About this project

This website was developed within the framework of my Master of Music at the Royal Academy of Music, London. It is a university project which is entirely “home-made”.

The associations between the Chagall windows and the organ pieces involved a research process which is not detailed on this website. These associations were made according to three specific axes, depending on the window:

• The symbolic link: using what is represented on the window, either figuratively or purely symbolically, as a basis for finding organ pieces.

• The spiritual link: using either connections to Psalm 8 (which Chagall used as an inspiration), or themes around grief and the Christian hope for resurrection, which are also central to the Tudeley windows.

• The aesthetic link: using non-figurative elements (colours, textures, shapes, etc.) as a source of inspiration, with or without relations to a text or poem. 

About me: Ophelia Amar

I am a French-British organist based in London. I am currently working freelance while following the Advanced Diploma course at the Royal Academy of Music. I have previously studied and worked in France. More on: https://opheliaamar.com/

Acknowledgements

I am profoundly grateful for the enlightening discussions I have had with the academic team at the Royal Academy of Music, which have enabled me to carry this project to fruition. I would particularly like to thank Daniel-Ben Pienaar, Sarah Callis, Neil Heyde, Roderick Chadwick, Peter Sheppard Skaerved and Briony Cox-Williams. Many thanks also to trumpeter John Vernon for recording Petr Eben’s Okna with me for this project.

I will remain forever grateful for the tuition and advice I have received from my organ professor David Titterington over the past two years.

I am also indebted to the ABRSM and the Nicholas Danby Trust for their financial assistance for my Master’s course. Thank you to Stephen Turvey from the Danby Trust for joining me on my visit to Tudeley in August 2023.

In loving memory of Margaret, John & Dorothy Flood.