Townscape–Soundscape

Abstract LATE medieval Bruges is known to us through the stillness of pictures. Motion and sound are contained in them, but in a frozen form: reduced to an infinitely small fraction of time. Given time, the pictures would start to move, and the music would be heard. In the Ghent panels by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, an angel is seen playing the organ: she is about to press the keys F, c and a.— The time lapse between her action and the perception of the chord is extended to eternity. Next to the organ-player another angel, holding a harp, counts the time with her fingers on the shoulder of the partner in front of her, who holds a viol and is ready to play, but is resting. In the opposite wing of the picture, eight angels are singing mensural polyphony. Musical measure determines the precise moment in time in which the whole picture is set.