Queen’s), and rapidly established itself as one of the UK’s leading eighteenth-century chamber music ensembles. It has performed at many of the most prestigious British and European Festivals, and features regularly at Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square and The Maltings, Snape, and frequently broadcast for BBC Radio 3. Its extensive discography has received critical acclaim.

Above, from left: Contrapunctus, and Merton College Choir, both ©John Cairns.

Right: Stile Antico ©Marco Borggreve.

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The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Choirs and musicians, continued

Vigilate Performance of both ‘Gregorian’ chant and polyphony is a familiar mixture to all of the singers in Vigilate. The singers are either current or past lecturers and students based in or around Oxford. Their musical director, Matthew Vine, was an Academical Clerk at Christ Church, Oxford and then became familiar with daily practice of Gregorian chant as a Lay Clerk at Westminster Cathedral.

Westminster Cathedral Choir Westminster Cathedral Choir was founded in 1903, and has since gained a reputation as one of the foremost choirs in Britain, and indeed the world. The choir has a history of commissioning new works by such composers as Britten, Vaughan Williams and Tavener. As well as touring in the UK and abroad, featuring on radio and television and making many recordings, it is the only Catholic cathedral choir in the world to sing daily Mass and Vespers. Martin Baker was appointed as Master of Music in 2000 after organ and choral posts at Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Lectures Four lectures are part of the package, all by leading experts on subjects central to the festival. They are given in the Oxford Union.

Professor Stephen Darlington. One of the country’s leading choral conductors – for over thirty years he was Director of Music at Christ Church, establishing it as an acknowledged centre of academic musical excellence, and maintaining the highest choral traditions of the Church of England in the Cathedral.

Revd Dr Simon Jones. The chaplain of Merton College teaches liturgy and worship to theology students at Oxford University. He is a member of the Church of England Liturgical Commission and chairs the Oxford Diocesan Liturgical Committee. He talks about liturgy and the history of the Divine Office.

Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch. Three books by Oxford’s Professor of the History of the Church have won major prizes: Thomas Cranmer: A Life, Reformation: Europe’s House Divided 1490–1700 and A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, which was also an acclaimed six-part television series. He was knighted in 2012.

Soloists with Merton College Choir Gwilym Bowen. A choral scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, subsequently studying at the Royal Academy of Music. In opera, his diverse repertoire has included roles in Pelléas et Mélisande, L’incoronazione di Poppea and Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria at the Grange Festival. He has performed with the Academy of Ancient Music and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, among others.

Daisy Brown. After studying at Trinity Laban, award-winning soprano Daisy Brown has quickly established herself on the UK concert and opera scene, with noticeable engagements by Opera North, Holland Park, Buxton and The Grange, and concerts at many of our leading cathedrals and concert halls, including the Royal Albert Hall.

Alexander Chance. A New College graduate and choral scholar under the directorships of Edward Higginbottom and then Robert Quinney. Since graduating he has pursued a freelance solo career whose highlights have included performing with Vox Luminis, the Instruments of Time and Truth, The Tallis Scholars and The Gesualdo Six. 10

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James Rutherford. A graduate of Durham, the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio, James was a BBC New Generation Artist and a prizewinner in many competitions including the inaugural Seattle Opera International Wagner Competition. Recent concert engagements include Orestes Elektra at Carnegie Hall with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and future plans include a return to the Royal Opera House.

Photographs, top from left: The Tallis Scholars, and Queen’s College Choir, both ©Nick Rutter. Above, from left: James Rutherford ©Wener Kmetitisch; Daisy Brown ©Robert Lawler; Alex Chance.

The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Chapels and venues No more fitting place than Oxford’s college chapels could be found for performances of the music which features in this festival. In one, Christ Church, liturgical singing has an almost unbroken tradition for well over 800 years; in three others the duration is in excess of 700, 600 and 500 years respectively.

In all the chapels the audience sits in stalls alongside or opposite the choir, giving rise to a rare degree of proximity and sense of collegiality. All are architecturally remarkable and well embellished with art and craftsmanship.

We are very grateful to the various college authorities for granting us the privilege of using the chapels for this festival.

