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The estampie (French: estampie, Occitan and Catalan: estampida, Italian: istampitte) is a medieval dance and musical form which was a popular instrumental and vocal form in the 13th and 14th centuries. Though the estampie is generally monophonic, there are also two-voice compositions in the form of an estampie, such as the three for keyboard in the Robertsbridge Fragment.

The Robertsbridge Codex (1360) is a music manuscript of the 14th century. It contains the earliest surviving music written specifically for keyboard. The term codex is somewhat misleading: the musical section of the source comprises only two leaves, bound together with a larger manuscript from Robertsbridge, Sussex, England.[1] It contains six pieces, three of them in the form of the estampie, an Italian dance form of the Trecento, as well as three arrangements of motets. Two of the motets are from the Roman de Fauvel. All of the music is anonymous, and all is written in tablature. Most of the music for the estampies is for two voices, often in parallel fifths, and also using hocket technique. Most likely the instrument used to play the pieces in the Codex was the organ. Formerly the date of the Codex was presumed to be around 1330, but more recent research has suggested a later date, slightly after mid-century.

The manuscript was considered Italian and connected to the main streams of the Italian trecento in its contents and in its clear use of puncti divisionis (dots of division). However, scholarly consensus now considers the source English.

The Codex is in the British Library (additional manuscript 28550).

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from Live at Chichester Cathedral, released October 4, 2019

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Spire London, UK

An improvised group made up of the Spire players, explores the sonics of the mighty organ, in all its thundering glory. A free range is given to the players to dive into musical territory they cannot do with scored work. Initially set up to provide links between the main sets, The Eternal Chord has evolved into one of the acts in its own right and has become a mainstay of all Spire live events. ... more

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