The Rhine Valley Festival of Song (29 May–5 June 2014)

M A R T I N R A N D A L L T R A V E L

The Rhine Valley Festival of Song

29 May–5 June 2014

Ian Bostridge, Andreas Scholl, Birgid Steinberger, Roderick Williams, Stephan Loges, Elizabeth Watts, Markus Schäfer, Clara Mouriz, Christoph Prégardien, Renata Pokupić.

Imogen Cooper, Roger Vignoles, Julius Drake, Sebastian Wybrew, Tobias Koch, Tamar Halperin.

Ten exceptional Lieder singers, six of

the finest pianist-accompanists, ten

beautiful, historic and appropriate

halls; seven days of recitals, lectures and

discussion: there has only been one event

like it, and that was the hugely successful

Danube Festival of Song in 2011, also

arranged by us.

But there is only one audience, of

maximum 140, consisting of those who

take the package which includes not only

all the recitals but also accommodation,

transport, meals and nearly everything

else. (A small number of tickets are being

sold locally for one recital only.) Most

live for the week on board a modern and

comfortable river cruiser, travelling the

Rhine from Amsterdam to Basel without

having to pack and unpack on the way. A

smaller group mixes concert-going with

country walking, staying in hotels – two

of which are also venues for concerts.

Most of the venues are small, creating

the closeness between performers

and audience which so enhances the

experience of this most intimate and

reflective of musical forms. The spoken

word, analytical, historical and anecdotal,

plays an important role in the festival.

There are daily talks by Richard Stokes,

who has an unsurpassed knowledge of

German-language poetry and is a much

sought-after lecturer and singing teacher.

All this is a spectacularly alluring offer

for the devotee of art song, but for the

less dedicated listener, will it be too rich

or too limited a diet? We maintain that

this is a festival which will be enjoyed by

all music lovers.

The Rhine Valley Festival of Song29 May–5 June 2014

‘In every respect it was a truly wonderful and faultless festival.’R.J., Western Australia, who travelled on The Rhine Valley Music Festival in 2012.

Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, London, UK, W4 4GF

Telephone 020 8742 3355 Fax 020 8742 7766

[email protected]

www.martinrandall.com

Australia: telephone 1300 55 95 95

New Zealand: telephone 0800 877 622

[email protected]


Canada: telephone 647 382 1644

[email protected]

USA: telephone 1 800 988 6168

5085

Contents

Festival Travel Options ....................... 4

Concerts & Itinerary .....................5–12

The Ship, Hotels (for walkers) ............13

Practicalities & Prices ........................14

Pre-festival tour: The Renewed Rijksmuseum, 25–28 May 2014 ..... 15–16

Making a booking ..............................16

Booking form .............................. 17–18

Booking Conditions ..........................19

Front cover illustration (and this page): Pfalz Castle and

the Town of Laub, lithograph c. 1820.

i n f o @ m a r t i n r a n d a l l . c o . u k B o o k o n l i n e a t w w w . m a r t i n r a n d a l l . c o m

Introduction The Rhine Valley Festival of Song, 29 May–5 June 2014

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The comfort of a river cruiserTo this exceptional artistic experience is

added a further pleasure: the comfort and

convenience of a first-class river cruiser,

chartered exclusively for the festival audience.

The MS Amadeus Princess is the most

comfortable passenger ship of the capacity we

require on the Rhine.

As both hotel and principal means of

transport, the ship enables passengers to

attend the concerts and visit some fine cities

of the region without having to change

hotel or travel long distances. Like our other

river festivals there is little regimentation,

no obligatory seating plan, no onboard

entertainment, no intrusive announcements

and no piped music.

Richard Stokes, Artistic DirectorAn inspiring and

widely acclaimed

lecturer, Richard Stokes

plays a key role in the

festival through daily

lectures and discussions

on poets, composers,

comparative settings

and social background.

Few people in the world know as much about

Lieder as Richard. A linguist and literature

teacher as well as a musicologist, he taught at

Westminster School for many years, is now

Visiting Professor of Lieder at the Royal

College of Music and helps many singers

with interpretation and language. He gives

lectures and master classes all over Britain

including, in London, St John’s Smith Square,

Wigmore Hall and the Royal Festival Hall.

He has published many translations of songs

(including The Fischer-Dieskau Book of Lieder, A French Song Companion and The Complete Bach Cantatas), has translated operas (by

Wagner, Berg and Poulenc) and poetry and

prose (by Kafka, Kleist, Jules Renard and

Alfred Brendel).

The Walking PartyThe walking alternative mixes country walks

with concerts. Eight of the recitals from the

festival are included, and six or seven walks

of two to three hours beside or close to the

Rhine. Participants stay in hotels rather than

on the ship, two of which are also concert

venues. The size of this group is limited to

twenty-two participants.

The tour starts and finishes a day before the

main festival (the dates are the 28 May–4

June). See the text in grey under each day of

‘Concerts & Itinerary’ (pages 5–12) for the

walking programme.

The lecturer for this group is Richard

Wigmore, music writer, lecturer and

broadcaster for BBC Radio 3. He writes for

The Daily Telegraph, BBC Music Magazine

and Gramophone and gives classes in Lied

history and interpretation at Birkbeck

College, London. He read French and

German at Cambridge and later studied

music at the Guildhall. His publications

include Schubert: the complete song texts and

Pocket Guide to Haydn.

‘An Old Song’, engraving from The Illustrated London News, 1872.

This brochure was designed inhouse by Jo Murray.

The text was written and edited by Martin Randall and Sophie Wright. With thanks also to Julia MacRae.


Festival Travel Options The Rhine Valley Festival of Song, 29 May–5 June 2014

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The festival team

Martin Randall,

Festival Director

Martin Randall

pioneered this

model of all-

inclusive music

festivals twenty

years ago, and

was largely responsible for the selection

of artists and venues and for the overall

design of the Festival.

