Jan van Eyck knew music very well. Polyphony in the Polyptych of the Mystical Lamb.

Scholars say that Jan van Eyck was very familiar with music: in his paintings he depicted instruments, sheet music, and sometimes the expressions on the faces of the singers seem to make them hear the music depicted in the image.

Visitflanders presents a new podcast, available for free on Spreaker, entitled The Colors and Sounds of Van Eyck: this leads inside the history of music through the Flemish artist’s masterpiece, the Polyptych of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. The boys’ choir, their foreheads furrowed in concentration, their gazes halfway between score and conductor, sings over the notes of the organ. Musicologists have dwelt at length on their study of the choir of angels in the Polyptych, confidently asserting that we are dealing with a polyphony. The angels are singing the same note, but they are modulating different voices: the position of the mouths makes it possible to identify sopranos, altos, tenors and basses.

Until the 16th century, Flanders was the cradle of sacred and secular vocal polyphony and the Burgundian school of music: one of the earliest examples of a compositional school in the history of Western music. Indeed, between Bruges, Antwerp and Cambrai, now on French territory, the first musical chapels were born, hence the term ’a cappella choir.’

On the occasion of the year dedicated to Jan Van Eyck, a Agnus Dei for choir and organ has been commissioned in Flanders from the celebrated Estonian composer Arvo Part, to be performed in September by one of the world’s most famous ensembles: the Collegium Vocale in Ghent.

The podcast (available at this link) is part of the cycle of podcasts relived by Piano P. A story that alternates between the narrative voice in dialogue with the artist and those of many characters.

Pictured: Jan Van Eyck, Polyptych of the Mystical Lamb, choir detail (Ghent, Sint-Baafskathedraal). Ph. Credit Hugo Maertens-Lukasweb.

Jan van Eyck knew music very well. Polyphony in the Polyptych of the Mystical Lamb.

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