A former Tudor mansion is offering visitors the chance to listen to an audio reconstruction of a 16th-century Mass.
The Vyne, a country house near Basingstoke where Henry VIII attended Mass, has worked with historians and musicians to record a Lady Mass as it would have sounded in Tudor England. The website explains: “You’ll hear the subtle change in volume of the priest’s voice as he turns from the altar, the clink of the thurible chain as incense is blessed, even the faint rustle of clothing.”
Visitors can sit in The Vyne’s chapel and witness an immersive experience, with a surround-sound system enabling the priest’s voice, the choir’s singing and other noises to come from the same position in the chapel where they would have in real life. The music is Nicholas Ludford’s setting for a Mass in honour of Our Lady. It is a polyphonic composition for boys’ voices.