Sophie Wright,

Festival Manager

One of the most

experienced people

at Martin Randall

Travel, Sophie has

worked on many of

our music festivals

and other events, in Spain, France and

Germany, and was manager of our Rhine

Valley Festival in 2012. She heads a team

that set up and administered this Festival

of Song, most of whom will accompany

the event as well.

Photos ©Bill Knight 2012.

Travel to and from the festival

Please note that each outbound flight is tied to a particular inbound flight. You cannot mix flights from different options.

Option 1

Fly from London Heathrow to Amsterdam

at 11.55am (BA 434, departing Heathrow

11.55, arriving Amsterdam Schiphol 14.05).

Return to London Heathrow at 1.05pm

(BA 753, departing Basel at 12.20, arriving

London Heathrow at 13.05).

Option 2

Fly from London Heathrow to Amsterdam at

1.15pm (BA 438, departing Heathrow 13.15,

arriving Amsterdam Schiphol 15.35).

Return to London Heathrow at 6.40pm

(BA 755, departing Basel 18.05, arriving

Heathrow at 18.40). There is time for

independent exploration of Basel before

departing for London.

It may be possible to arrange connecting

flights with British Airways from Edinburgh,

Manchester, Glasgow, Aberdeen or Belfast.

Option 3: make your own arrangements

You can choose not to take any of these

flights and to make your own arrangements

for joining at Amsterdam and leaving in

Basel. You are welcome to join one of the

group transfers from Amsterdam Schiphol

Airport on Day 1, or to Basel airport on Day

8, but please let us know in advance.

There is a price reduction for this no-flights

option of £190 per person.

By rail?

We suggest you take Option 3 and book

these yourselves (there is a price reduction of

£190 per person). Currently it is possible to

leave London St. Pancras at c. 9.00am and

arrive at Amsterdam c. 4.00pm, changing in

Brussels. For the return journey, leaving Basel

at 12.30pm enables arrival at London St

Pancras at 6.30pm, changing in Paris.

The Walking Party

Wednesday 28th May: fly at c. 10.45am from

London Gatwick to Amsterdam.

Wednesday 4th June: fly from Frankfurt to

London Heathrow, arriving at c. 6.00pm.

Pre-festival tour, The Renewed RijksmuseumSunday 25th May: fly from London Gatwick

to Amsterdam at c. 11.00am

Thursday 5th June: return to London

Heathrow at 1.05pm (Option 1).

(see pages 15–16 for full details of this tour).

Map

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Concerts & Itinerary The Rhine Valley Festival of Song, 29 May–5 June 2014

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both in the UK and abroad. He regularly

accompanies Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher

Maltman and Sophie Bevan, with whom he

made a critically acclaimed Wigmore Hall

début in 2011.

Schubert’s settings of the poetry of

unrequited love by Ernst Schulze inspired

such masterpieces as ‘Im Frühling’ and ‘Auf

der Brücke’. The programme continues

with some of Schubert’s best-loved songs,

including ‘Sei mir gegrüßt!’, ‘Daß sie hier

gewesen!’, ‘Die Forelle’ and ‘Fischerweise’.

Return to the ship afterwards. Sail through

the night along the Rhine Canal and the

Waal, joining the Rhine upstream of Arnhem.

Wednesday 28 May (Walking Party only)Fly at c. 10.45am from London Gatwick

to Amsterdam. Drive to the city centre and

visit the newly reopened Rijksmuseum before

continuing to Utrecht. First of two nights at

the Grand Hotel Karel V in Utrecht.

Day 1, Thursday 29 May AmsterdamAmsterdam is as distinctive as it is

beautiful. It grew rapidly in the sixteenth

and seventeenth centuries from a small

and precarious sea port to become the

greatest trading emporium in Europe. With

its concentric canals and close-set brick

merchant houses, soaring churches and

picturesque alleys, the inner city has hardly

changed since its heyday.

The ship, MS Amadeus Princess, is ready

for boarding from 4.00pm. Afternoon tea

is served. After an introductory talk and an

early dinner, leave by coach for the recital at

the Concertgebouw. Opened in 1888, it is

regarded as one of the finest concert halls in

the world, and both halls are renowned for

their acoustics. While the Great Hall seats

c. 2000, our concert takes place in the more

intimate setting of the Recital Hall.

The Walking Party: there is a morning walk

in Dutch countryside, followed by free time

in Utrecht before returning to Amsterdam

for dinner. Attend concert 1: Ian Bostridge and Sebastian Wybrew at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Overnight Utrecht.

Concert 1: Bostridge & Schubert Amsterdam, ConcertgebouwIan Bostridge, tenor Sebastian Wybrew, pianoIan Bostridge is one of Britain’s most

distinguished and distinctive tenors, with an

international recital career as well as regular

operatic performances at Covent Garden,

English National Opera and the Bavarian

State Opera. His recordings have won major

international prizes and have been nominated

for twelve Grammys.

Since attending the Britten-Pears Young

Artist Programme at Aldeburgh Sebastian

Wybrew has given recitals at festivals

Day 2, Friday 30 May Schloss LembeckLeave the Netherlands and enter Germany

shortly after daybreak, and sail along the

Lower Rhine through the rest of the

morning. There is a lecture, and lunch, but

otherwise the time is free until the early

afternoon.

Moor at Wesel and drive to the Schloss

Lembeck near Dorsten, a delightful moated

Wasserschloss (‘water castle’) situated in a

park. It dates from the seventeenth century

and retains its historic character though it is

now a hotel (the walkers stay here – see page

13). The concert takes place in a small hall

hung with ancestral portraits.

Left: Amsterdam, De Heere Gragt, aquatint c. 1790.

Above: Ian Bostridge (©Ben Ealovega).



