Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Something that's been out since May this year.
(stolen :D from a blog by guy called David Duff)
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From Reuters:
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LONDON (Reuters) - A Scottish church which featured in the best-selling novel ``The Da Vinci Code'' has revealed another mystery hidden in secret code for almost 600 years.
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A father and son who became fascinated by symbols carved into the chapel's arches say they have deciphered a musical score encrypted in them.
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Thomas Mitchell, a 75-year-old musician and ex-Royal Air Force code breaker, and his composer and pianist son Stuart, described the piece as ``frozen music.''
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And this from his son, Stuart Mitchell's web site:
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Rosslyn Chapel holds a musical mystery in its architecture and design. At one end of the chapel, on the ceiling are 4 cross-sections of arches containing elaborate symbolic designs on each array of cubes (in actual fact they are rectangles mostly). The 'cubes' are attached to the arches in a musically sequential way. And to confirm this, at the ends of each arch there is an angel playing a musical instrument of a different kind. After 27 years of study and research by Stuart's father Thomas.J.Mitchell, we believe he has found the pitches and tonality that match the symbols on each cube, revealing its melodic and harmonic progressions. It is what we could call 'frozen music', a little like cryogenics. The music has been frozen in time by symbolism, it was only a matter of time before the symbolism began to 'thaw out' and begin to make sense to scientific and musical perception.
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Tommy Mitchell (Stuart's father) unravelled the music from the symbolism and Stuart has produced the music using authentic instrumentation in the 1400's.
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Tommy began work on this amazing project over 25 years ago and the Rosslyn Motet is the culmination of a wonderful collaboration with his son Stuart who is the production manager of the project.
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And a little more from Reuters:
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Stuart Mitchell said he and his father were intrigued by 13 intricately carved angel musicians on the arches of the chapel and by 213 carved cubes depicting geometric-type patterns.`
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`They are of such exquisite detail and so beautiful that we thought there must be a message here,'' he told Reuters.
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Years of research led the Mitchells to an ancient musical system called cymatics, or Chladni patterns, which are formed by sound waves at specific pitches.
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The two men matched each of the patterns on the carved cubes to a Chladni pitch, and were able finally to unlock the melody.
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The Mitchells have called the piece The Rosslyn Motet and added words from a contemporary hymn to complete it.
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They have also scheduled a world premiere at a concert in the chapel on May 18, when four singers will be accompanied by eight musicians playing the piece on mediaeval instruments.
stomached it at
6:57 PM