Calligrapher's Manuscript, The

Duration:

12'

The Calligrapher's Manuscript takes its inspiration from the seventeenth-century calligrapher Johann Hering's private codex, in which various calligraphic techniques appear to be experimented with. Certain pages of the manuscript include texts from the bible and other sources, intensely adorned with elaborate ornaments. On other pages, the alphabet is written out in different fonts; first these are plain and predominantly Roman in style, but in later pages the script is increasingly decorated. Towards the very end, the letters themselves seem to have been forgotten altogether (or are perhaps completely engulfed by the ornamental figures) giving way to remarkably abstract designs.

Commissioned for the London Symphony Orchestra through the LSO Discovery Panufnik Young Composers Scheme, supported by the Helen Hamlyn Trust.