Shirley Thompson
Vice Principal (Music)
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
- Email:
- shirley.thompson@bcu.ac.uk
- Phone:
- +44 (0)121 331 7214
Dr Shirley Thompson graduated from the University of Hull in 1987 with a first class BMus degree. Following a PGCE, she spent three years teaching at a Northamptonshire secondary school. She subsequently won a British Academy Major Scholarship to study for a PhD at Hull and was awarded a doctorate in 1998 for a thesis on the music of the French Baroque composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier (‘The Autograph Manuscripts of Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Clues to Performance'). In 1996 Shirley was appointed Lecturer (then Senior Lecturer) in Music at the University of Wolverhampton. She moved to Birmingham Conservatoire in 2001, where she is currently Director of Studies (Postgraduate).
Shirley's research has continued to focus on French Baroque music and Charpentier in particular. Since her PhD she has edited a book on Charpentier and published a number of articles and reviews. She has also prepared numerous editions of Charpentier's music for such well respected performers as Emma Kirkby, Ex Cathedra and the St James' Baroque Players, including music for two BBC Promenade Concerts. In 2004, Shirley organised a conference at the Conservatoire, ‘Charpentier and His World', to mark the tercentenary of the composer's death, an event which attracted scholars from all over the world.
More recently she has been a member of the Programme Committee for the 2011 and 2012 annual conferences of the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music (which took place respectively in Minneapolis and New York City), holding the position of Chair in the latter instance. In 2016 she is one of three (invited) member of the Society’s ‘Nominating Committee’.
Shirley has been the Vice Principal (Music) of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire since October 2018.
Current Activity
Research projects currently in preparation include the following:
- Critical Editions
Jean-Philippe Rameau, La Naissance d’Osiris, for the Opera Omnia Rameau (Kassel: Bärenreiter)
Motets à 3 voix, instruments et basse continue, vol. 2. Part of the critical edition of Charpentier’s works being published by the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles - Book Chapter
Marc-Antoine Charpentier, ‘Reading the Dots: Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Superscript Symbols Interpreted’
Areas of Expertise
- French Baroque music, in particular Marc-Antoine Charpentier
- Performance Practice
- Editing Music
Qualifications
PhD (Hull)
PGCE - Music in Education (Birmingham Polytechnic; now BCU)
BMus (Hons), First Class (Hull)
Memberships
Teaching
In addition to my administrative and pastoral responsibilities as Birmingham Conservatoire’s Director of Postgraduate Studies, I co-ordinate and teach on a number of postgraduate modules in the Conservatoire. At present these include:
- MMus/PgDip Performance Matters
- MMus Advanced Editorial Techniques
- MMus Research Project
- MMus Musicological Specialisms
On the BMus programme, I run a BMus3 Musicianship Specialism entitled ‘Editorial Techniques’; I act as tutor to students on the BMus4 Contextual Studies module; and I contribute lectures on performance practice to the BMus Performance Traditions 1 module.
I also supervise MPhil and PhD students.
Research
- Rameau
- Charpentier
Postgraduate Supervision
Shirley would like to hear from any potential research students with interests in her research areas.
Completed Projects
- Charles d'Helfer’s Missa pro defunctis: Context and Sources (PhD)
- Aspects of Performance Practice in Recorder Works Composed for Carl Dolmetsch between 1939 and 1989 (PhD)
- A Question of Time: Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s use of ¢ and 2 (MMus Musicology Dissertation)
Current topics supervised
- Francesco Foggia’s Masses
- Jean-Philippe Rameau’s woodwind writing
- Music-making in English Country Houses, 1750-1830
In addition to her administrative and pastoral responsibilities as Birmingham Conservatoire’s Director of Postgraduate Studies, Shirley co-ordinates and teaches a number of postgraduate modules in the Conservatoire.
At present these include:
- MMus/PgDip Historical Performance Practice
- MMus/PgDip Critical Editing
- MMus/PgDip Self-defined Professional Project
- MMus Research Project
On the BMus programme, Shirley runs a BMus3 Musicianship Specialism entitled ‘Editorial Techniques’, and a Year 3 Contextual Studies Specialism entitled ‘French and Italian Baroque Styles: Struggle and Synthesis’.She also contributes lectures on performance practice to the BMus Performance Traditions 1 module, and to BMus3 Professional Development. Shirley also supervises MPhil and PhD students.
