A Remarkable Trip to the 16th Century

The place is the Cloisters 12th Century Fuentiduena Chapel, the time is about 1567, the composer Thomas Tallis, the piece his motet Spem in Alium (In No Other is My Hope).

If you take the A train to 190th Street and walk north (you can tell because the Hudson is on your left)

through Fort Tryon Park, you will find a charming restaurant in the woods, New Leaf.

Continue uphill to the promontory where the Cloisters sits, that gift of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.,  that "incorporates parts from five cloistered abbeys of Catalan, Occitan and French origins." (Wikipedia). He also donated medieval collections including his own glorious Unicorn Tapestries from 1603.

 

(Source: ecognosciente.com)

The special Tallis Motet exhibit takes the form of 40 speakers arranged in the chapel with one individual voice or part fed through each speaker. You can follow the music longitudinally throughout the 15-minute piece by listening to one speaker or step into the center to hear all the eight five-part choirs together, as people did.

(Source: nytimes.com)

The arrangement was designed by Janet Cardiff and the piece performed by the Salisbury Cathedral Choir in what was a transcendent musical experience. Don't miss it.

While you are there, take a look at the medieval windows,

gardens

and architectural features, removed brick by brick from their original locations and reassembled on the hill. Whatever else John D. Rockefeller, Jr. did in his life, for these gifts, he will be remembered kindly by New Yorkers.

Entry to the museum is $17 for seniors but free with your Met Museum membership. Try to go during the week. The number 4 bus stops right at the museum for your return trip.

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