A Musical Banquet – Schein’s Banchetto Musicale – with Alison Kinder on 19th July 2025

In this workshop for instruments we will cover three of the instrumental suites from Johann Hermann Schein’s Banchetto Musicale of 1617. It is suitable for recorders, strings, brass and reeds at pitch A=440. One keyboard continuo player would also be welcome. The workshop begins at 10.30 with refreshments from 10.00

The Composer Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630) was Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1615 to 1630, the post later held by J S Bach. He was one of the first composers to import the early Italian stylistic innovations into German music. Unlike his friend Heinrich Schütz, he did not live a long or happy life. His wife died in childbirth; four of his five children died in infancy; he died in Leipzig at age 44, having suffered from tuberculosis, gout, scurvy, and a kidney disorder.

Schein wrote sacred and secular music in approximately equal quantities, mainly vocal; however, today he is perhaps best known for his collection of instrumental suites called Banchetto Musicale (Musical Banquet), published in 1617.  The twenty suites each share the same format: Padouana, Gagliarda, and Courente, all in five parts, followed by an Allemande and Tripla in four parts.

Schein does not specify the instrumentation, and although he does say in the preface that he prefers to have viols included, the style hints at early violin writing, and is also reminiscent of the wind music of people like Bassano. Schein also says that in his next published work he will begin providing a written part for a keyboard, so it might be appropriate to use continuo in the Banchetto Musicale.

The Tutor Alison Kinder is a viol player with Chelys Consort of Viols and the Linarol Consort. She particularly enjoys working with viols and voices, and is the viol player in the female polyphonic group Musica Secreta, directed by Laurie Stras who ran a workshop for MEMF last year. Alison also enjoys a close exploration of the connection between music and dance with lutenist Lynda Sayce and two baroque dancers in Apollo’s Revels. More recently Alison has been playing with Sounds Historical, presenting innovative programmes around the Midlands, and is a co-founder of Banbury Early Music Festival. Alison runs the Rondo Viol Academy with colleague Jacqui Robertson-Wade, and regularly leads Forum workshops as well as teaching on various Early Music courses and summer schools. Occasionally she is allowed out of the viol playing department and onto recorders and baroque violin!

The Venue is Knowle Village Hall, St. John’s Close, Knowle, Solihull, B93 0NH
https://knowlevillagehall.co.uk/

Parking is pretty good around the village hall, as it is surrounded on three sides by public car parks owned by the Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and at the front of the building on the forecourt we can usually park four/five cars. The first two hours in the public car parks are free but for longer stays a fee is charged.

The Hall is 1.5 miles away from the M42 Junction 5 and approximately 3.5 miles to the east of Solihull town centre.  Nearby bus stops provide frequent transport links to Solihull Station and Dorridge Station.

The Organiser is Jane Warren please contact her by text if you need to, on  07472 793531

Booking will open at the beginning of June