About

Nicholas Tingewick, who lived in the 13th and 14th centuries, was physician to Edward I, and is  thought to have been one  of the first teachers of medicine at Oxford University. He gives his name to the hall at the John Radcliffe hospital where the Radcliffe  Orchestra habitually rehearses and performs.

Tingewick  is an orchestral piece which could be categorised as a tone poem or an overture. In any case, it is inspired by, and depicts in music, events from the life of Tingewick, from his early life as a priest at Reculver to an expedition to find medicine from abroad for King Edward. All the melodic material in the piece is derived from two anonymous pieces which Tingewick could possibly have heard. A jolly secular dance from the 13th century is used to represent Nicholas Tingewick himself, whilst everything else is represented by extracts from a somewhat older Alleluia.  At that time, the Middle East was at the forefront of medical innovation, so I have tried to evoke that part of the world in the section where Tingewick finds and purchases the medicine.