Last weekend I went to Dillington House (College) in Ilminster (Somerset) for a Friday evening-Sunday lunchtime course on 'The Life and Music of Dvorak'. The venue is an Elizabethan mansion owned and run by Somerset CC. The grounds are lovely, the food has an excellent reputation and, not having attended such a course before, I went with no pre-conceptions. There were five study sessions - Friday evening, two Saturday morning and two Sunday morning. Saturday afternoon was free and several people sat chatting on the terrace. On the Saturday evening the tutor, Danielle Salamon, gave a recital of ten Janacek (piano) pieces which it so happened I had heard only recently and this was most enjoyable. She had of course brought Smetana and Janacek into her talks. Do any of you know Danielle, or any of her quartet's CDs? The 27 people were in the 60s (or more in my case!) age range, quite a few were experienced choral singers but I did not have time to find out the life history of all of them!! However, I think two of them will remain in touch via e-mails. Last year I understand Danielle did two courses on Brahms and she chose Dvorak because of his connection with Brahms. We heard tracks from a variety of CDs and although I was not inspired to rush out and buy more of Dvorak's music, I was impressed with the Requiem and today, when I went to HMV to collect a CD of Germaine Tailleferre's music, I bought another of that Requiem.

With only a few hours at her disposal, it must be difficult to choose what to say, but I think I would have liked one session to have been devoted to a study of a particular movement or something. Overall, though, it was a most interesting way to spend a couple of days.

There was another course there too to do with the Da Vinci Code and Glastonbury etc, so at mealtimes I found myself sitting next to different people all the time - all interesting. All those who have attended courses there before say that people always return for another, so I shall be looking out for a reason to do so.

The CDs:
Dvorak: Requiem, Mass in D, with The Ambrosian Singers and the LSO
Germaine Tailleferre Volume 2 (Seems to be a selection of pieces.)

I've only just spotted this thread. What a wonderful and civilised way to spend a weekend, SusanD. I do like the idea of the Dvorak set mingling with the Da Vinci Code set .

I've just been looking at the Dillington House website to see what else is coming up. It's an idyllic looking place, isn't it? There's a Berlioz weekend in the autumn I see which looks enticing. I might even have a think about that one and award myself a treat. Thanks for posting about this.

SusanD, I really want to be you! What a very nice schedule. Enjoy.