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Concert 2: Songs of the Rhine Schloss LembeckStephan Loges, baritone Birgid Steinberger, soprano Roger Vignoles, pianoBavarian soprano Birgid Steinberger has

earned an international reputation as a

recitalist and has performed regularly as a

soloist at Vienna’s Staatsoper and Volksoper.

Born in Dresden, and subsequently resident

in London and now the Netherlands,

Stephan Loges was an early winner of

the Wigmore Hall International Song

Competition and has given concert

performances and recitals worldwide.

Roger Vignoles is recognised as one of

the world’s most distinguished piano

accompanists. He regularly partners the finest

singers in major venues around the world

and is regarded as a leading authority on the

song repertoire. He performs at four of the

concerts on this festival.

Together the artists perform a programme

of songs that are connected with the Rhine.

Composers include Brahms, Cornelius, Liszt,

Loewe, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Clara and

Robert Schumann, Silcher and Wolf.

Return to the ship in the evening and sail

overnight from Wesel to Bonn.

The Walking Party: leave Utrecht by coach,

enjoy a walk in the vicinity of the Lower

Rhine and arrive at the hotel in Lembeck in

the early afternoon. Attend concert 2: details above. Overnight Schloss Lembeck.

Day 3, Saturday 31 May BonnFamously disparaged as a village by the

diplomatic corps when it was capital, Bonn

had in fact been a significant centre of

culture while seat of the Elector Archbishops

of Cologne in the early modern period.

In the eighteenth century a second-rate

tenor inclined to drink, named Johann

van Beethoven, was employed at the

Attention to detail was unparalleled and no stone left unturned to ensure that one’s experience of the festival was as good as it could be.’R.L., Perthshire, who travelled on The Rhine Valley Music Festival in 2012.

Left: Schloss Lembeck, 20th-century linocut.

Below (left to right): Stephan Loges (©Ana Alvarez Prada); Birgid Steinberger; Roger Vignoles (©Ben Ealovega).



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archiepiscopal court. His son was a better

musician. The morning recital is in the

Kammermusiksaal, a handsome modern

chamber music hall attached to the

Beethoven family home within walking

distance of the mooring.

Concert 3: Piano by Beethoven & the Schumanns, Robert & Clara Bonn, Beethoven Haus, KammermusiksaalImogen Cooper pianoImogen Cooper is recognised worldwide as

one of the finest interpreters of the classical

repertoire, renowned for her virtuosity

and poetic poise. She has made around 30

recordings as a soloist, accompanist, concerto

and chamber pianist.

This recital opens with one of Beethoven’s

early sonatas, the third of Op.10, designated

‘Grande’ by the composer. Robert Schumann’s

Sonata in F sharp minor quotes one of Clara

Wieck’s ‘Four Characteristic Pieces’, and

Clara’s own Romance in B minor, composed

a few months after the death of Robert, is

juxtaposed with his Romance in F sharp.

There is some time for independent

exploration of Bonn, perhaps to return to

the Beethoven Haus with its remarkable

collection of memorabilia, or to visit

Bonn Minster, one of the most impressive

monuments of the transitional period

between Romanesque and Gothic.

The afternoon recital takes place in the

Schumann Haus, formerly the psychiatric

hospital where Robert worked as music

director before falling ill himself and dying

there in 1856. The music library is the

principal venue of the annual Schumann

Festival. Being too small for all our audience,

the concert is performed twice and we share

one concert with the Festival and therefore

with Bonn residents.

Concert 4: Settings of Heinrich Heine Bonn, Schumann Haus, MusikbibliothekMarkus Schäfer, tenor Tobias Koch, pianoMarkus Schäfer is as renowned for

his interpretations of Lieder as for his

performances of Mozart’s great tenor roles

and in Baroque opera. His accompanist

Tobias Koch regularly appears both as a

soloist and as a chamber musician at festivals

throughout Europe. He is particularly known

for his interpretation of works by Schumann.

Heinrich Heine’s association with the Rhine

is reflected in Robert Schumann’s first great

song cycle, the Liederkreis Op.24. Vesque von

Püttlingen, greatly prized by Schumann, set

88 songs from Heine’s Die Heimkehr, from

which we hear a selection. The recital ends

with three of Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder.

The ship remains moored in Bonn overnight.

The Walking Party: drive south for a walk

in the hills around Bonn before arriving at

the Steigenberger Grandhotel St Petersberg

above Königswinter. Attend concert 4: Markus Schäfer and Tobias Koch at the Schumannhaus in Bonn. First of two nights in Königswinter.

Above left: Imogen Cooper (©Sussie Ahlburg). Above right: Markus Schäfer.

Below: Bonn, steel engraving c. 1840 from Views of the Rhine by William Tombleson.



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Day 4, Sunday 1 June Königswinter, AndernachDrive the few miles to Königswinter and

up a steep hillside to the Grandhotel St

Petersberg, whose commanding position

overlooking the Rhine is among the features

which have attracted grandees and celebrities

for over a hundred years. Here Hitler received

Neville Chamberlain during the Munich

crisis in 1938.

Concert 5: Die schöne Magelone Königswinter, Grandhotel PetersbergRoderick Williams, baritone Roger Vignoles, piano Julia Somerville, readerOne of Britain’s most brilliant and versatile

baritones, Roderick Williams performs

repertoire from Baroque to contemporary, in

the opera house and on the concert platform.

He is also a composer.

Brahms’s only song cycle sets fifteen poems

from Ludwig Tieck’s 1812 version of the

Magelone legend, originally a fourteenth-

century French chivalric tale of the

adventures of Magelone, Princess of Naples

and Peter, Count of Provence. Brahms’s

beautiful songs are lyrical crystallisations

of a complex emotional web and require a

connecting narrative to explain the details of

the drama, supplied in this performance by

Julia Somerville, who recently received the

OBE for services to journalism.

