Entry tags:
Brussels
As planned, took a morning train from Tournai to Brussels (most of the stops were Not Silly).
As soon as we got out of the station,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shalmestere spotted a poster with medieval drolleries advertising a museum exhibit. She took a photo of it, but we were more immediately concerned with finding our hotel. Which we did without much trouble; it involved walking past some homeless people and the like, but it was a straight shot from the station.
Then looked at the photo again, looked up the museum (KBR -- the Royal Library of Belgium) online, concluded it was an exhibition of medieval manuscripts around the theme of music, and decided this was What We Should Do Today.
Walked back to the station and just a bit past it to the exhibition. Which was indeed awesome.
The KBR's permanent collection includes 279 medieval manuscripts from the Dukes of Burgundy, including most of the famous collection of Queen Marguerite of Austria, and many of them were on display. Some of the musical connections were a stretch — "this is a really cool manuscript, and if you look at the drolleries in the inner margin of the recto page, one of them is an animal playing a harp" — but an excellent collection.
Back to the room. I took a bag of dirty socks and shirts to a nearby laundromat and, while waiting for the wash cycle, hunted for nearby grocery stores. Didn’t find much, but got some yogurt for breakfast-in-the-room. And we both have enough clean clothes to get through the end of the vacation, even if our flight is delayed.
As soon as we got out of the station,
shalmestere spotted a poster with medieval drolleries advertising a museum exhibit. She took a photo of it, but we were more immediately concerned with finding our hotel. Which we did without much trouble; it involved walking past some homeless people and the like, but it was a straight shot from the station.
Then looked at the photo again, looked up the museum (KBR -- the Royal Library of Belgium) online, concluded it was an exhibition of medieval manuscripts around the theme of music, and decided this was What We Should Do Today.
Walked back to the station and just a bit past it to the exhibition. Which was indeed awesome.
The KBR's permanent collection includes 279 medieval manuscripts from the Dukes of Burgundy, including most of the famous collection of Queen Marguerite of Austria, and many of them were on display. Some of the musical connections were a stretch — "this is a really cool manuscript, and if you look at the drolleries in the inner margin of the recto page, one of them is an animal playing a harp" — but an excellent collection.
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Here's a page from the famous "Brussels" black-paper basse-danse manuscript, from which much of our knowledge of early basse-danse choreography (and a little knowledge of musical ornamentation) comes. I suspect this is actually a facsimile: the real manuscript is in this library, but I've been told it's extremely fragile (the dyes that turn paper black aren't good for its longevity), and what's in the display case is in excellent condition. |
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Neumatic chant notation from the 8th century Antiphonary of Mont Blandin |
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Neumatic chant notation from the 12th century Sacramentarium of Stavelot Abbey |
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Marginal picture of a transverse-flute player (?) |
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Marginal picture of a man pushing another man in a wheelbarrow (from Breviary of Louis de Male, 14c) |
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A treatise on music, with drawings of musical instruments (14th century, Park Abbey). Includes a straight trumpet ("tuba" or "basoun"), a horn ("corn&o" or "horn"), a harp ("cithara" or "harp"), something that might be a citole, two recorders ("fistula" or "floyt"), and a snare drum ("tympanum" or [indecipherable]). |
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Shepherds playing bagpipe, entertaining the hounds and the sheep |
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An opening from (one of) the Chansonnier of Queen Marguerite of Austria |
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A young 15th-century nobleman being shown the error of his lascivious ways (including music, hounds, everything that makes life fun) |
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A 15th-century representation of the Guidonian hand |
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A banquet scene, with alta capella playing from the gallery, from the Histoire de Charles Martel (1465) |
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Another banquet scene, with alta capella playing from the gallery, from the Chroniques de Hainaut (1465) |
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A tournament with an alta capella playing from the gallery (15c) |
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A royal procession, with holy relics and an alta capella at the front, from Fleur des histoires, 15c |
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Not a "manuscript", technically, but a four-part piece printed on a tablecloth for Marie of Hungary, 1548. |
Back to the room. I took a bag of dirty socks and shirts to a nearby laundromat and, while waiting for the wash cycle, hunted for nearby grocery stores. Didn’t find much, but got some yogurt for breakfast-in-the-room. And we both have enough clean clothes to get through the end of the vacation, even if our flight is delayed.