The chapels are described in the order of the date of their foundation; the other venues follow.

Merton College There are earlier foundations, but by the generosity of its endowment and by the prescriptions of its 1264 statutes, Merton qualifies as the first fully-fledged college in either Oxford or Cambridge. Though haphazard in its development, Mob Quad is the earliest surviving quadrangle in Oxford, and it contains England’s oldest library; fourteenth-century cusped windows still light student rooms.

The chapel, begun around 1290, is also Oxford’s first. Some say it is also the most beautiful, the tracery of the east window ranking with the loveliest of the Decorated phase of English Gothic. Most of the stained glass is original, a rare survival in this city. Building continued for 160 years but the intended nave was never built. The transepts and crossing beneath the tower instead formed an antechapel which set a pattern imitated at New College, Magdalen and many other Oxbridge colleges.

The chapel is the most capacious of the purpose-built mediaeval chapels in Oxford (the festival’s concerts here do not have to be repeated). The windows have the earliest Perpendicular tracery in Oxford; some fourteenth-century glass survives but much is of the eighteenth century. The building is further distinguished by works

by El Greco, Joshua Reynolds and Jacob Epstein.

Musically the most significant of the earlier foundations in Oxford, from the outset there was provision for ten chaplains, three clerks and sixteen choristers.

All Souls College All Souls was founded in 1438 by Archbishop Chichele together with Henry VI, before his other royal foundations, Eton College and King’s, Cambridge. It continues as it started, a college exclusively for fellows and no undergraduates.

The front quad, with the chapel forming its north range, is little changed since the mid-fifteenth century. The chapel adopts the T-plan instigated at Merton and, though little visited, is one of the most glorious in Oxford. The 1870s restoration under George Gilbert Scott happily reversed some of the post-Reformation changes. Particularly fine are the original stalls, the vast reredos with its ranks of sculpted saints and the stained glass, much of which is mediaeval though the Victorian replacements by Clayton & Bell are of the highest quality.

Continued overleaf.

Background illustration: Oxford from the Sheldonian Theatre, etching c. 1905 by W. Monk. Below: Merton College Library ©Bill Knight 2015.

The Queen’s College Though founded in 1340, Queen’s is the only old foundation in Oxford to have no trace of its mediaeval buildings. The two principal quads of the college were built between 1672 and the 1730s. The screen to the High Street is perhaps the most glorious stretch of Classicism in Oxford, and the name Nicholas Hawksmoor has been hesitantly attached to this and to the chapel in the north range of the Front Quad, though evidence remains elusive.

Here English Baroque is so mild a version of the continental (and Catholic) manifestations of the style that it merges almost seamlessly with the next and even more restrained phase of English architecture, Palladianism. The acoustics of the chapel are excellent.

New College

Chapel and library walks

Initiated in 1369 and finally begun in 1379, with unprecedented munificence, by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England, it was the first college to be planned from the outset around a large quadrangle, and the first in which there were lodgings for undergraduates as well as for fellows. The Great Quad has been largely rebuilt, but the cloister, chapel and hall retain much of their late-mediaeval forms, if restored and embellished in subsequent centuries.

Visits to chapels and libraries with an architectural historian are offered as optional extras. The chapel visits provide the opportunity to learn about buildings in which you will be spending quite a lot of time.

The lecturers are John McNeill and Dr Cathy Oakes, both historians of mediaeval architecture and residents of Oxford.

Details available in Spring 2018.

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The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

‘The festival provided so many special moments that I will carry with me for years to come.’

Previous participant on The Divine Office.

Chapels and venues, continued Christ Church When Thomas Wolsey founded Cardinal College in 1525 he intended it to outshine all its predecessors. Despite Henry VIII’s confiscation of his property and endowments, Christ Church, as it was renamed, has retained primacy in matters of size. The (unfinished) quad is the largest in Oxford, it boasts the biggest eighteenth- and nineteenth-century college buildings and the chapel is by far the most capacious – though its prolix spread through aisles, transepts and chantry chapels betrays its noncollegiate origin.

