Squalid and Obscure: Timbral Word Painting at the Arpa Doppia

Hannah Rose (Kit) Spencer

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.

type	research exposition
keywords	arpa doppia, harp, continuo, word painting, concerto delle donna, seconda pratica, musica secreta, timbre
date	01/09/2015
published	11/09/2017
last modified	11/09/2017
status	published
affiliation	Royal Conservatoire in The Hague
license	All rights reserved
url	https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/307501/346541
doi	https://doi.org/10.22501/koncon.307501
published in	KC Research Portal
portal issue	1. Master Research Projects

Copyrights

name	patrick
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Zampieri
copyright	Rainer Thurau
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Barberini Harp
copyright	http://museostrumentimusicali.beniculturali.it/index.php?en/129/the-barberini-harp
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Richards Harp
copyright	http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/501665
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Lanfranco
copyright	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.
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Zampieri
copyright	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.
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	oronta
copyright	Lyon Public Library
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	salzedo plectric sounds
copyright	Salzedo, Carlos
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Beauchamp part 2
copyright	Boston Public Library
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	beauchamp part 1
copyright	Boston Public Library
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	medium contact
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
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name	low contact
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	high contact
copyright	Kit Spencer and Jonathan Barakat
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	finger contact
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	medium height
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	low height
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	high height
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	low attack
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
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name	medium attack
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
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name	high attack
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
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name	keyboard map
copyright	Jonathan Barakat and Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
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name	Table Timbral elements
copyright	Jonathan Barakat and Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
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name	Ma Che final phrase
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
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name	Ma Che sixth phrase
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
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name	Ma Che fourth phrase
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
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name	Ma Che third phrase
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Ma Che second phrase
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	Ma Che first phrase
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
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name	Ma Che Facsimile
copyright	d'India
license	All rights reserved
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name	change exercise
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
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name	orfeo exercise
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
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name	consistency exercise
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

name	IMG_20170314_183216
copyright	Kit Spencer
license	All rights reserved
usages	picture

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

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