Return to the ship for lunch and sail

through the afternoon to Andernach. From

here it is a short journey by coach to Burg

Namedy, the property of Princess Heide von

Roderick Williams (©Ben Ealovega). Clara Mouriz (©J.M. Bielsa).

Tower at Andernach,

wood engraving c. 1880.



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Hohenzollern. Once a castle, it has evolved

over the centuries into a stately residence. The

ballroom, venue for the recital, dates to 1911.

Concert 6: Canciones & Mélodies Andernach, Burg NamedyClara Mouriz, mezzo-soprano Julius Drake, pianoSpanish born Clara Mouriz is rapidly

establishing herself as one of the most

exciting mezzo-sopranos of her generation.

She made her début at Wigmore Hall in

2007 and has returned every season. She has

just released her first disc of Spanish songs

and made her Proms début in 2013.

An outstanding piano accompanist, Julius

Drake works with many of the world’s

leading artists, vocal and instrumental, in

recital and on disc. He won the 2013 BBC

Music Magazine Vocal Award for a Liszt

recording with Angelika Kirchschlager. This is

the first of two appearances on this festival.

This is a beguiling programme of popular

Spanish songs and French mélodies with a

Spanish theme, featuring works by Obradors,

Granados and Bizet.

Remain moored at Andernach overnight so

that participants can enjoy the next stretch of

the Rhine in daylight.

The Walking Party: attend concert 5: Roderick Williams and Roger Vignoles at the Grandhotel St Petersberg. An afternoon walk finishes at

the evening concert. Attend concert 6: details above. Overnight Königswinter.

Day 5, Monday 2 June Schloss BiebrichToday the ship passes through the Middle

Rhine, the most dramatically picturesque

stretch of the river. On both sides there are

vine-clad hills with castles on many of the

peaks, and charming little towns and villages

at the water’s edge. Towards the end of the

afternoon, moor at Biebrich a couple of

hundred metres from the concert venue.

Built at the river’s edge around 1700, Schloss

Biebrich has a hall whose ample glazing looks

out to the Rhine on one side and towards the

park on the other.

Concert 7: Schubert & Schumann with Prégardien Schloss BiebrichChristoph Prégardien, tenor Julius Drake, pianoChristoph Prégardien is one of the today’s

truly great Lieder singers. His highly

distinguished career is also notable for his

work in opera, oratorio and Baroque music

and he has made 130 recordings.

Three poets are represented in this recital of

love songs: Ernst Schulze, Nikolaus Lenau

and Heinrich Heine. Schulze, ignored by all

other composers, inspired some of Schubert’s

loveliest songs of unrequited love; Schumann’s

Opus 90 are the finest Lenau songs in the

repertoire; and Schumann’s Dichterliebe, 16

songs from Heine’s Lyrisches Intermezzo,

Julius Drake (©Marco Borggreve). Christoph Prégardien (©Marco Borggreve). Schloss Biebrich, engraving c. 1840.



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is one of the immortal song cycles – an

astonishing mixture of love, hate and self-pity.

Return to the ship for dinner and sail

overnight to Mannheim.

The Walking Party: morning walk in the hills

of the Rheingau. Attend concert 7: Christoph

Prégardien and Julius Drake at Schloss Biebrich.

Continue south and stay for the first of two

nights at the Hotel Domhof in Speyer.

Day 6, Tuesday 3 June Schloss MannheimMoor at dawn at Mannheim, a city laid out

and built in the eighteenth century when

it was an important centre of music. The

Schloss, within walking distance of the ship,

is one of the largest in Germany.

Concert 8: Scholl’s Lieder Schloss MannheimAndreas Scholl, counter-tenor

Tamar Halperin, piano

‘The King of modern counter-tenors’,

Andreas Scholl is one of the greatest singers

in the world today. For over twenty years

he has electrified audiences around the

world and released a series of extraordinary

recordings which range widely across the

Early Music repertoire. Ever keen to push the

boundaries, Andreas has recently moved into

Lieder, and this programme includes songs

by Mozart, Schubert and Brahms as well as

some English folksongs.

Tamar Halperin has a repertoire that spans

five centuries and performs as a solo pianist

and harpsichordist as well as with chamber

groups in Europe, the USA, Mexico, Japan,

Korea and Australia.

Sail from Mannheim to Speyer during lunch.

Separated from the river by wooded parkland,

the little city is dominated by the largest

Romanesque cathedral in Germany, burial

place of the Salian emperors. There are a

couple of hours of free time here.

Coaches take us to the evening concert

at Bruchsal. Residence of the Archbishops

of Speyer, the Schloss was begun in 1720

and finished in 1746 after frequent

changes of architect and plan. But the

result is magnificent, with at its core the

famous Baroque staircase designed by

Balthasar Neumann.

Far left: Speyer, copper engraving c. 1700.

Left: Andreas Scholl (©James McMillan

and Decca). Above: Renata Pokupić

(©Chris Gloag).



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Concert 9: Pokupić & Romantics Schloss Bruchsal, KammermusiksaalRenata Pokupić, mezzo soprano

Roger Vignoles, piano

Renata Pokupić is a wonderful Croatian

mezzo-soprano, known internationally

for her performances of Baroque, Classical

and coloratura repertoire as well as for Lieder.

She has sung roles to great acclaim in

Covent Garden, Grange Park and Garsington

as well as in the USA and in many opera

houses in Europe.

Pokupić opens her recital with a group

of Goethe settings by Václav Tomášek, a

contemporary of Schubert, whose 41 Goethe

Lieder were composed in 1815, the great

Schubert-Goethe year. She continues with

favourite songs by Brahms and Mahler, and

Britten’s ‘A Charm of Lullabies’.

Return to the ship for dinner and continue

upstream overnight.

The Walking Party: drive to Mannheim.

