"
Fire, Aire, Earth, Water in mysterious dances Move to thy Musick through all times and chances. "
Peter Sterry (1613-1672), translating Boethius
"Heard music...hidden music" is a website devoted to the exploration of the language of music and the hidden music of nature by composer Andrew Baker.
Stafford Poetry Competition 2012
The winners have been announced for the 2012 Stafford Poetry Competition, run by Staffordshire Libraries and supported by Stafford & District Arts Council.
This year’s winner of the £1000 prize is Josephine Corcoran from Wiltshire for her poem 'In Town For A Funeral, We Drive Past Our Old House And See It Is For Sale'.
Five poets receive £50 Runners Up prizes including Pat Winslow, who won the first prize in 2010 for her poem “Beyond Rock”. The other Runners Up were Christopher North, Alicante, for “A Death, Peter Wallis, Norwich for “Periodic Table”, Camilla Lambert, Isle of Wight for 'Blind grandmother at the Christmas table dreams of Troy' and Rebecca Perry, Harringay for 'The Caribou on their Migration.’
This year there is a £250 special prize for a poem as part of “Shugborough: Inspired by the Past” celebrating the influence of Ancient Greece. This goes to Lesley Saunders of Slough for '
Arcadia'.
In addition to the prize winners five poems were commended by our judge Michael Hulse:
Swollen Feet by Peter Gillott,
Class of Christmas ’69 by Mick Ward,
Sandy Heath by John Greening,
Olympics by Nadia Kingsley,
Arcadia
by S Hill
There will be a Poetry Reading at Shire Hall Library on Monday May 21st at 7.00pm where winning poems will be read and the first prize will be presented to Josephine Corcoran. The winner of the first Stafford Poetry Competition, Grevel Lindop, will also be reading from his specially commissioned “Shugborough Eclogues”.
WINNING POEMS -
Shugborough - Inspired by the Past
Shugborough Hall near Stafford is set in a wonderful Arcadian landscape. In the eighteenth century Shugborough was the focus of the Greek Revival. Thomas Anson had travelled in the Mediterranean to the roots of Greek culture. His friend James "Athenian" Stuart came back from Athens with architectural drawings of ancient Greek buildings which were the basis of monuments at Shugborough. The rediscovery of the art and philosophy of Greece inspired new art and new ideas.
Today the most spectacular sign of the lasting inspiration of Ancient Greece is the Olympic Games. The London 2012 Games is the ideal time to celebrate the role of Shugborough, Thomas Anson and his friends in reviving interest in Greek art and ideas. "Shugborough: Inspired by the Past"
is a partnership with Staffordshire Libraries, Stafford & District Arts Council and the Stafford Music Festival.
This project will also produce new work with the commission by Stafford & District Arts Council and Staffordshire Libraries and Information Services of new "Shugborough Eclogues" by Grevel Lindop and the performance of new music by three Stafford composers inspired by Shugborough.
The Arts were an integral part of the ancient Olympics. The idea of the "Cultural Olympiad" was revived by The Arcadian Academy in Rome in the late 17th century which revived interest on classical art and the pastoral style. Shugborough is an Arcadia in Staffordshire and this event hopes to be the beginning of a new "Arcadian Academy".
The project has been granted the Inspire mark by the London 2012 Inspire programme.
Full details of events will appear on this webpage.
Events will include:
Saturday May 5th 2012 11.00am - 13.00pm
Music from 18th Century Shugborough
FREE
The Alard Quartet will play music in the library by Anton Kammell who stayed at Shugborough in the 1770s and led the concerts at Anson's London house.
A Stafford Music Festival event.
Saturday May 5th 11.30 am
The Realm of Pan - Arcadia and the Earthly Paradise
FREE
A talk by Andrew Baker, as part of St Chad's "Green Man Festival"
followed by (12.00 midday to 14.00pm)
Arcadian Music
Alyson Lewin and Ellie Davies will play music for recorder and keyboard inspired by Arcadia and the Golden Age.
Sunday May 6th between 13.00pm - 15.30pm
18th century Music from Shugborough
FREE to visitors to the hall.
The Alard Quartet will play music by Anton Kammell who stayed at Shugborough in the 1770s and led the concerts at Anson's London house.
A Stafford Music Festival event.
Sunday May 6th 14.00pm
Thomas Anson's Elegant Entertainments
FREE to visitors to the Hall
- a short talk by Andrew Baker about the importance of music at Shugborough and Thomas Ansons' life, the musicians involved and how musical ideas were inspired by Ancient Greece.
Sunday May 13th From 14.00pm
Shugborough and the Rediscovery of Ancient Greece
FREE to visitors to the hall
Three short talks by Andrew Baker explaining how Thomas Anson and Shugborough were at the very centre of the Greek Revival in the 18th century and why the ideas that inspired it and the meaning of Shugborough are so important.
Sunday May 20th 14.00pm
Free to visitors to Shugborough.
The magical and exciting performer Xanthe Gresham tells strange and exciting stories from Greek myth of those who journeyed from this world to the Underworld. It'll be an amazing journey!
Monday May 21st 7.00pm
Poetry Evening -
The Stafford Poetry Competition 2012 and
Grevel Lindop
£2.00 on the door
The winners of the 2012
Stafford Poetry Competition
will be invited to receive their prizes and the winning poems will be introduced by our judge Michael Hulse. A selection of poems will be read, including poems on the themes of "
Arcadia" and "Olympics" for which a special prize has been awarded this year.
Grevel Lindop will read from his specially commissioned "Shugborough Eclogues".
Sunday June 24th (throughout the day)
Inspired by the Past - Meet the Composers
FREE to visitors to the Hall
Three Stafford composers, Kerry Milan, Ellie Davies and Andrew Baker. will rehearse and perform music inspired by Shugborough with the Alard String Quartet and chat to visitors. Poet
Grevel Lindop will be there too to read from his specially commisioned "Shugborough Eclogues" in the place that inspired his new work.
Thomas Anson and the Greek Revival
...is a full length study of Thomas Anson of Shugborough, a man at the centre of the new ideas inspired by the Ancient World and a patron of music, sciences and the arts. There are chapters on his life and circle of friends, with many new discoveries, including new clues to the meaning of the mysterious Shepherd's Monument. The study explores Anson's friends (particularly those who are not covered by other books). His musical life centres on composer Anton Kammell, botanist and musician Benjamin Stillingfleet and James Harris. An important thread is astronomer/architect Thomas Wright, who is thought to have been the designer of Shugborough's first rebuilding and garden monuments.
The text is gradually being revised and updated as of Spring 2010 - so it's now something resembling a first draft of a book. It may never become a book as such but this is all searchable on the internet so any researchers can find the new material. You can request a PDF of the complete text by emailing Andrew Baker at the address given below.
You can listen to a set of sonatas by Anton Kammell (as he wrote his name in England, otherwise Antonin Kammel)
here
. Elegant entertainments is a detailed account of Thomas Anson's musical life.
Free downloads of music are available on this website. There is a complete list of works with links to all the music on the website here. The sound recordings are mostly produced from Sibelius software and Garritan Personal Orchestra. Higher quality CDs are available to request from the email address below.
Email: ajbakeresq (at) hotmail.com (replacing (at) with @)
All sound recordings and scores on this site are © Andrew Baker and available for downloading purely for personal and non-commercial use. Any public performances must be with the permission of the composer/ editor.
