Kirsty Whatley

Explanatory notes accompanying the performance

CHAPEL CHIMES

In the manner of a clock chiming, one piece of music will sound every quarter hour. I have chosen pieces that respond in some way to the space of the chapel, or to themes within Russell and Eleanor’s work. All of the pieces use the compositional device of counterpoint. This means that, rather than the music consisting of melody and accompaniment, multiple lines combine with each other to create the “architecture” of each piece. This was the dominant form of composition in the renaissance and baroque eras. A student learning to compose this way had to master basic rules, so that their musical “building” was sound, but within this was scope for great creativity, depending on the skill, ingenuity and artistic voice of the individual.

2pm & 3pm: Sancta Maria Virgo: Anonymous (early 16thcentury) 

Four lines interweave to create the structure of this piece. It would originally have been for voices, with each line sung in church or chapel by at least four people. However, it was typical in the Renaissance for vocal pieces to be transcribed for an instrumentalist to play alone. I found this in the St. Galler Orgelbuch - a large collection transcribed by sixteenth-century Swiss organist Fridolin Sicher. I chose to play this today as a gesture to the chapel, and because its pristine musical architecture reminded me of the detail and precision of Russell’s model buildings.

2.15pm & 3.15pm: Toccata II, Arpeggiata: G G Kapsperger (c.1580- 1651)

Rapid arpeggios create a consistent musical fabric, across which small shifts in harmony mean that different lines emerge and disappear within the texture. This reminded me of Eleanor’s work with fabrics and embroidery, as well as her interest in small changes that unfold across time. Kapsperger was a lutenist and theorbo player, and the piece is originally for theorbo. 

2.30pm & 3.30pm: La Harpe de Melodie: Jacob Senleches (fl.1382-1395)

This piece is a synthesis of music and visual art, in that a picture of a harp is the musical score with the notes depicted on its strings. It is from a manuscript dated around 1395 and is by harpist Jacob Senleches. Today I will be playing two lines of this piece, but a scroll drawn around the pillar of the harp describes a game in which a third line is created by singing the same melody, starting one bar later and remaining one bar behind throughout. This is an example of the highly complex late medieval style called the Ars Subtilior – a style that synthesised music, subtle games, poetry and visual art. 

2.45pm & 3.45pm: Passacaglia: improvisation/Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)

Again exploring the idea of unfolding through small changes, this piece will start with a gradually evolving improvisation over a “walking” bass line. I’ve chosen a bass frequently used in the 16th and 17th centuries, known as the passacaglia. It consists of a repeating four-note descending motif, over which the player can build harmonies and melodies at will, within the rules of counterpoint. However, the passacaglia was commonly used for laments and, thinking of Eleanor’s installation showing the ferry crossing and her response to the refugee crisis, I have chosen to end mine with a quotation from Barbara Strozzi’s piece In Medio Maris. Originally a vocal piece, it tells the story of Peter lost in a storm at sea. Jesus appears and bids him walk on the water, but Peter is overwhelmed by fear. At this point in Strozzi’s setting of the story she uses a passacaglia to convey his distress, as he sings: 

“In the strong wind, in the flowing waves, my ship is beginning to be overwhelmed. Now I fall! Now I perish! Save me, Jesu!” 

The harps you can hear today are copies of historical instruments, built by Simon Capp in his workshop in Somerset.

(May, 2018)