Wolsey had intended to demolish the twelfth-century church of the suppressed priory of St Frideswide but it was saved by his demise. Truncated, it became the college chapel and then, in 1546, a cathedral. The resultant combination of collegiate and diocesan functions remains unique. Basically Romanesque, there are Gothic insertions and extensions, notably the vaults with their pendant bosses. For reasons of sight and sound we are limiting attendance at the concerts here to 110.

since it was built 1474–80. The famously beautiful tower followed shortly after, 1492–1509. Despite the generosity of the college’s founder, the chapel is not large. With two choirs installed for the Divine Office we can squeeze 110 people into the main body of the chapel (from which flows the upper limit for the festival, 220).

Waynflete made provision for eight clerks and sixteen choristers and an Informator Choristarum. John Sheppard was among the many distinguished holders of this post (1543–48).

University Church of St Mary The parish church of Oxford was also the place where all university ceremonies took place before the Sheldonian Theatre was opened in 1669, where the governing body gathered and where the embryonic library was first kept (in the oldest library building in the world). Even after the seventeenth century it continued to be used for university and public functions and concerts.

Wolsey established sixteen choristers and chose the first Informator Choristarum, John Taverner, greatest of early Tudor composers.

It is exceptionally capacious for an English parish church but architecturally is no barn, ranking with the finest churches in the country. Building began at the end of the thirteenth century and enlargements and embellishments continued until the end of the fifteenth century.

Magdalen College

Oxford Union

The ambitions and endowment of Magdalen exceeded those of all previous foundations when established by Bishop Waynflete (again of Winchester, again Chancellor) in 1458. On a site outside Oxford’s walls, buildings of several centuries spread across an expansive area which include a deer park beside the River Cherwell.

Despite nineteenth-century restorations, making good Reformation iconoclasm, the glorious chapel is little changed

The Oxford Union Society was founded in 1823 as a social and debating club, and for much of its history has been a proving ground for aspiring politicians. The two main halls are the Old Library of 1857, designed by Benjamin Woodward with PreRaphaelite murals by Rossetti, Morris and Burne-Jones (the condition is poor), and Chamber, the present debating chamber of 1878 by Alfred Waterhouse.

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Illustration: The Queen’s College and All Souls College, copper engraving c. 1800.

The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Accommodation and prices Accommodation for four nights is included in the price. We have selected five hotels and two colleges for you to choose from.

The choice of hotel or college is the main determinant of variations in the festival package price.

Notes on accommodation Rooms vary. As is inevitable in historic buildings, which most of these are, rooms vary in size and outlook.

Quiet? Those staying in hotels may be affected by some traffic noise. Accommodation in the colleges is quieter.

Suites. Some hotels have suites and deluxe rooms. All are subject to availability at the time of booking.

Magdalen College These are student rooms, so most are for single occupancy and all are fairly basic and institutional. On the other hand, they have to be smart and comfortable enough to be let during vacations for conferences and events (an essential source of revenue), and all have en-suite bathrooms (with showers, not baths). Some rooms are fairly large. All were refurbished in 2016.

But what you sacrifice in comfort you gain in historic and scenic setting within the cloistered confines of ancient colleges. At Magdalen rooms overlook the Deer Park. (Note there is no access to indoor common areas except the hall and chapel for breakfasts, dinners and concerts.)

There are a few twin rooms. Otherwise adjacent rooms could be reserved for couples where that is possible. www.magd.ox.ac.uk Price, per person: £2,110.

Pembroke College The rooms are in a handsome new development, opened in 2013, which is built around a clutch of small quads and terraces. The bedrooms and their en-suite bathrooms (showers, not baths) are compact and sparse: this is student accommodation, and the college is not a hotel (which also means there are no receptionists as such). Rooms are for single occupancy. There is a café on site which is open during the day but there is no lounge or communal space. Stone steps are a feature.

Architecturally this is a pleasing environment, and antiquity is amply supplied by the need to pass through two quads in order to reach the street, and by the hall where breakfast is served, which is modified mediaeval. Pembroke is opposite the Tom Gate entrance to Christ Church College. www.pmb.ox.ac.uk Price, per person: £2,110.

