Exposition

Squalid and Obscure: Timbral Word Painting at the Arpa Doppia (2017)

Hannah Rose (Kit) Spencer
open exposition

About this exposition

Name: Kit (Hannah Rose) Spencer Main Subject: Baroque Harp Research Supervisor: Kate Clark Title of Research: Squalid and Obscure: Timbral Word Painting at the Arpa Doppia Research Question: Can timbral refinement, through synthesized notation and subsequent technical exercises, enhance contrast and word painting in arpa doppia continuo realisations of Seconda Prattica songs? Summary of Results: While functionally versatile, the arpa doppia, an Italian harp of imposing size with multiple layers of resonating strings, revealed its nature as fondamento, in the subtle art of continuo. Direct contact with the open strings gave singers, accompanying themselves on the harp, unparalleled control over the instrument’s timbral potential. This is reflected in the role of the instrument within musica secreta, private concerts at the courts of Ferrara and Modena stylistically favouring word painting and chromaticism, in ensembles such as the concerto delle donna and Baroni sisters. The expressive freedom of their art influenced poets and composers and contributed to the development of the seconda prattica at the turn of the sixteenth century. Indeed, voice and harp were held up as the ideal way to perform epic poetry, a reflection of the mesmerising contrast and colour their combined forces could deliver. How do we find this unique skill-set today from a broken line of tradition, contending with limited, conflicting primary resources? There is very little surviving repertoire specific to the instrument, and other sources such as paintings are static representations with considerable variation in position and placement of the instrument, body and hands, making it hard to replicate. In the years dedicated to exploring the arpa doppia, we harpists uncover these insights through shared motions and motivations of our forebears— finding a way to play like them by trying to vividly colour the text as they did. This is a way artistic research can bring to life the spectrum of lost practice and technique. My research has resulted in the creation of timbral notation for the arpa doppia, easily added to music notation and publishing software. This notation is designed to help recreate as much as possible all the timbral refinement found by the hands of masterful singer-harpists. It documents, builds upon and preserves the invaluable research of historical practitioners, using visual, contact-based diagrams to provide clarity in understanding this evocative and highly specialised art form. With this foundation of  timbre and text, it aims to reconstitute the virtuosity, influence and innovation of the original arpa doppia players, through our shared practice today.   
Biography: While playing as the Australian Youth Orchestra's Principal Harpist, and as a fellow of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Kit Spencer's Honours degree culminated in studying Berio's infamous Sequenza II with its foremost interpreter, Alice Giles. Her passion for colour, gesture and bass lead her to arpa doppia, beginning with Andrew Lawrence King's St. Petersburg production of Landi's La Morte d'Orfeo and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in Bauska Castle, Latvia.
typeresearch exposition
keywordsarpa doppia, harp, continuo, word painting, concerto delle donna, seconda pratica, musica secreta, timbre
date01/09/2015
published11/09/2017
last modified11/09/2017
statuspublished
share statusprivate
affiliationRoyal Conservatoire in The Hague
licenseAll rights reserved
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/307501/346541
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue1. Master Research Projects


Simple Media

id name copyright license
346559 IMG_20170314_183216 Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344285 orfeo exercise Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344280 consistency exercise Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344274 change exercise Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344236 Ma Che Facsimile d'India All rights reserved
344201 low attack Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344199 medium attack Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344197 high attack Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344171 medium height Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344169 low height Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344167 high height Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344158 medium contact Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344149 low contact Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344145 high contact Kit Spencer and Jonathan Barakat All rights reserved
344136 finger contact Kit Spencer All rights reserved
344100 Beauchamp part 2 Boston Public Library All rights reserved
344089 beauchamp part 1 Boston Public Library All rights reserved
344042 salzedo plectric sounds Salzedo, Carlos All rights reserved
343949 oronta Lyon Public Library All rights reserved
343822 Zampieri Rainer Thurau All rights reserved
339768 TRIM_20170220_202428 Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307723 patrick Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307691 Ma Che - Full Score Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307686 Ma Che fourth phrase Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307681 Ma Che final phrase Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307677 Ma Che sixth phrase Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307674 Ma Che fourth phrase Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307671 Ma Che third phrase Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307668 Ma Che second phrase Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307662 Ma Che first phrase Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307657 String height notation Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307654 Finger contact notation Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307645 Speed notation Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307642 keyboard map Jonathan Barakat and Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307627 Table Timbral elements Jonathan Barakat and Kit Spencer All rights reserved
307595 cythara anglica http://www.thurau-harps.com/images/rainer-m.-thurau-.-cythara-anglica-.-original_600.jpg All rights reserved
307591 kithara http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/56.171.38/ All rights reserved
307564 Barberini Harp http://museostrumentimusicali.beniculturali.it/index.php?en/129/the-barberini-harp All rights reserved
307561 Richards Harp http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/501665 All rights reserved
307556 Lanfranco Lanfranco, Giovanni. Venus tocando el arpa (Alegoría de la Música). 1630-1634. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome. Lanfranco - Venere che suona l'arpa (La Musica) - Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini - Sito ufficiale. Galleria Nazionale di Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini. Web. 2 Dec 2015. All rights reserved
307554 Lanfranco, Giovanni. Venus tocando el arpa (Alegoría de la Música). Lanfranco, Giovanni. Venus tocando el arpa (Alegoría de la Música). 1630-1634. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome. Lanfranco - Venere che suona l'arpa (La Musica) - Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini - Sito ufficiale. Galleria Nazionale di Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini. Web. 2 Dec 2015. All rights reserved
307550 Zampieri Zampieri, Domenico. David Che Suona L'arpa. 1619. Châteaux De Versailles Et De Trianon, Versailles. Les Collections - Châteaux De Versailles - Le Roi David Jouant De La Harpe. Daniel Arnaudet. Web. 2 Dec. 2015. All rights reserved

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