Matthew Gouldstone begins our summer term of talks by travelling back to three key eras of musical history
He'll use his specialism in early musicology to explore how music was made and performed in the 15th century Medieval world, by the Tudors of the 16th century, and among the changing landscape of the 17th century. Over the course of three talks, he promises to examine each era as its own cultural artefact in the context of our 21st century society. Here, her shares with us an early insight into each lecture un the series.
The Medieval world (15th century) - Tuesday 20th May 7pm
'Britain has always been flanked by the seas but as we look back on our 15th century island we'll examine its strong links to continental Europe during this time. Not only did English composers spend time on the continent during this century but their music was venerated by Europeans and largely comes down to us now from manuscripts that were created in continental Europe. This is important because most of our own written music was destroyed in the Reformation. This lecture seeks to understand the 15th century musical landscape, setting the scene at a time when professional music making was possibly at its zenith, while also looking at in the context of modern-day music making.'
The Tudor dynasty (16th century) - Tuesday 3rd June 7pm
'From the late 15th Century and spanning the entirety of the 16th Century, the Tudor dynasty forged a model of musical patronage that has been largely unrivalled across the ages. Through drastic religious and political upheaval, musical proficiency rarely faltered, and the astonishing production line of music continued with no decline in the volume or quality of the output. Although modern perception is shaped by manuscripts that are often incomplete or error strewn, there is a wealth of historical information available showing a very positive public image of the period. This lecture explores current views on 16th century England, considering what we know, but more importantly, what we may not.'
A shifting landscape (17th century) - Tuesday 29th July 7pm
'The Jacobean and Carolinian periods allowed England to press ahead with its newly derived Anglican musical model. In the early 17th Century, the possibility of a return to the old ways of Latin music arose, but following the restoration, Anglican Church music never looked back and the opportunity to create a specific musical culture was seized with both hands. To this day, that tradition has remained largely unbroken. In this lecture we find out if all these associated developments have led us to a better and more secure musical landscape.'
Biography
Matthew has many strings to his musical bow, as a singer, director and research consultant on early music performance, specialising in polyphony from Europe pre-1650. Currently, he is a senior research associate supervising the faculty of music at Peterhouse College at the University of Cambridge. He is also a consultant musicologist, having worked on projects with universities in Florida, Salzburg, Verona and Sheffield, looking at the connection between performance and musicology.
As a performer, he has travelled the world as part of Capilla Flamenca as well as joining ensembles including the Tallis Scholars, Huelgas Ensemble, Capella Pratensis, La Grande Chapelle, Cinquecento and Vox Luminis as an independent artist. He has also co-founded two major ensembles in Cambridge, the Cambridge Early Music Consort (CEMC) programme (cambridgeearlymusicconsort.org) and L'Isola (lisola.org).