In honour of Ilminster Literary Festival, Ilminster Arts Centre presents this special event featuring a talk by Dr Matthew Spring exploring the early life, musical connections and legacy of Dorothy Petre Wadham, foundress of Wadham College Oxford. This will be followed by a concert from Sirinu showcasing Elizabethan and Stuart domestic music from Dorothy’s childhood home, Ingatestone.

 Ilminster’s Great Foundress

Talk by Dr Matthew Spring (45) minutes

Dorothy Wadham (1533/4-1618), was born a Petre and this family was one of the most important musical patrons of the Elizabethan period. 

We will explore Dorothy’s upbringing as a recusant Catholic, amongst whom traditions of domestic music making were strong. Her childhood home of Ingatestone (Essex) was a centre for music and a place that the Elizabethan composer William Byrd was frequently present at.  The family had part books for music making, were skilled themselves as musicians, and employed several notable musicians as teachers and performers.  The types of music, the instruments and books of music that the family had at Ingatestone will be presented, as well how music was part of family life.   

Much of the material we have about Ingatestone comes from the Elizabethan period after Dorothy had married Nicolas Wadham (1531-1609) in 1555 and moved to the moated ancestral home of the Wadham family at Merrifield near Ilminster.  The couple had no children and on Nicholas’s death in 1609 the great inheritance that was then left Dorothy was used in found a new college in Oxford.  She and Nicholas are buried in St Mary’s Church, Ilminster.  Wadham college was not rich enough to sustain a professional choir with children as part of its foundation, it was from the outset regarded as a musical college where the traditions of domestic music making and musical involvement as practiced as Ingatestone, thrived. 

The Music for a Tudor great house: Domestic music from Ingatestone 

Concert from Sirinu (1 hour)

Performed by Sirinu, the second part of this evening will bring to life the rich musical world of the Elizabethan and early Stuart periods showcasing the music of William Byrd, John Dowland, and Anthony Holborne.  The programme includes Latin music from the household books of Dorothy Wadham’s half-brother John, 1st Baron Petre (1549-1614), and an excerpt from Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices, first heard at Ingatestone.

Sirinu perform with a range of instruments played by the family; including lutes, virginals, viols and recorder; but also introduce more popular instruments like the guitar, cittern, pipe and tabor and hurdy-gurdy.

www.sirinu.co.uk

Performance starts at 7:30pm, doors from 6:30pm with bar available.

Tickets:
Standard Adult: £16
Students: £8 with valid student ID

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