Publications
PhD Thesis
‘The Autograph Manuscripts of Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Clues to Performance’, The University of Hull, 1997
Edited Book
- New Perspectives on Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Farnham: Ashgate, 2010) (including a chapter by me (see below), and co-authorship of the Appendix; http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754665793)
Editions
- Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Amor vince ogni cosa, Pastoraletta Ia, H492, for five voices, two treble instruments and basso continuo, ed. Shirley Thompson (Launton: Edition HH, 2013)
- Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Cupido perfido, dentr’al mio cuor, Pastoraletta IIa, H493, for four voices, two treble instruments and basso continuo, ed. Shirley Thompson (Launton: Edition HH, 2013)
- (Supporting Essay: ‘Charpentier’s Two Pastoralette: Questions of Authenticity’, downloadable from http://www.editionhh.co.uk/ab_sthompson.htm
Book Chapters and Articles
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The Italian Roots of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Harmonic Idiom’, Bärenreiter, in Anne-Madeleine Goulet and Gesa zur Nieden (eds), Europäische Musiker in Venedig, Rom und Neapel 1650-1750 / Les musiciens européens à Venise, Rome et Naples 1650-1750 / Musicisti europei a Venezia,Roma e Napoli 1650-1750,pp. 546-570, 2015 (published),co-author with Graham Sadler.
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‘“La seule diversité en fait toute la perfection” : Charpentier and the Evolution of the French String Orchestra’,Éditions Vrin, in Jean Duron and Florence Gétreau (eds), Les cordes de l’orchestre français sous le règne de Louis XIV, pp. 241-261 2015 (published).
- Marc-Antoine Charpentier and the Cecilian Tradition’, in Catherine Cessac (ed.), Les histoires sacrées de Marc-Antoine Charpentier: une histoire de genre (Turnhout: Brepols), at press
- ‘“La seule diversité en fait toute la perfection”: Charpentier and the Evolution of the French String Orchestra’, in Jean Duron and Florence Gétreau, Les cordes de l’orchestre français sous le règne de Louis XIV (Paris: Éditions Vrin), at press
- Co-author (with Graham Sadler) of ‘The Italian Roots of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Harmonic Idiom’, in Anne-Madeleine Goulet and Gesa zur Nieden (eds), Europäische Musiker in Venedig, Rom und Neapel 1650-1750 / Les musiciens européens à Venise, Rome et Naples 1650-1750 / Musicisti europei a Venezia, Roma e Napoli 1650-1750 (Kassel: Bärenreiter), at press
- ‘Charpentier and the Language of Italy’, in Caroline Giron-Panel and Anne-Madeleine Goulet (eds), Musique à Rome au XVIIe siècle (Rome: L'Ecole française de Rome, 2012), 417–32
- ‘Charpentier’s Motets melêz de symphonie: A Nephew’s Offering’, in Shirley Thompson (ed.), New Perspectives on Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Farnham: Ashgate, 2010), pp. 287–314
- ‘Declensions and Debauchery: Exploring Two “New” Charpentier Attributions’, Bulletin Charpentier, 2 (2009), pp. 20–40; http://philidor.cmbv.fr/bulletin_charpentier
- ‘Colouration in the Mélanges: Purpose and Precedent’, in Catherine Cessac (ed.), Les manuscrits autographes de Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Etudes du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (Wavre: Mardaga, 2007), pp. 121–36
- ‘Charpentier and the Viol’, Early Music, 32 (2004), pp. 497–510
- ‘Once More into the Void: Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s croches blanches Reconsidered’, Early Music, 30 (2002), pp. 82–92
- ‘Reflections on Four Charpentier Chronologies’, Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, 7 (December 2001); http://www.sscm-jscm.org/jscm/v7no1.html
- Revision of ‘Duplessis’, in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians: Second Edition, ed. Stanley Sadie & John Tyrell (London: Macmillan, 2001), 7, pp. 721–2
- ‘A Mute Question: Charpentier and the Sourdines’, Bulletin de la Société Marc-Antoine Charpentier, 17 (2000), pp. 7–18; reprinted in Catherine Cessac (ed.), Marc-Antoine Charpentier, un musicien retrouvé, Etudes du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (Sprimont: Mardaga, 2005), pp. 183–97
- Co-author (with Graham Sadler) of ‘Marc-Antoine Charpentier and the basse continue’, Basler Jahrbuch für historische Musikpraxis, 18 (1994), pp. 9–30
Reviews
- Music review: ‘Editing Charpentier and Bousset’, Early Music (2013), at press [but published in advance online: http://em.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/12/04/em.cat099.full.pdf?keytype=ref&ijkey=c2MHr64zPR40Y1d]
- Book review: ‘Jean-Paul C. Montagnier, Un musicien lorrain au service de Louis XV: Henry Madin 1698-1748 (Langres: Éditions Dominique Guéniot, 2008)’, Eighteenth-Century Music, 9 (2012), pp. 128–30
- Book review: ‘Lalande et ses contemporains’, Early Music, 39 (2011), pp. 271–3
- Music review: ‘Charpentier, Laudate Dominum’, The Consort, 67 (2011), pp. 135–6
- Music review: ‘Charpentier: Motets pour chœur, vol. 8’, Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, 15 (2009), http://www.sscm-jscm.org/v15/no1/rev_thompson.html
