Spode Music Week

Music Week at Spode House (1954-1987)
Spode Music Week is the name of an annual residential music week, founded by English Dominican priest Conrad Pepler, O.P. in 1954, that places particular emphasis on the music of the Roman Catholic liturgy. The course was originally held in Armitage, near Rugely in Staffordshire, at Hawkesyard Hall (Armitage Park), also known as Spode House from 1840 when the estate was purchased by Roman Catholic convert, Josiah Spode IV. A church was later built on the grounds by his niece, Helen Gulson, onto whom the estate had been passed at the time of his death. The Hall, Church and Grounds were subsequently left to the Dominican Order, with the adjoining Hawkesyard Priory later built for the Dominicans on the same site.
Conrad Pepler, O.P., the Warden of the Spode House Conference Centre, who came up with the idea to have a music week, was uniquely fitted for the role of leading it due to his early experiences of community life combined with artistic talent. He was the son of Hilary Pepler who, with Eric Gill, had founded the Guild of St. Joseph and St. Dominic at Ditchling.
The first week had been a largely academic event consisting solely of lectures, when the only music to be heard was played informally by course participants. However, by the 2nd year, making and performing music had become an integral part of the week and within a few years it had become the dominant activity. Speakers invited on the 1960 course were Sir Lennox Berkeley, Haydn scholar Rosemary Hughes, and Austrian-born British composer and musicologist, Egon Wellesz.
The course was first known as a "Religion and Music Week", soon became known as "Music Week at Spode", and changed its name in the early 1960s to "Easter Music Week". From 1954, until Spode House Conference Centre closed in 1987, the course took place every spring, starting at teatime on the Easter Monday and finishing after breakfast the following Monday. The composer, Anthony Milner was the first Director, and was succeeded by a number of Directors, until the composer Robert Sherlaw Johnson (who had first attended in 1956) took over as Director in 1971.
Spode Music Week (1988-present)
In 1988, Spode Music Week moved to Hengrave Hall in Suffolk. It remained a regular fixture there (although moved to the summer) until that Centre also closed in early 2005. That year saw a hastily re-arranged Spode Music week take place at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire. In 2006 Spode Music Week moved to Beechwood Sacred Heart School in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. In 2011 the week moved again to St Edmund's School in Canterbury. From 2012, the week will take place at Abberley Hall School in Worcestershire.
Spode Music Week today is attended by both professional and amateur musicians of all ages, with families making up a large part of attendance at the week. Lectures on a musical or liturgical theme (preserving the original intention of the course) and a recital performed by invited musicians occur on each of the opening days of the week. There is daily sung Mass and Compline, as well as rehearsals of choral works (one of which is a Mass-setting) and orchestral works, in preparation of a "course works" concert on the penultimate night. The culmination of the week is the Course Mass, which is held on the last Sunday of the week, during which the Mass-setting is performed liturgically.
Robert Sherlaw Johnson continued to be Director of the Week until his retirement in 1993 and remained an active member of the committee until his untimely death in 2000. Since 1996, , opera singer, has held the post of Chairman.
Foundation, Past & Current Patrons
Foundation Patrons of Spode Music Week comprise of Fr. Conrad Pepler, OP, George Malcolm, CBE and Robert Sherlaw Johnson, D.Mus. Other past Patrons include Mary Berry, CBE, and Fr. Austin Milner, O.P. Current Patrons are Professor John Sloboda, FBA, Sir Nicholas Kenyon, CBE, and Mary Remnant, D.Mus.
Charitable status
"Spode Music Week" is a registered charity (No. 1026975) in England. The charitable objects of the week are “to promote, improve, develop and maintain education in (and appreciation of) the art and science of music in all its aspects, especially of the Roman liturgy, by the organising and running of an annual residential music week containing lectures, recitals, and opportunities for practical music making”.
A few facts
*The longest attending member has attended every year since 1958 (missing only 1983).
*One family (the Sherlaw-Johnsons) held the office of secretary until Griselda Sherlaw-Johnson stood down in 2012.
*The BBC has transmitted the end of course mass.
*In 1959 it cost £6, 10 shillings to attend for the week. In 2014, the cost will be £375.
*The largest ever attendance at Music Week was in 1978 for the 25th anniversary, 126 people.
*The famous harpsichordist and conductor, George Malcolm, CBE used to travel to Hengrave Hall for Music Week by simply hailing a taxi outside his home in Wimbledon and having it drive him all the way to Suffolk. Fortunately he never claimed expenses.

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