Music heard again after 400 years

BBC ^ | Wednesday, 16 March, 2005

[nickcarraway]

Music written especially for the chapel at a north Wales castle will be performed for the first time in nearly 400 years on Wednesday.

The 17th Century pieces lay undiscovered in the library of Chirk Castle until 1969 when they were sold at auction to an anonymous bidder.

It has taken experts at the University of Wales in Bangor five years to transcribe and edit the collection.

The music will be sung at chapel concert by the university's choir.

The concert will include works by William Deane, who was the organist at Wrexham parish church.

The collection also includes music by other composers for weddings, funerals and special events.

Kenneth Anthonisz from the National Trust said all the music has been written between 1550 and 1630.

"Quite a lot of the music pieces were written by people before they were well known," he said.

The scores include a Te Deum and Benedictus by Elizabethan composer John Mundy, who was organist at St George's Chapel, Windsor.

The 13th Century castle has been owned by the Myddelton family since 1595, but the current members decided to move to a private home to raise their children.

Built as a Marcher fortress during the reign of Edward I, it is run by the National Trust and attracts about 80,000 visitors each year.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[SoDak]

Very cool

[Revelation 911]

Down at the Astoria the scene was changing,
Bingo and rock were pushing out X-rating,
We were the first band to vomit in the bar,
And find the distance to the stage too far,
Meanwhile it's getting late at ten o'clock,
Rock is dead they say,
Long live rock.

Long live rock, I need it every night,
Long live rock, come on and join the line,
Long live rock, be it dead or alive.

People walk in sideways pretending that they're leaving,
We put on our makeup and work out all the lead-ins,
Jack is in the alley selling tickets made in Hong Kong,
Promoter's in the pay box wondering where the band's gone,
Back in the pub the governor stops the clock,
Rock is dead, they say,
Long live rock.

Long live rock, I need it every night,
Long live rock, come on and join the line,
Long live rock, be it dead or alive.

Landslide, rocks are falling,
Falling down 'round our very heads,
We tried but you were yawning,
Look again, rock is dead, rock is dead, rock is dead.

The place is really jumping to the high-watt amps,
'Til a 20-inch cymbal fell and cut the lamps,
In the blackout they dance right into the aisle,
And as the doors fly open even the promoter smiles,
Someone takes his pants off and the rafters knock,
Rock is dead, they say,
Long live rock, long live rock, long live rock.

Long live rock, long live rock, long live rock,
Long live rock, long live rock, long live rock.

Long live rock, I need it every night,
Long live rock, come on and join the line,
Long live rock, be it dead or alive.

[Jeff Chandler]

I love oldies.

[SunkenCiv]

For the "Thoroughly Modern Miscellany" category, with another thank you to nickcarraway.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
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[PianoMan]

Wales eh? I wonder if it sounds like Byrd and Gibbons.

[Miss Marple]

I thought you would be interested in this story, which I think is very fascinating.

[Freedom2specul8]

Thank you for the ping....this excellent article is a far cry from the news were being forced to watch and read...

[SunkenCiv]

You're most welcome. Turn off your TV! ;')

[afraidfortherepublic]

Thanks for the ping on this. I'm sending this article to my daughter who has a couple of music degrees.

Every Sunday I check the credits on the hymns we sing and note that very seldom do we sing something older than 1850. I often wonder what has happened to all the early music and why we don't use it any more?

My definition of "early" is before 1600. I know it was written down...???

And to add another mystery...what has happened to all the music that was played and sung BEFORE it was written down? Is it lost to our collective memories?

[SunkenCiv]

There were different systems of notation, including some devised since, and parallel to, what we use today. They've just not survived. When I was a kid, someone found an inscription that wasn't in a (known) language, and the researcher involved interpreted it as a musical score, intuited how it may have been notated, and someone performed it.

Music styles change, tastes change. Also, stuff just gets misplaced. Antoine Brumel (15th-16th century, ecclesiastical composer) has a number of surviving works, but the one considered his masterpiece only survived in fragments. In the late 1980s, a very large lost fragment was found between the pages of some old book in Denmark (!) and reunited with the parts that had not been lost. A little remained to be found, but the modern arranger made up something, and the entire work (with the modern bridge) was performed for the first time in perhaps 400 years.

I read about it fifteen years or so ago, had to special order it, and it's easily one of my favorite CDs. There's a new, remastered version of the recording now, plus it has been recorded by at least one other ensemble.

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Antoine Brumel: Missa 'Et ecce terrae motus' and Sequentia 'Dies irae, Dies illa' by Huelgas Ensemble

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[afraidfortherepublic]

Thank you for your edifying comments. I read a couple of years ago an article about someone figuring our a way to translate hyroglypics on an ancient Greek vase that they thought were a form of musical notation. I think it would be fascinating to hear that song!