- Music review: ‘Charpentier and Mondonville’, Early Music, 37 (2009), pp. 487–9
- CD review: ‘French Baroque Chamber Music’, Early Music, 36 (2008), pp. 142–4
- Book review: ‘Lalande, “le Lully Latin”’, Early Music, 34 (2006), pp. 678–81
- CD review: ‘Scandal and Songbirds in the French Baroque’, Early Music, 34 (2006), pp. 329–31
- CD review: ‘French Baroque Devotions’, Early Music, 33 (2005), pp. 337–9
- Book review: ‘A Charpentier Gallery’, Early Music, 32 (2004), pp. 613–14
- CD review: ‘Charpentier: Sacred and Secular’, Early Music, 30 (2002), pp. 645–9
- CD review: ‘Charpentier, Clérambault, Mondonville’, Early Music, 29 (2001), pp. 140–2
Performing Editions
These have included the following:
- Charpentier, Actéon changé en biche for Birmingham Conservatoire’s Capelle Baroque orchestra and singers; Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, November 2004
- Three motets and an instrumental prelude by Charpentier for an Arts Council-sponsored concert tour in Autumn/Winter 2004–5. Concerts given in Bristol, Southampton, Tonbridge, York and Hull by the ensemble Emma Kirkby and friends
- Charpentier’s Messe à quatre chœurs and Salve regina à trois chœurs: performed in January 2003 by Ex Cathedra (in Birmingham and at St John’s, Smith Square, London). Recorded by Hyperion in January 2003; CD released in January 2004
- 1999 BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London: Charpentier, Extremum Dei judicium
- 1994 Lufthansa Festival, Wigmore Hall, London: Charpentier, Missa Assumpta est Maria; In obitum; De profundis
- 1993 BBC Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London: Charpentier, Messe pour les trépassés; Dies iræ; Motet pour les trépassés
Conference Papers
- ‘Marc-Antoine Charpentier and the Cecilian Tradition’, Les histoires sacrées de Marc-Antoine Charpentier: une histoire de genre, Abbaye de Royaumont, France, May 2013
- ‘The Enigma of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Off-the-Stave Dot: Clues to a Multiplicity of Uses’, 15th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music, Southampton University, July 2012
- Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Harmonic Grounding in Italy’ (with Graham Sadler), Musicisti europei a Venezia, Roma e Napoli (1650-1750): musica, identità delle nazioni e scambi culturali, ANR-DFG MUSICI, Rome, January 2012
- “‘Diversity alone makes for all that is perfect’: Charpentier and the Evolution of the French String Orchestra”, Colloque: Les cordes de l'orchestre français sous le règne de Louis XIV: instruments, répertoires et singularités, CMBV, Versailles, September 2011
- ‘Charpentier and the Language of Italy’, Séminare de recherche, Deutsches Historisches Institut, Rome, April 2011
- ‘“La diversité qui fait toute l’essence de la musique”: Establishing the Multiplicity of Vocal Forces in Charpentier’s Mélanges autographes’, 14th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music, Queen’s University Belfast, July 2010
- ‘Anticipating Noverre: Louis de Cahusac’s Development of the ballet figuré and danse d’action at the Paris Opéra, 1745–1756’, Conference of the European Association of Dance Historians, Schwetzingen, Germany, October 2009 (co-presenter with Graham Sadler)
- ‘The Enigma of Charpentier’s Off-the-Stave Dot: Clues to a Multiplicity of Uses’, International Musicological Society Symposium, ‘Music: Notation and Sound’, Amsterdam, July 2009
- ‘Charpentier’s Motets melêz de symphonie: A Nephew’s Offering’, 14th Annual Conference of the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, University of Toronto, Canada, 2006
- ‘Choreography in French Opera and Ballet Scores: The Example of Rameau and Charpentier’, Conference of the European Society of Dance Historians, Bedern Hall, York, October, 2005 (co-presenter with Graham Sadler)
- ‘Coloration in the Mélanges: Purpose and Precedent’, given at the International Conference, ‘Les Mélanges de Marc-Antoine Charpentier: La composition, la copie et l’interpretation’ at the Château de Versailles, France, October 2004
- ‘Charpentier and the Debauched Monks: Questions of Authenticity in Newly-Discovered Vocal Trios’, given at ‘Charpentier and His World’ International Conference at Birmingham Conservatoire, April 2004
- ‘Marc-Antoine Charpentier and the basse continue’. 27th Royal Musical Association Research Students’ Conference, The University of Hull, December 1993
Forthcoming
- ‘Marc-Antoine Charpentier and the Cecilian Tradition’,Brepols, in Catherine Cessac (ed.), Les histoires sacrées de Marc-Antoine Charpentier: une histoire de genre (forthcoming 2016).
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Motets à 3 voix, instruments et basse continue, vol. 2. Part of the critical edition of Charpentier’s works being published by the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles
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Jean-Philippe Rameau, La Naissance d’Osiris, for the Opera Omnia Rameau (Kassel: Bärenreiter) Spatial awareness and performance planning in the music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier (conference paper, 2016)