LE MANUSCRIT DE VOYNICH

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The Voynich manuscript is a mystery. Written in the fifteenth century, this book is rediscovered in 1912 by Wilfrid M. Voynich. Even today, the subject, the purpose and the author of this book constitute one of the most famous enigmas of contemporary cryptography: the alphabet in which the texts of this collection are written has never been deciphered. In tribute to this ancient book, Yassen Vodenitcharov composed in 2015 his piece entitled The Manuscript of Voynich, for mezzo-soprano and a consort of viola da gamba (he received a State commission of the Ministry of Culture). The voice sings a text composed of onomatopoeia, which evokes an imaginary foreign language. Through six movements with characteristic titles: "cryptographic piece", "pharmacological piece", "alchemical piece", "fateful piece", "astrological piece", "in search of the philosopher's stone", the archaic and mystical aspect of viols mixes, not without humor, with the musical language of our time. Yassen thus confronts his own musical vision with the mystery of the Voynich manuscript. We will associate with this contemporary world works composed at the dawn of the Baroque era by John Dowland, Christopher Tye or Orlando Gibbons.