Attend concert 8: Andreas Scholl and Tamer

Halperin at Schloss Mannheim. Afternoon

walk. Attend concert 9: Renata Pokupić

and Roger Vignoles at Schloss Bruchsal.

Overnight Speyer.

Day 7, Wednesday 4 June Breisach, Sankt Peter im SchwarzwaldAt around midday moor in Breisach. This

highly attractive little town is built on a hill

rising from the water’s edge and has a fine

Gothic church at its summit.

Drive in the early afternoon to Sankt Peter, a

Benedictine monastery located in the lovely

rolling countryside of the Black Forest. Our

concert takes place in the Fürstensaal, the

formal reception hall.

Concert 10: Watts with Wolf & Strauss Sankt Peter im SchwarzwaldElizabeth Watts, soprano

Roger Vignoles, piano

Elizabeth Watts is one of Britain’s brightest

talents. Her critically acclaimed début

recording of Schubert Lieder for Sony

Red Seal was followed in 2011 by an

equally acclaimed disc of Bach Cantatas

for Harmonia Mundi and most recently a

Hyperion recording of Strauss songs with

Roger Vignoles.

When the publishing house Bote & Bock

agreed to publish Richard Strauss’s Opus

56, a small-print clause in the contract gave

them the rights to publish his next songs.

Furious, he composed no further Lieder

until the threat of legal action twelve years

later. Strauss’s response was to compose the

scurrilous Krämerspiegel, a vitriolic attack

on music publishers. Elizabeth Watts follows

these wonderfully entertaining songs with

some of Strauss’s most popular Lieder and

a selection of Wolf songs from the

‘Italienisches Liederbuch’.

Return to the ship after the concert. We

remain moored in Breisach until the early

hours and then sail to Basel.

Right: Elizabeth Watts (©Marco Borggreve).

Far right: Breisach, wood engraving c. 1880.



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The Walking Party: free morning in Speyer,

or an optional walk. Drive in the afternoon

to Frankfurt Airport and return to Heathrow

at c. 6.00pm. Please note that this tour departs from London Gatwick and returns to Heathrow.

Day 8, Thursday 5 June BaselThe ship moors in Basel. Straddling the

Rhine at the uppermost point for shipping,

the Swiss city abuts the borders of France and

Germany. It retains much of its centuries-old

streetscape and architecture, including a fine

mediaeval cathedral, and the Kunstmuseum is

Switzerland’s finest gallery of historic art.

Coaches leave the ship between 9.00

and 9.30am. See page 4 for the options

available for return travel to London.

Selecting Option 2 allows for a day of

independent sightseeing in Basel.

The concertsPrivate events. The concerts are planned

and administered by Martin Randall

Travel, and the audience consists

exclusively of those who have taken the

full festival package. The concerts are

therefore private.

Seating. Specific seats are not reserved.

You sit where you want.

Acoustics. This festival is more concerned

with authenticity and ambience than

acoustical perfection. While some of

the venues have excellent acoustics, others

have idiosyncrasies not found in modern

concert halls.

Changes. Musicians fall ill, venues

need emergency repairs: there are many

unforeseeable circumstances which could

necessitate changes to the programme.

We cannot rule out changes to the

programme due to the tide, to severe

increases in water levels (which lead to

the closure of locks) or indeed low levels

of water. Such changes might necessitate

more travel by coach. We ask you to be

understanding should these events occur.

‘We have long since run out of superlatives in commenting on MRT tours. The maintenance of such standards is very reassuring.’ P.B. & S.B., Kent, who travelled on The Rhine Valley Music Festival in 2012. Left: Basel, steel engraving c. 1840.


The Ship, Hotels The Rhine Valley Festival of Song, 29 May–5 June 2014

1 3

The Amadeus Princess is one of the most

comfortable cruisers on the waterways of

Europe. The multinational crew is dedicated

to the highest standards of service.

With a minimum floor area of 15m2 the

cabins are reasonably spacious by the

standards of river cruisers. All have windows

to the outside and are equipped with the

facilities one would expect of a first-class

hotel including shower, w.c., individually

adjustable air-conditioning, telephone, TV

and safe. Special attention has been paid to

noise insulation.

In layout and furnishings the cabins are

identical, the significant differences being

the size of windows and height above water

level (higher cabins enjoy better views and

fewer stairs).

Those on the top two decks (Mozart and

Strauss) are the most desirable, with the

former having floor to ceiling windows

(224 x 190 cm) which slide open, and the

latter having only slightly smaller windows

(224 x 160 cm), which also open. Also on

the Mozart deck are two suites measuring

approximately 22m2 which have a sofa, table

and armchair, a bath, minibar and safe.

Cabins on the lowest (Haydn) deck have

smaller windows (160 x 40 cm) which don’t

open. There are no single cabins as such but

we are allocating some two-bed cabins for

single occupancy.

The public areas on the upper deck include

the lounge and bar, a library area and a

restaurant which can seat everyone at a single

sitting. The sun deck has a small heated pool

and a tented area for shade.

www.lueftner-cruises.at

Key: 1 Bed; 2 Television; 3 Toilet; 4 Wash basin; 5

Shower; 6 Cabinet; 7 Telephone; 8 Writing desk; 9

Window; 10 Chair. (The floorplan is identical for all

cabins on the Haydn, Strauss and Mozart decks.) Floorplan for a suite on the Mozart deck. Key: 1 Bed; 2

Television; 3 Toilet; 4 Wash basin; 5 Bath tub; 6 Cabinet;

7 Telephone; 8 Writing desk; 9 Window; 10 Chair; 11

Minibar; 12 Sofa bed; 13 Table; 14 Armchair.

Cabins (c. 15m2) Suites (c. 22m2)

A cabin on the Haydn deck (cabins on other decks have

the same layout, with larger windows).

A suite on the Mozart deck.

