News & Events
Exhibition on the Digital Reconstruction of Tudor Music Manuscripts
- Venue: Christ Church Upper Library, Oxford
- Start: Thu, 12 May 2016 17:00:00 BST
- End: Mon, 15 Aug 2016 00:00:00 BST
A selection of Oxford's early music treasures will be on display in the Upper Library from 12 May to 13 August 2016. This special exhibition showcases the music-books used by singers in the age of Queen Elizabeth I, with special emphasis on partbooks. The Tudor Partbooks project is contributing a display on our digital reconstruction of John Sadler's Elizabethan music partbooks:
When the Elizabethan gentleman John Sadler sat down to copy his partbooks;- adorned with elaborate initials, colourful inscriptions and charming pictures of birds, animal and plants - little did he know that he had chosen an overly acidic ink. Over the centuries this ink has burned through the paper leaving his once beautiful partbooks stained, difficult to read and too fragile to be handled. With funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Tudor Partbooks team are digitally reconstructing Sadler's manuscripts to return them to their former glory and a more legible state. The displays explain the process of digital reconstruction, introduce John Sadler and his partbooks, reveal the results of restoration so far, ask you to vote on approaches to remaining reconstruction challenges and provide details of how to get involved and become a volunteer restorer.
Exhibition Opening Times: Monday-Friday 10am-1pm, 2-4.30pm
Gallery Talks: 2:30pm on Friday 3 June, Monday 13 June and Monday 18 June