Continued overleaf.

What the prices include Concerts. The package includes access to all seventeen concerts including the eight offices of the Divine Office.

A few tickets for individual events may be available from August 2018.

Lectures. There are four talks by leading academics.

See page 10 for details.

Accommodation. Four nights are spent either in hotels or in college rooms. The choice of accommodation is the sole determinant of variations in the prices.

Meals. We include all breakfasts and three dinners.

Transport. Coaches are provided for some of the events for those staying at the Old Parsonage Hotel and, on the last day, for anyone who wants to be taken to the railway station, bus station or ‘park and ride’ car parks.

Extras. Tips for restaurant and hotel staff and all taxes and obligatory charges are included.

Festival staff. A team comprising staff from the MRT office and experienced event managers will be present to assist.

Programme booklet. A publication containing a timetable, practical information, programme notes and much else is issued to all participants.

Illustration: New College Chapel, watercolour by George F. Carline RBA, publ. 1922.

book online at www.martinrandall.com

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The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Accommodation and prices, continued Old Parsonage Hotel, 5-star This is a very attractive hotel. Its core is a lovely seventeenthcentury rectory and the public areas in this part are delightful – colourful, comfortable and idiosyncratic. A remarkable collection of twentieth-century paintings covers the walls. The restaurant is good. After all this charm and warmth, the bedrooms in the new block to the rear are disappointingly ordinary, though they are equipped with all the usual mod cons. The hotel has recently been entirely refurbished.

Due to its situation on the edge of central Oxford, transport by private coach will be arranged for some of the concerts, but many journeys will be on foot and could be up to 30 minutes. Taxis are easily obtained.

Arriving a day early There may be rooms available in your chosen hotel or college for the night of Sunday, 23rd September.

Please contact us if you would like to book a room for this night.

However, it is often the case that you will find a better rate for additional nights by booking directly with the hotel rather than through us.

There is very limited parking at The Old Parsonage and they cannot guarantee spaces. www.oldparsonage-hotel.co.uk Prices, per person: £3,010 for single occupancy, or £2,670 for two sharing a Standard Double or Twin room, or £2,810 for two sharing a Junior Suite, or £2,930 for two sharing a Suite.

Old Bank Hotel, 5-star Eastgate Hotel, 4-star Built on the site of a former coaching inn, the Eastgate – a Mercure hotel – is excellently located for many of the concerts. Bedrooms have little character but are comfortable with all mod cons. Public rooms are agreeable.

Its location in narrow Merton Street makes it one of the quietest of our selection of hotels though some rooms overlook the High Street.

There is a car park which costs c. £20 per night; there is no need to pre-book.

Website: google ‘mercure eastgate oxford’ Prices, per person: £2,550 for single occupancy, or £2,290 for two sharing

Vanbrugh House Hotel, 4-star A former post office, the Vanbrugh House Hotel is based in two eighteenth-century houses on a quiet side street in central Oxford.

Due to the historic nature of the building, bedrooms vary in size and outlook. It has been tastefully decorated in neutral colours throughout and has a pleasant, though small, lounge. The hotel will be used exclusively by Divine Office participants.

There is a restaurant in the basement where breakfast is served, though it is too small to accommodate all guests simultaneously.

There is no parking available at this hotel. www.vanbrughhousehotel.co.uk Prices, per person: £2,800 for single occupancy, or £2,430 for two sharing a Standard Double or Twin room, or £2,610 for two sharing a Suite.

Illustration: Magdalen College, steel engraving 1833.

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Housed in a former bank built in the nineteenth century, this boutique hotel is comfortable and stylish and very well run; service is excellent. It was winner of a Good Hotel Guide Editor’s Choice award in 2015. Rooms have modern décor and many have views of spires and rooftops. Rooms at the front of the hotel look out over the busy High Street though noise-proof glazing is effective.

Venues are within 10 or 12 minutes on foot.

Parking at The Old Bank Hotel is available at no charge and there is no need to pre-book. www.oldbank-hotel.co.uk Prices, per person: £3,170 for single occupancy, or £2,810 for two sharing a Standard Double or Twin room, or £2,970 for two sharing a Superior Double or Twin room.

