LENOX - Veteran Ventfort Hall guide and University of St. Andrews graduate Nannina Gilder will give a visual presentation on “Ventfort Hall: English or American Country House?” on Friday, August 22, at 4 p.m. She will present her lecture at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum and a Victorian Tea will accompany it.
Gilder will show evidence that during the 19th century Britain brought about a revival of the Tudor and Jacobean manor houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Their rambling asymmetrical plans were more convenient to the Victorians than the strict symmetry that had been favored in the 18th century.
Gilder has guided at the Lenox mansion since it first opened for tours in December, 2000. She recently graduated from the University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland, with a first class degree in art history, and received the O.E. Saunders Memorial Prize for her dissertation, “Ventfort Hall: A Synthesis of British and American Architecture.” She is the daughter of George and Cornelia Brooke Gilder.
Reservations may be made for the lecture by calling Ventfort Hall at 413-637-3206. Admission is $15 for nonmembers and $12 for members. The mansion is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.
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A more complete summary of what the talk will be.
The 19th century in Britain brought about a revival of the Tudor and Jacobean manor houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Their rambling asymmetrical plans were more convenient to the Victorians than the strict symmetry which had been favored in the previous century. So the aristocrat began building the style of his ancestors, and the plutocrat in the style that he wished his ancestors had been capable of. The trend made its way across the ocean, and in the last few decades of the century manor houses in the British style were being built in the American countryside. In 1891 the Morgan family, whose matriarch was Sarah Spencer Morgan, the sister of the juggernaut banker J. Pierpont Morgan, began a summer “cottage†in this tradition, Ventfort Hall in Lenox.
But are revivals able to cross space as well as time and remain intact, or does a style fundamentally change when it has been carried across oceans? Americans are often faulted for lacking our own culture, for taking wholesale the artistic and architectural innovations of others, but is that true? Ventfort Hall was built in a British tradition, but it also in many ways it exemplifies the American country house of its day. What are the differences between a British manor house and an American summer cottage, and how does Ventfort Hall manage in many ways to be both?
An Englishman may find [American villas] mere copies of his own designs … We must, however, remember that for a style to be progressive it must be modified according to its own requirements, and not by wholesale borrowing from others. – Arthur Rotch, Architect of Ventfort Hall
The Classical Beat: Tanglewood, Sevenars Proffer Classical Glories
Stephen DanknerSpecial to iBerkshires
As Tanglewood enters its third week, the concerts will be awesome. If you're a pianophile and love concertos for your favorite instrument, masterworks by Ravel and Shostakovich are scheduled. In the third Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra program of the season, BSO Maestro Andris Nelsons conducts two brilliant and virtuosic tone poems by Richard Strauss, "Don Juan" and "Tyll Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks." TMC Conducting Fellows Julian Gilewski and Lauren Smith lead Beethoven's 'Leonore' Overture No. 3 and Hindemith's "Konzertmusik" for strings and brass. Samuel Barber's masterful Violin Concerto will also be a welcome addition. Such diverse repertoire amply demonstrates that at Tanglewood, the stylistic diversity of musical offerings is both wide and deep.
Added to these delights, there's also the inviting Sevenars Music Festival in South Worthington, MA. This week, Sevenars welcomes the prizewinning Mada-Hugh piano duo in a tribute to America's 250th birthday, showcasing works by Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Jennifer Higdon, Vincent Persichetti, Florence Price and others - including the pianists' own arrangements.
Both venues present outstanding classic and contemporary music performed at magnificent venues in pristine, bucolic settings by marvelous performers. "Who Could Ask for Anything More?" Read below for the details.
Tanglewood
Friday, July 17, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the Orchestra in a fascinating program of instrumental and vocal virtuosity. A recent work by Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon, "Meditations on Grace," will open the program. Violinist Keila Wakao is the soloist in Samuel Barber's lovely and highly virtuosic Violin Concerto, with its thrilling "perpetual motion" finale. Stellar operatic soloists Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson will sing selections from composer John Adams' 1987 landmark opera "Nixon in China."
Saturday, July 18, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: Japanese composer/conductor Mamoru Fujisawa, known professionally as Joe Hisaishi leads the Boston Symphony in three of his works, and also the scintillating Piano Concerto in G by Maurice Ravel, with Jean-Yves Thibaudet the spectacular soloist.
Sunday, July 19, 2:30 p.m. in the Shed: Maestro Nelsons returns to the Shed's podium to direct the BSO in a program of Haydn (Symphony No. 22 'The Philosopher',) Shostakovich (Piano Concerto No. 1) with the stunning virtuoso pianist Danill Trifonov and accompanied by BSO Principal Trumpet Thomas Rolfe. Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 concludes the program.
Monday, July 20, 2:30 p.m. in Ozawa Hall: The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, led by TMC Conducting Fellows, and Maestro Nelsons, is featured in Richard Strauss' virtuosic symphonic poems "Don Juan" and "Tyll Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks." Beethoven's "Overture to 'Leonore' No. 3" and Paul Hindemith's "Konzertmusik" for strings and brass complete the program.
Sevenars Music Festival
Sunday, July 19, 4:00 p.m.: The Mada & Hugh Piano Duo, comprised of Romanian-born pianist M?d?lina-Claudia D?nil? and Korean-American pianist Hugh Sung, stands at the forefront of innovative 4-hand piano performances.
Together, M?d?lina Claudia D?nil? and Hugh Sung offer a unique command of classical mastery, which they joyously bring to their performances. Their repertoire spans the ages, from timeless classics to their own dazzling arrangements of popular tunes, all the while thrilling audiences with their exceptional artistry and creativity.
The Sevenars Academy is located at 15 Ireland Street, just off Route 112 in the historic village of South Worthington, MA. Admission is by donation (suggested $20.) Phone: (413) 238-5854). Online: www.sevenars.com. Refreshments will be available at no charge.
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