In nomine 'Shivering'

In nomine ‘Shivering’ is Virtaperko’s second contribution to the polyphonic In nomine viol consort tradition, which flourished in England during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In nomine settings were built around the cantus firmus Gloria Tibi Trinitas (from John Taverner’s six-voice mass from 1530). This augmented plainchant melody line was often played (or sung) by alto, while the other voices produced imitative, typically highly complex imitative counterpoint. ”My second In nomine is scored for the most archetypical instrumentation of the genre, five viols. In the piece the well-known cantus firmus of 53 semibreves (played by tenor 2) is split in two passages (bars 1-23 and 52-107). In between those two passages a slightly modified and figurated inversion of the theme is introduced by bass 2 (either a 7-stringed bass viol with the lowest string tuned to G or alternatively violone in G). For the full duration of the piece the cantus firmus is surrounded by fast repetitive bursts of slurred, broken chords by treble, tenor 1 and bass 1. Played in an improvisational manner in individual ad lib. tempos those bursts of chords create polymetric feel to the texture, confronting the resiliently advancing cantus firmus, the only stable and constant musical element of the piece.