Randolph Hotel, 5-star The most famous hotel in Oxford, the venerable Randolph is housed in an austere Gothic Revival building in Beaumont Street.

The bedrooms, of which there are several categories, are well decorated in a fairly traditional way and are very comfortable.

Public rooms include a ‘Morse’ bar, a bright and airy lounge and a fine restaurant. Run by the Macdonald hotel group, service is more comparable to that of a 4-star hotel. Rooms with a street view may hear some traffic noise.

Most venues are 15–20 minutes away on foot.

Parking at the hotel costs c. £29 per night and must be pre-booked with the concierge. www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk Prices, per person: £3,230 for single occupancy, or £2,810 for two sharing a Standard Double or Twin room, or £2,970 for two sharing a Superior Double or Twin room or £3,270 for two sharing a Suite.

The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Further practicalities Meals

Getting to Oxford

Three dinners are provided in the festival package.

All Oxford authorities discourage the use of cars. There are five ‘Park and Ride’ car parks surrounding the city. Parking costs c. £10 for 7 days in these and the bus costs £2.80 per person. Parking is available at some hotels; see the hotel descriptions. There is no parking at the colleges.

On the first night you dine in the hotel or college in which you are staying. On the second evening everyone has dinner in New College.

On the fourth evening dinner is provided between Vespers and Compline in either Trinity or Magdalen College Hall.

Please note: the food provided in college halls is of high quality and such as one might expect of a good restaurant. It is of a standard provided for high table on special occasions and not for students.

Starting and finishing 24th September, 2.45pm: the festival begins with a lecture at the Oxford Union at 2.45pm, with the first concerts at 4.00pm.

28th September, 12.30pm: the last concert will finish by 12.30pm.

Divided audience Participants will be divided into two audiences for those concerts (twelve of the seventeen) in venues that are too small to accommodate everyone.

Above: dinner in Trinity College Hall at The Divine Office in 2015 ©Bill Knight.

Below: Merton College, watercolour by George F. Carline, publ. 1922.

There are regular direct trains from London, Southampton, Manchester, York and various other places, and there are frequent coach services from London.

Festival staff will be at the railway station between 12.00 noon and 2.15pm on 24th September to despatch you in taxis, for which there will be no charge on this day.

Immediately after the last concert, coaches will be available to take you to the railway and coach stations and to the Redbridge ‘park and ride’ car park.

Fitness for the festival There is a lot of walking involved in this festival, and some halls are reached via flights of stairs. Participants will need to be able to walk unaided for up to 30 minutes, the time it will take slow walkers to get to the furthest event (though most walks are shorter). Festival staff will not have the resources to assist individuals with walking difficulties. Traffic restrictions and congestion render coach transport impractical.

Self-assessment tests. There is no age limit for this festival or the pre-festival tour, but we do ask that prospective participants assess their fitness by trying these simple exercises: 1. Chair stands. Sit in a dining chair, with arms folded and hands on opposite shoulders. Stand up and sit down at least eight times in thirty seconds.

2. Step test. Mark a wall at a height that is halfway between your knee and your hip bone. Raise each knee in turn to the mark at least sixty times in two minutes.

3. Agility test. Place an object three yards from the edge of a chair, sit, and record the time it takes to stand up, walk to the object and sit back down. You should be able to do this in under seven seconds. book online at www.martinrandall.com

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The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Arts & Crafts in the Cotswolds Ironically perhaps, the railways, the most omnipresent sign of industrialisation, opened up unspoilt Cotswolds villages as an escape from sordid city life and provided easy access to its commercial markets. The villages of Daneway and Sapperton were colonised by craft workers who shared their wealthy patrons’ respect for past styles and high standards of craftsmanship.

Inspired by Morris, their attitude towards historic buildings was based on conservation rather than ‘improvement’. Thus the past and the modern imperceptibly fuse at magical Owlpen Manor, while Rodmarton, begun as late as 1909, seems as if it has always been there.