Hotels: The Walking PartyIn Utrecht (2 nights) the Grand Hotel Karel V is a 5-star hotel

converted from a 19th-century hospital in a quiet location within

the city walls. Schloss Lembeck (1 night) 17th-century castle with

traditionally decorated rooms and a restaurant. Königswinter (2

nights) the Steigenberger Grandhotel St Petersberg has modern

rooms and a restaurant with views of the Rhine valley. The Hotel

Domhof in Speyer (2 nights) is small and traditional, in an old

building around a courtyard and close to the cathedral .


Practicalities & Prices The Rhine Valley Festival of Song, 29 May–5 June 2014

1 4 T e l e p h o n e 0 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5

The Festival Package

Admission to all ten concerts.

A choice of flights from London. (There

is a reduction in the price if you do not

wish to use these.)

Accommodation for seven nights on

board a first-class river cruiser.

All meals from dinner on the first day to

breakfast on the last. Wine is provided

with lunch and dinner.

Interval drinks.

Tea, coffee, fresh fruit and snacks are

available all day on the ship.

Travel by coach between airport and ship

and to the concert venues when they are

beyond walking distance.

Lectures by a musicologist.

All tips for crew, restaurant staff and

drivers, and all state and airport taxes.

Practical and historical information and a

detailed programme booklet.

The assistance of an experienced team of

festival staff.

If you are joining The Walking Party:

eight concerts; flights (Euro Traveller)

with British Airways (Boeing 737 and

Airbus 319); hotel accommodation;

private coach travel; breakfasts, 3 lunches,

7 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all

admissions; all tips; all taxes; the services

of the lecturer and tour manager.

Fitness

Quite a lot of walking is necessary to

reach concert venues and to get around

the towns visited. Neither the concert

venues nor the ship are equipped with a

lift. Participants need to be averagely

fit, sure-footed and able to manage

everyday walking and stairclimbing

without difficulty.

The Walking PartyIt is essential for participants to be in

good physical condition and to be used to

country walking with uphill content. No

walk is more than 5 miles or 2.5 hours.

There is not always the opportunity to

return to the hotel to freshen up before

every concert or dinner.

Prices

Haydn Deck (lowest)

£2,960 per person, based on two sharing.

£3,550 or £3,830 for single occupancy.*

Including ‘The Renewed Rijksmuseum’:£4,530 per person, based on two sharing.


Strauss Deck (middle)





Mozart Deck (top)

£3,970 per person sharing a cabin

£4,760 or £5,140 for single occupancy*



Suites (Mozart Deck)

£4,580 per person sharing a cabin.


*The higher price applies when the initial allocation of

cabins for single occupancy has sold out.

The Walking Party


£3,160 for single occupancy.

No-flights option

If you are not taking any of the flight options,

subtract £190 from these prices.

Deposit

£300 per person for the festival.

£500 per person if you are also booking on

the ‘The Renewed Rijksmuseum’.

‘At Homes – 1. Music’ by Phil May 1894.


Pre-festival tour The Rhine Valley Festival of Song, 29 May–5 June 2014

1 5

The Renewed RijksmuseumDutch Art in Amsterdam, Haarlem & The Hague

25–28 May 2014 (ma 915)

This short tour concentrates on the art

of the Dutch Golden Age – Frans

Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer and their

contemporaries – in the major collections

in Amsterdam, Haarlem and The Hague.

Plenty of time is spent at the Rijksmuseum

in Amsterdam, one of the world’s great

museums but largely closed for refurbishment

for ten years until 2013. The results have

been universally praised, with the displays

intelligently planned and beautifully lit.

The tour includes other major museums,

galleries and historic buildings of the city, and

walks through some of the finest streetscape

– with its concentric rings of canals and 17th-

century merchants’ mansions, Amsterdam

is one of the loveliest capitals in the world.

There are also excursions to the other two

outstanding galleries of seventeenth-century

art in Holland, in Haarlem and The Hague.

Art of other eras, and other countries, will not

be ignored.

Itinerary

Day 1. Fly at c. 11.00am from London

Gatwick Airport to Amsterdam. Drive

the short distance to Haarlem to see the

Frans Hals Museum before settling into the

comfortable canalside hotel in Amsterdam.

Day 2. The morning is devoted to the

Rijksmuseum, with visits in the

afternoon to a patrician’s mansion and to

Rembrandt’s house.

Day 3. The Amsterdam Historical Museum

has many fine paintings, while the Royal

Palace was the most ambitious building of

the Golden Age (subject to closure for royal

functions). Second visit to the Rijksmuseum.

Nearby are the Van Gogh Museum and the

Stedelijk Museum of modern art, also both

recently refurbished.

Day 4. See the many fine paintings at

the Maritime Museum and then drive to

The Hague to see the superb Mauritshuis

collection of paintings (currently displayed in

another museum). The coach returns you to

Amsterdam at the end of the day.

Day 5. Your time is free until 4.00pm

when you are taken by taxi to MS Amadeus

Princess for The Rhine Valley Festival of Song.

Day 12, 5th June. After the festival, fly

from Basel to London Heathrow, arriving

at 1.05pm.

Please note that this tour departs from London Gatwick, returning to London Heathrow at the end of the festival. Continued overleaf.

An Amsterdam street, aquatint etching 1916.


Pre-festival tour, Making a booking The Rhine Valley Festival of Song, 29 May–5 June 2014

1 6 T e l e p h o n e 0 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5

Practicalities: The Renewed RijksmuseumSee page 14 for prices. In addition to

everything included in the festival package,

this includes: hotel accommodation for four

nights as described below; travel by private

coach and taxi; breakfasts and 3 dinners with

wine, water, coffee; admission to museums

etc.; tips for waiters, drivers, etc.; the services

of the lecturer and tour manager; flights

with British Airways (London Gatwick to

Amsterdam, Basel to London Heathrow,

Euro Traveller, Boeing 737).

