On January 15, 1660, Samuel Pepys treated himself to a lie-in after a particularly disturbed night’s sleep courtesy of a barking dog and woke to a bitterly cold day with a great deal of snow. We know this because of the naval administrator’s famous diaries, works that notably include his historically invaluable eyewitness account of the devastating Great Fire of London in 1666, and which form the basis for composer Benjamin Till’s latest project.
Approached by St Olave’s Church in the heart of the City of London, where Pepys is buried, Benjamin will celebrate the 350th anniversary of the diarist’s first entry on January 1, 1660, with a 40-part motet (a musical work based on a religious text composed for 40 singers). To complement this, he has also launched a blog charting his daily progress and looking at what Pepys was up to on that particular day, 350 years ago.
“What struck me most about Pepys was he was a massive fan of music, he thought about it second only to sex,” the Highgate composer tells me. “As a social climber, he was also very busy and he noticed everything, so I needed to set the diary to a multi-faceted piece of music that reflected that.”
Taking inspiration from Thomas Tallis’ 40-part Renaissance motet, Spem In Alium, Benjamin will compose a 15-minute polyphonic work featuring eight choirs from different musical disciplines (gospel, folk, opera, musical theatre, older people, children and the Royal Navy) in which each performer will never sing the same line as another.
“It’s audacious and I must be a little bit bonkers but we will never have another opportunity to celebrate this anniversary,” explains Benjamin, whose previous work includes Orange and Lemons for BBC London and A1: The Road Musical for Channel 4. “Ultimately, I want it to appeal to people who don’t usual watch choral pieces in church.”
Planning to premiere the work at St Olave’s Church in June, Benjamin now has the daunting task of picking through Pepys’ diaries, which span ten years, to select the best quotes for the piece and finding 40 singers.
Clearly enjoying the challenge, Benjamin enthuses: “Reading the diaries was like falling in love with someone. He is just so optimistic. It’s always ‘the best meal’, ‘the most fun’, ‘the best singing’. Every day he celebrated the world and how wonderful life was, despite the fact that he was riddled with illness. We can do a lot worse than take a leaf out of his book.”
You can follow Benjamin Till’s blog at www.pepysmotet.blogspot.com
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