Verbum Bonum et Suave
Brian Inglis
Commissioned for Ishirini's concert in St. Mary's, Netherbury
Première: April 2010
The piece is based on the unique 13th century manuscript found in the bell-tower of St. Mary's. The manuscript includes one of the first known written examples of two-part composition, capturing a critical point in music history when harmonic music started to evolve from single-line chant and plainsong.
In Brian's piece, text from the Netherbury Manuscript is set to an evocation of the pealing of church bells at the start of the piece, and included in the final chorale. The piece uses a prayer from the Corpus Hermeticum - a body of mystical and Gnostic texts compiled in Egypt in the early centuries of the Christian era. The theme of buried and ‘hidden’ words finds an echo in the ‘good and sweet word’ of the mediaeval title Verbum Bonum et Suave.