There is a reduction of £190 for making

your own flight arrangements for the tour

and festival.

It is possible to book The Renewed Rijksmuseum without The Rhine Valley Festival of Song. Contact us for details.

Hotel: the very comfortable Hotel

Ambassade occupies several contiguous

houses on one of the prettiest canals in

the city centre. Not all rooms can be

reached by lift.

How strenuous? There is quite a lot of

walking and standing around, and the tour

would not be suitable for anyone with

difficulties with everyday walking. Average

distance by coach per day: 25 miles.

Small group: 12 to 20 participants.

Making a booking

1. Provisional booking

We recommend that you contact us first

to ascertain that your preferred deck and

cabin type is still available. You can make

a provisional booking which we will

hold for one week (longer if necessary)

pending receipt of your completed

Booking Form and deposit.

It is important that you also read our Booking Conditions (see page 19).

Fill in the Booking Form and send it to

us with the deposit. It is important that

you read the Booking Conditions at this

stage, and that you sign the Booking

Form. Full payment is required if you are

booking within ten weeks of the festival.

Upon receipt of your Booking Form

and deposit we send you confirmation

of your booking. After this your deposit

is non-returnable except in the special

circumstances mentioned in the

Booking Conditions.

Right: the Rhine at Bingen, lithograph 1834.

Booking form The Rhine Valley Festival of Song, 29 May–5 June 2014

The Rhine Valley Festival of Song 29 May–5 June 2014

ADDRESS for correspondence

Postcode

Telephone (home) Telephone (work)

Mobile Fax

E-mail

Tick if you do NOT want to receive updates on our range of cultural tours and music festivals by email.

TRAVELLERS’ NAMES

Give your name as you would like it to appear on documents issued to other participants.

1.

2.

SPECIAL REQUESTS. Please let us know if you have any requests (for flight upgrades, connecting flights, a particular cabin, etc.), or any dietary

requirements.

FLIGHT OPTIONTick your chosen option (see page 4)

Option 1. Heathrow to Amsterdam at

11.55am on Thursday 29 May, returning there

at 1.05pm on Thursday 5 June.

Option 2. Heathrow to Amsterdam at

1.15pm on Thursday 29 May, returning there

at 6.40pm on Thursday 5 June.

Option 3: no flights. Making your own

arrangements for travel to and from the

festival.

If you are booking on the pre-festival tour or on

The Walking Party, you should leave this section

blank.

DECK & CABIN TYPEPlease tick (see page 13)

Haydn deck (lowest)

Single occupancy

Twin (beds separated)

Twin (beds together)

Strauss deck (middle)

Single occupancy



Mozart deck (top)

Single occupancy



Mozart deck suiteTwin (beds separated)


THE WALKING PARTY28 May–4 June 2014 (please note that these dates differ slightly from the main festival)Room type

Single occupancy

Twin

Double

FlightsGroup flights

No flights

PRE-FESTIVAL TOUR. Tick to book.

The Renewed Rijksmuseum 25–28 May 2014 (see pages 15–16)

Room typeSingle occupancy

Twin

Double

FlightsGroup flights

No flights

Booking form The Rhine Valley Festival of Song, 29 May–5 June 2014

PASSPORT DETAILS. In block capitals please. Essential for airlines and in case of emergency:

Traveller 1

Title

Surname

Forename(s)

Date of birth (dd/mm/yy)

Passport number

Place of birth

Place of issue

Nationality

Date of issue (dd/mm/yy)

Date of expiry (dd/mm/yy)

Traveller 2

Title

Surname

Forename(s)

Date of birth (dd/mm/yy)

Passport number

Place of birth

Place of issue

Nationality

Date of issue (dd/mm/yy)

Date of expiry (dd/mm/yy)

NEXT OF KIN or contact in case of emergency.

Name

Relation to you Telephone

PAYMENT

EITHER Deposit(s) at £300 per person for the festival, or £500 per person if you are also

taking the pre-festival tour:

Total: £

OR Full payment which is required within ten weeks of departure:

Total: £

EITHER by cheque. Please make cheques payable to Martin Randall Travel Ltd and write

the festival code (ma 917) on the reverse.

OR by credit or debit card. Visa/ Mastercard/ Amex

Card number

Start date Expiry date

OR by bank transfer. Please use your surname and the festival code (ma 917) as a reference

and please allow for all bank charges. Tick if you have paid by bank transfer:

Account name: Martin Randall Travel Ltd.

Royal Bank of Scotland, Drummonds, 49 Charing Cross, London SW1A 2DX.

Account number: 0019 6050. Sort code: 16-00-38

IBAN: GB71 RBOS 1600 3800 1960 50. Swift/BIC: RBOS GB2L

I have read and agree to the Booking Conditions on behalf of all listed on this form.

Signed

Date

Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, London, UK, W4 4GF

Telephone 020 8742 3355 Fax 020 8742 7766

[email protected]


Australia: telephone 1300 55 95 95

New Zealand: telephone 0800 877 622

[email protected]


Canada: telephone 647 382 1644

[email protected]

USA: telephone 1 800 988 6168

5085


Booking Conditions The Rhine Valley Festival of Song, 29 May–5 June 2014

1 9

Please read theseYou need to sign your assent to these booking

conditions on the booking form.

Our promises to youWe aim to be fair, reasonable and sympathetic

in all our dealings with clients, and to act always

with integrity.

We will meet all our legal and regulatory

responsibilities, often going beyond the

minimum obligations.

We aim to provide full and accurate information

about our tours and festivals. If there are

changes, we will tell you promptly.

If something does go wrong, we will try to put it

right. Our overriding aim is to ensure that every

client is satisfied with our services.

All we ask of youWe ask that you read the information we send

to you.

Specific termsOur contract with you. From the time we

receive your signed booking form and initial

payment, a contract exists between you and

Martin Randall Travel Ltd.

