Nigel Osborne (b.1948) - photo 1

Nigel Osborne (b.1948)

Lot 149
08.11.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 300
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1053263
Lot 149 | Nigel Osborne (b.1948)
Estimate value
£ 500 – 800
Nigel Osborne (b.1948)
Autograph manuscript signed ('Nigel Osborne'), 'Angel-Nebulae', [2001]
A vocal work employing quarter-tones, interference and variant pronunciations to convey 'the "experimental" harmonies of the Caucasus'.

In pencil, title and 36 pages, 298 x 211mm, plus two pages of 'Notes' (the section on 'pulsar frequencies' on p. ii supplied in photocopy), notated for three tenors and bass on two systems of four staves per page, 12-stave paper, with an accompanying computer-printed introductory text, one page. Blue cloth portfolio.

Provenance:
(1) Sotheby's, 1 December 2010, part of lot 108.

(2) Schøyen Collection, MS 5476/1.

The work comprises five sections, entitled 'Medea 2 – Little Star/Angel – Radioastronomy – Angel/Nebulae – Gnostic Sky'. It was commissioned by the Birmingham Early Music Festival in 2001 for the music ensemble Red Byrd. According to the introductory text, it was 'influenced by the "experimental" harmonies of the Caucasus mountains ... and also by some acoustic phenomena, such as the pitch formations of vowels, derived from computer analysis of natural sound'. Osborne's 'Notes' provide a guide to his notation, including quarter tones, a 'virtual' harmonic series, 'interference', variant pronunciations and 'pulsar frequencies'.

Nigel Osborne MBE held the Reid Chair of Music at Edinburgh University from 1989 to 2012 and has pioneered the use of music to support children who are victims of conflict.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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