Hertford College Spring Concert
30 April 2016
Hertford’s Fellow for the Music Society Professor Claire Vallance and Tutor in Music Dr Benjamin Skipp will be hosting a spring concert and lunch on Saturday 30 April. This concert is being held as a celebration of Hertford’s musical talent.
The event will take place in college and the programme will run as follows:
11.45 am – 12 pm: Claire Vallance will be introducing the afternoon by playing a short piece on the beautiful Steinway donated generously by Joan Coles.
12 pm – 1 pm: Talks in the Drawing Room on “The Secrets of Stradivari” by Christopher Martyn and “Defining Mozart’s sense of Proportion” by Julian Clarke.
1 pm – 3 pm: A three course lunch in Hall
3 pm – 4 pm: Music recital in the Chapel
Tickets for the event are available to purchase through Eventbrite here; please RSVP as soon as you can or by 15 April. Guests are welcome.
Please note that due to space restrictions there are only 30 spaces available for the talks. Further details on the talks and our speakers can be found below.
If you have any questions about the event please get in touch – we’ll be happy to hear from you.
We hope you’ll join us in college for what promises to be a wonderful afternoon of good food, entertaining company and beautiful music.
The Secrets of Stradivari
Christopher Martyn graduated from Hertford College in physiology in 1971, and later continued his medical studies in Edinburgh. After a brief career as a neurologist, he joined the Medical Research Council’s Epidemiology Unit in Southampton, investigating causes of Alzheimer’s disease and other degenerative conditions of the nervous system. He now makes guitars, violins and cellos at his workshop in Winchester.
Christopher writes about his talk:
“It’s easy to make a taut string vibrate by plucking or bowing it but, unless the string is able to transmit its vibrations to a membrane with a sizeable surface area, it remains almost inaudible. Makers of stringed musical instruments are largely concerned with making that transmission happen, and enhancing it with structures and devices that resonate at frequencies that delight the ear. Despite the reputation (and price) of the famous violins made in Cremona in the 16th and 17th centuries, recent unbiased comparisons suggest that instruments produced by modern makers can sound at least as good.”
Defining Mozart’s sense of Proportion
Julian Clarke read Mathematics at Hertford and spent his working life as a pianist and music lecturer in Stuttgart. He is currently working on a doctorate on Mozart’s sonata form.
Julian writes about his talk:
“Mozart’s music is often said to show a phenomenal sense of form and timing. The question is: when does Mozart do what? He was fascinated by numbers, and the numbers of bars in the sections of his compositions give fascinating relationships, illustrating the famous connection between music and mathematics.”