Eligibility. We reserve the right to refuse to

accept a booking without necessarily giving a

reason. It is essential to be able to cope with

the walking and the steps required to get to the

concert venues. See ‘Fitness’ on page 14 (page

16 for the pre-festival tour). There is no age

limit for the festival, though we cannot accept

bookings on the pre-festival tour, ‘The Renewed

Rijksmuseum’, or on the walking alternative to

the festival, from those who would be 81 or over

at the time of departure.

Insurance. It is a requirement of booking that

you have adequate holiday insurance. Cover for

medical treatment, repatriation, loss of property

and cancellation charges must be included.

Insurance can be obtained from most insurance

companies, banks, travel agencies and (in the

UK) many retail outlets including Post Offices.

Passports and visas. Participants must have

passports, valid for at least six months beyond

the date of the festival. No visas are required

for visiting The Netherlands, Germany or

Switzerland for UK or other EU citizens, or for

citizens of the USA, Canada, Australia or New

Zealand. Nationals of other countries should

ascertain whether visas are required in their case,

and obtain them if they are.

If you cancel. If you have to cancel your

participation in the festival or the pre-festival

tour, there would be a charge which varies

according to the period of notice you give. Up

to 57 days before departure the deposit only is

forfeited. Thereafter a percentage of the total

cost will be due:

from 56 to 29 days: 40%



within 48 hours: 100%

We take as the day of cancellation that on

which we receive your written confirmation

of cancellation.

If we cancel the festival or tour. We might

decide to cancel the festival or tour if at any

time up to eight weeks before there were

insufficient bookings for it to be viable. We

would refund everything you had paid to

us. We might also cancel if hostilities, civil

unrest, natural disaster or other circumstances

amounting to force majeure affect the region.

Safety and security. If the UK Foreign and

Commonwealth Office advises against travel to

places visited on the festival or tour, we would

cancel or adjust the itinerary to avoid the risky

area. In the event of cancellation before the

festival or tour commenced we would give you

a full refund.

Financial protection.We provide full financial protection for our

package holidays, by way of our Air Travel

Organiser’s Licence number 3622. When you

buy an ATOL protected flight inclusive holiday

from us you receive an ATOL Certificate. This

lists what is financially protected, where you

can get information on what this means for

you and who to contact if things go wrong. We

will provide you with the services listed on the

ATOL Certificate (or a suitable alternative).

In some cases, where we aren’t able do so for

reasons of insolvency, an alternative ATOL

holder may provide you with the services you

have bought or a suitable alternative (at no

extra cost to you). You agree to accept that in

those circumstances the alternative ATOL

holder will perform those obligations and you

agree to pay any money outstanding to be paid

by you under your contract to that alternative

ATOL holder. However, you also agree that

in some cases it will not be possible to appoint

an alternative ATOL holder, in which case

you will be entitled to make a claim under the

ATOL scheme (or your credit card issuer where

applicable). If we, or the suppliers identified on

your ATOL certificate, are unable to provide the

services listed (or a suitable alternative, through

an alternative ATOL holder or otherwise) for

reasons of insolvency, the Trustees of the Air

Travel Trust may make a payment to (or confer

a benefit on) you under the ATOL scheme.

You agree that in return for such a payment or

benefit you assign absolutely to those Trustees

any claims which you have or may have arising

out of or relating to the non-provision of the

services, including any claim against us (or your

credit card issuer where applicable). You also

agree that any such claims maybe re-assigned to

another body, if that other body has paid sums

you have claimed under the ATOL scheme.

We provide full financial protection for

our package holidays that do not include a

flight, by way of a bond held by ABTA The

Trade Association.

The limits of our liabilities. As principal,

we accept responsibility for all ingredients

of the festival or tour, except those in which

the principle of force majeure prevails. Our

obligations and responsibilities are also limited

where international conventions apply in respect

of air, sea or rail carriers, including the Warsaw

Convention and its various updates.

If we make changes. Circumstances might

arise which prevent us from operating the

festival or tour exactly as advertised. We would

try to devise a satisfactory alternative, but if

the change represents a significant loss to the

festival or tour we would offer compensation.

If you decide to cancel because the alternative

we offer is not acceptable we would give a

full refund.

English Law. These conditions form part of

your contract with Martin Randall Travel

Ltd and are governed by English law. All

proceedings shall be within the exclusive

jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

5085

Britain’s leading provider of cultural holidays

At Martin Randall Travel we

aim to provide the best-planned,

best-led and altogether the most

fulfilling and enjoyable cultural

tours available. Within the UK

and Europe, the Middle East and

India, we offer an unsurpassed

range of events focusing

primarily on art, architecture and

music, and also on archaeology,

history and gastronomy.

Martin Randall Travel has for

twenty-five years led the cultural

tours market through incessant

innovation and improvement,

setting the benchmarks for

itinerary planning, operational

systems and service standards.

There are two kinds of holiday:

All-inclusive music festivals

began with The Danube Music Festival in 1994, since when they

have spread from St Petersburg

to Seville and from Newcastle to

Naples. The audiences number

between forty and three hundred.

Tours for small groups, all

accompanied by an expert

lecturer, have 22 participants or

fewer. Commencing in 1988,

there are now around two

hundred a year in nearly forty

countries.

Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, London, W4 4GF

Telephone 020 8742 3355 Fax 020 8742 7766

[email protected]

Australia: Martin Randall Marketing

PO Box 537, Toowong, QLD 4066

Telephone 1300 55 95 95 Fax 07 3377 0142

[email protected]

New Zealand: Telephone 0800 877 622

Canada: Telephone 647 382 1644 Fax 416 925 2670

[email protected]

USA: Telephone 1 800 988 6168



Bacharach, wood engraving after Richard Püttner (1842–1913)

The Rhine Valley Festival of Song (29 May–5 June 2014)

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