Ernest Gimson and the Barnsleys, who built and furnished Rodmarton, were not alone: in 1902 C.R. Ashbee had moved the entire Guild of Handicraft, workers and their families, from East London to rural Chipping Campden. Later exponents, like C.F. Voysey, turned towards a newer, more ascetic style, yet worked alongside their mediaevally-inspired colleagues. Nowhere is this better illustrated than at Madresfield where Ashbee and Voysey worked in the early twentieth century with Payne’s Birmingham Group who created the extraordinary chapel later immortalised in Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited.

Pre-festival tour 20–24 September 2018 (mf 163) 5 days • £1,740 Lecturer: Janet Sinclair Visits to see some of the finest output of the Arts and Crafts movement, including three private houses with work in situ.

Includes Kelmscott Manor, Rodmarton Manor and Madresfield Court and workshops where the work was created.

Some of the loveliest countryside in the world with the honey-coloured stone that marks the buildings from Oxford to the Severn Valley.

Stay all four nights in the charming Cotswolds village of Broadway.

Following the ideals of Pugin, amplified by Ruskin, the call for a return to a golden age of craftsmanship with respect for the individual became a moral as well as an aesthetic crusade in mid-century Britain. A number of idealistic artists, architects and thinkers found inspiration that was essentially mediaeval but went beyond the imitative aspect of the Gothic Revival.

William Morris and his collaborators and followers, now collectively known as the Arts and Crafts movement, reacted against the worst by-products of industrialisation, poverty and social injustice, and believed in a link between these ills and mass-manufactured, poorly designed goods and shoddy housing.

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Itinerary Note that appointments for some private tours cannot be confirmed until January 2018.

Day 1: Oxford, Kelmscott, Broadway. The coach leaves Oxford Railway Station at 11.00am. Begin in the Ashmolean Museum – a treasure-house of art and artefacts from many civilizations.

Kelmscott is the most evocative and best known of the houses associated with William Morris.

It looked to him as if it had ‘grown up out of the soil’, and became his spiritual as well as his family home. It now holds an outstanding collection of his possessions and works: furniture, original textiles, pictures, books, carpets, ceramics and metalwork. All four nights are spent in Broadway.

Day 2: Rodmarton, Sapperton, Owlpen. The first commission for Morris and Co was from architect G.F. Bodley for stained glass for All Saints Church on the Cotswold hills, which therefore contains work by Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Madox Brown, Philip Webb and Morris himself. Owlpen Manor, untouched since the 17th century, was sympathetically restored for the Mander family by craftsmen with sensitive respect for the past vernacular. In contrast, Rodmarton is one of the last country houses to be built and furnished in a traditional style, by hand with local stone, local timber and local craftsmen. Nearby Sapperton became home to several members of the Cotswolds group including Gimson and the Barnsleys.

Day 3: Chipping Campden, Madresfield. In 1902 C.R. Ashbee and his Guild of Handicraft arrived in the hitherto quiet village of Chipping Campden. Here they set up workshops, some

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of which survive to this day, and their lives and skills are celebrated in a small museum.

The Guild’s most important commission was the library for Lord Beauchamp at Madresfield Court, an ancient moated manor house sympathetically extended in the 19th century.

At the same time the Birmingham Group led by Henry Payne decorated and furnished Madresfield’s celebrated chapel that so enchanted Evelyn Waugh, a family friend.

Day 4: Broadway, Cheltenham. Broadway now houses a branch of the Ashmolean Museum focusing on vernacular British decorative arts.

The Gordon Russell museum showcases an arts and crafts-trained designer whose work is influential today. The Museum and Art Gallery in Cheltenham, self-styled ‘capital’ of the Cotswolds, contains a nationally important Arts and Crafts collection, and contemporary work by their artistic descendants.

Day 5: Oxford. Oxford was the meeting place of William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones.

Follow in their footsteps from Exeter College and its spectacular chapel by George Gilbert Scott. The coach takes you to Oxford Railway Station by 12.30pm. If you are joining The Divine Office music festival, staff at Oxford Railway Station will assist with getting a taxi to your chosen hotel (included in the cost of the festival). The first festival event is at 2.45pm.

