On The Invention of Oil, 1434/On David, 1508

In 1434, Dutch painter Jan van Eyck, at the court of Philip the Good in Burgundy, finished the Alfornini Portrait, one of the earliest oil paint masterpieces. In 1508, Michelangelo completed his statue, David, in Florence. The year before, the Duke of Ferrara commissioned Burgundian composer Josquin des Prez to set Psalm 51, Miserere mei Deus, in honor of Florentine Catholic heretic Girolamo Savonarola. In 1584, Franco-Flemish composer Orlande de Lassus set the Miserere mei Deus within his setting of the Seven Penitential Psalms, modeling it after des Prez.

Jan van Eyck’s techniques catalyzed the diffusion of oil painting in Europe, from Belgium to Florence. The layering of translucent colors allowed for greater control in light, color, and detail. This addition is opposite to that of sculpture, in which material is chipped, broken, and smoothed away. One creates the image from nothing while the other finds the image hidden within.

On The Invention of Oil, 1434/On David, 1508 explores musical analogues for ‘the hidden image’ in the resonance of instruments. As the layers of paint slowly form the image, pitch slowly emerges out the resonance of the woodwinds. As successive chips mold the sculpture, the successive operations inside the piano mold its resonance.

At the core of this piece are transcriptions and manipulations of both Josquin’s and Lassus’ Miserere mei Deus, which petitions God to refine us, to build us up, to remove our impurities, to create in us a new heart. It asks God to reveal the hidden image within us which is pleasing, which is good.

Recorded in the Angela Burgess Recital Hall at the Royal Academy of Music in London, March 13, 2020. CHROMA: Stuart King (clarinet), Rolf Hind (piano) RAM student instrumentalists: Lucy Driver (flute), Isabel Kent (oboe), Ryan Delgado Bareirro (bassoon)