Aural Histories features in Historic Brass Today, the newsletter of the Historic Brass Society (Click the image to read the article)
Gathering evidence from surviving church interiors: Fairford (Gloucs), Wootton Wawen (Warks), Croscombe (Somerset), Newark (Lincs), and Manchester Cathedral, October 2023
For example, we used a 3-part faburden setting of the Te Deum, in alternatim with chant verses, found in the Gyffard partbooks, and a setting of Laudate pueri devised by Magnus Williamson using faburden of the fourth kind. Ian Harrison, a leading exponent of medieval performance practices on winds who joined us on shawm for our performances, devised a basse dance on the tenor of the Agnus Dei from the Caput Mass to bring a Coventry flavour to the alta capella repertoire for three instruments.
This public engagement event, developed in collaboration with project partners Holy Trinity Church and with the education team at St Mary's Guildhall, presented a whole day of music centred around the medieval and early Tudor parts of our research project. The event was held on Midsummer's Eve, a major opportunity for feasting and celebration, both secular and sacred, during the medieval and early Tudor periods, and for which Coventry's archival records provide substantial supporting documentation. Afternoon 'meet the instruments' sessions attracted members of the public to free performances and demonstrations of the type of music that may have been heard around the streets of Coventry before the Reformation. A Choral Evensong, celebrating the feast of St John the Baptist, which falls on Midsummer's Day, was embellished by music from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that explored the changing soundworld of Holy Trinity Church during the formative years of the Church of England. After the service, professor Christian Frost gave a short public talk about the relationship between music and architecture within Holy Trinity, and explained some of the research processes we are using to document the historical space. The day closed with a free concert performance by the Binchois Consort and His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts of sacred and secular music with Coventry connections that will feature in our auralisations of historical spaces towards the end of the project. The event allowed us to gather responses from the public about their impressions of our research project so far and the impact it is having on their understanding of the history and culture of the place in which they live. The concert and evensong programmes can be seen below, along with some photographic impressions of the event.
We were joined by The Binchois Consort (dir. Andrew Kirkman) and members of His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts, plus special guests William Lyons, Ian Harrison, and David Yacus to record our 1451 and 1528 repertoire. The performance practices we are modelling are informed by records relating to singing provision and to the activities of Coventry's waits during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that challenge the prevailing a capella approach to liturgical repertoire from this period.