Lecturer Janet Sinclair. Art historian, curator and lecturer. She studied at the Courtauld and the Barber Institute, Birmingham. She has held senior management posts at several heritage sites and is currently Collections Manager at Petworth for the National Trust. She is a panel member of the Sustainable Communities Fund in the South Downs National Park.

Practicalities Price, per person. Two sharing: £1,740.

Single occupancy: £2,030.

Included: hotel accommodation; private coach throughout; breakfasts, 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips; the services of the lecturer and tour manager.

Accommodation. The Lygon Arms, Broadway (thehotelcollection.co.uk): 16th-century coaching inn; some parts date back to the 14th century. Situated in the high street of Broadway.

How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking on this tour and it would not be suitable for anyone with difficulties with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Coaches can rarely park near the houses, and gardens are extensive. Average distance by coach per day: c. 64 miles.

Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.

Illustration: Chipping Campden, watercolour by G.F.Nicholls, publ. 1920.

The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Booking form Name(s) as you would like them to appear on documents issued to other festival participants Participant 1

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Telephone number(s) ☐ Please tick if you do NOT want to receive regular updates by e-mail on our other tours, music festivals and London Days. ☐ Please tick if you do NOT want to receive any more of our brochures.

What first prompted your booking? e.g. a marketing e-mail from us, browsing our website, receiving this brochure, or something else.

Accommodation. See pages 13–14. If you require any extra nights, please let us know in ‘Further information or special requests.’

Magdalen College

Pembroke College

Eastgate Hotel

Vanbrugh House Hotel

Old Parsonage

Old Bank

Randolph Hotel

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Pre-festival tour: See page 16; tick to book. ☐ Arts & Crafts in the Cotswolds 20–24 September 2018 (mf 163) Room type ☐ Double for single occupancy ☐ Double room (two sharing) ☐ Twin room (two sharing)

Further information or special requests, including dietary requirements and requests for extra nights in hotels/ colleges.

The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Booking form, continued

Passport details. Only required if you are resident outside the UK – in case of emergency.

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Payment amount – please tick one and enter the total. ☐ EITHER deposit(s). 10% of your total booking cost. ☐ OR full payment. If you are booking within 10 weeks of the festival (i.e. after 16th July 2018).

TOTAL: £

Randall Travel to contact you by telephone to take payment.

We accept Visa debit/credit, Mastercard and AMEX.

☐ By bank transfer. Please give your surname and the festival code (mf 180) as a reference and ask your bank to allow for all charges.

Account name: Martin Randall Travel Ltd Bank: Handelsbanken, 2 Chiswick High Road London W4 1TH

Account number 8663 3438 • Sort code 40-51-62 IBAN: GB98 HAND 4051 6286 6334 38 Swift/BIC code: HAND GB22

Payment method – please tick one ☐ By cheque, made payable to Martin Randall Travel Ltd. Please write the festival code on the back (mf 180). ☐ By debit or credit card. By ticking here, you authorise Martin

Note that bookings made by credit card will have 2% added to cover processing charges. This charge does not apply to other forms of payment.

I have read and agree to the Booking Conditions on behalf of all listed on this form.

Signature:

Date:

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Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage London W4 4GF United Kingdom

Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068 Australia

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Tel +44 (0)20 8742 3355 Fax +44 (0)20 8742 7766 info@martinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com

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The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018

Booking details and conditions Making a booking 1. Booking option

2. Definite booking

3. Our confirmation

We recommend that you contact us first to ascertain that your preferred hotel or college accommodation option is still available.

You can make a booking option which we will hold for one week (longer if necessary) pending receipt of your completed Booking Form and deposit. You can also make an option online at www.martinrandall.com.

Fill in the Booking Form and send it to us with the deposit(s) or make a definite booking online. It is important that you read the Booking Conditions at this stage, and that you sign the Booking Form if booking offline. Full payment is required if you are booking within ten weeks of the festival (i.e. after 16th July 2018).

Upon receipt of your Booking Form and payment we send you confirmation of your booking. Further details about the festival may also be sent at this stage, or will follow shortly afterwards. After this your deposit is non-returnable except in the special circumstances mentioned below in the Booking Conditions.

