Cooper Twofer

Sarah Mead

Most of our members are familiar with Martha Bishop, whether through her many years as Conclave Music Director, her invaluable teaching manuals, or her brilliant compositions. You may have had the pleasure of taking classes or lessons with her, participating in her new music reading sessions, or hearing her perform in concert. Those who are acquainted with her know that she has always got a multitude of projects under way. One such project was to read through a facsimile of viol ducts with Chrissy Spencer for which she had obtained a microfilm copy. The original manuscript resides in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. It is quite difficult to decipher, littered as it is with blobs and scratches and occasional outright errors; but the challenge was worth it to get to delve into duets by Jenkins, Ward, Tomkins, Withy, and Simpson, and--on the opening pages--two Fancies by Coprario.