Booking Conditions

cancellation charges must be included. We strongly recommend that UK residents have holiday insurance in place that covers them in the event that they have to cancel and for the loss or theft of belongings. Experience tells us that free travel insurance offered by some credit card companies is not reliable in the event of a claim.

apply in respect of air, sea or rail carriers, including the Warsaw Convention and its various updates.

Please read these You need to sign your assent to these booking conditions on the booking form.

Our promises to you We aim to be fair, reasonable and sympathetic in all our dealings with clients, and to act always with integrity.

We will meet all our legal and regulatory responsibilities, often going beyond the minimum obligations.

We aim to provide full and accurate information about our tours and festivals. If there are changes, we will tell you promptly.

If something does go wrong, we will try to put it right. Our overriding aim is to ensure that every client is satisfied with our services.

What we ask of you That you read the information we send to you.

Specific terms Our contract with you. From the time we receive your signed Booking Form and initial payment, a contract exists between you and Martin Randall Travel Ltd. Eligibility. We reserve the right to refuse a booking without necessarily giving a reason. You need to have a level of fitness which would not spoil other participants’ enjoyment of the festival or tour by slowing them down – see ‘Fitness for the festival’ on page 15. To this end we ask you to take the tests described there. By signing the booking form you are stating that you have met these requirements. If during the festival or tour it transpires you are not able to cope adequately, you may be asked to opt out of certain visits, or be invited to leave altogether.

Insurance. It is a requirement of booking that overseas residents have adequate holiday insurance. Cover for medical treatment, repatriation, loss of property and

Passports and visas. Overseas residents must have passports, valid for at least six months beyond the date of the festival. Visas are not required for travel in the UK for EU citizens, or citizens of the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Nationals of other countries should ascertain whether visas are required in their case.

If you cancel. If you have to cancel your participation in the festival or tour there would be a charge which varies according to the period of notice you give. Up to 57 days before departure the deposit only is forfeited.

Thereafter a percentage of the total cost will be due: from 56 to 29 days: 40% from 28 to 15 days: 60% from 14 to 3 days: 80% within 48 hours: 100%

If we make changes. Circumstances might arise which prevent us from operating the festival or tour exactly as advertised. We would try to devise a satisfactory alternative, but if the change represents a significant loss to the festival or tour we would offer compensation. If you decide to cancel because the alternative we offer is not acceptable we would give a full refund.

Financial protection: ABTA. We provide full financial protection for our package holidays that do not include a flight, by way of a bond held by ABTA The Travel Association.

English Law. These conditions form part of your contract with Martin Randall Travel Ltd and are governed by English law. All proceedings shall be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Christ Church Cathedral, wood engraving c. 1850.

If you cancel your booking in a double or twin room but are travelling with a companion who chooses not to cancel, the companion will be liable to pay the single occupancy price.

We take as the day of cancellation that on which we receive your written confirmation of cancellation.

If we cancel the festival or tour. We might decide to cancel the festival or tour if at any time up to eight weeks before departure there were insufficient bookings for it to be viable.

We would refund everything you had paid to us.

The limits of our liabilities. As principal, we accept responsibility for all ingredients of the festival or tour, except those in which the principle of force majeure prevails. Our obligations and responsibilities are also limited where international conventions book online at www.martinrandall.com

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Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage London W4 4GF United Kingdom Tel +44 (0)20 8742 3355 Fax +44 (0)20 8742 7766 info@martinrandall.co.uk Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068 Australia Tel 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 Fax +61 (0)7 3371 8288 anz@martinrandall.com.au North America 1155 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036 USA Tel 1 800 988 6168 usa@martinrandall.com

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MRT music festivals in 2018 Music in the Cotswolds 21–24 May 2018 A Festival of Music in Prague 13–19 June 2018 The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018 A Festival of Music in Franconia 25 August–1 September 2018 The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018 A Festival of Music in Bologna 1–6 November 2018 Please contact us for full details.

Photograph: Tom Tower, Christ Church College – audience members leaving after a night-time Office, ©Bill Knight 2015.