Temple of the Grail(50)

‘Ah . . . you speak of our harmonious melodies . . . yes . . .’ he smiled, ‘our voices do not traditionally accompany the tenor voice as other choirs you may have heard. Our voices seek other harmonies through notes not following the cantus firmus.’ He moved closer to my master, animated, ‘We sometimes hear complex weaves of singular melody whose diverse but concordant strains cross and merge in waves of harmony! Oh yes . . . it is truly beautiful.’

‘You use notation, I see.’ My master was referring to a manuscript which the brother held loosely in his hand.

‘Indeed! Indeed!’ He showed us the strange figures. ‘The discovery of notation by our brother from Cologne was truly a miracle! And since the addition of the musical staff by the learned Guido – who should be sainted – music can be experienced with the eye! Yes, it is a triumph! My predecessor was the one who

introduced this abbey to such wonders.’

‘Very interesting. What was his name?’

The man’s pale face became paler. ‘Brother Samuel of Antioch.’

My master frowned, his eyes narrowing a touch, ‘Samuel of Antioch?’

‘Yes, a holy man from a holy land . . .’ He paused, perhaps remembering his master’s face with fondness, and his eyes became once again a little moist and I wondered if this was the monk Samuel, whose grave my master saw on our first day at the abbey.

‘I see also that you have an organ.’

‘Oh, yes . . . it is so like the voice, do you agree?’ He held both hands together in a gesture of praise.

‘A magnificent instrument. Is it operated by air or water?’

‘You think too highly of our little community, preceptor, we are not so fortunate as to have an air-operated instrument. This one is very old and operates by the aid of water whose flow works the pump. We are lucky to have the service of an underground spring which runs below the abbey and we are able to divert its energy to a heavenly purpose.’

‘So the abbey was constructed around the existing channel?’

‘Yes and no. We have had to alter its direction slightly. Our beloved forefathers constructed a wonderful arrangement of drains that follow a course beneath us.’

‘That is ingenious. And the water is diverted by what means, brother?’

The monk paused for a moment, seeming unsure of what to say. ‘I am told that it is a miracle of engineering.’

‘Surely from time to time these tunnels must be visited for practical purposes?’

‘All I know is that the abbot has forbidden it for reasons of safety. We are told they have become . . . unstable. One brother nearly lost his life many years ago during an inspection.’

‘So it has been visited in recent times?’

‘Many years ago, though that brother is now dead, and our general father, the abbot, has imposed a silence on the subject. I feel uncomfortable discussing it, preceptor.’

‘I am sorry, brother Sacar, it is merely that Abbot Bendipur has requested my help in the matter of Brother Ezekiel’s death –’

‘Do you think that the tunnels have any bearing on your investigations?’ he interrupted a little anxiously.

‘I must say that I do not know. I am by nature a curious man,’ my master answered with equanimity. ‘Curious things intrigue me. In any case your music is quite exceptional.’

Sacar was noticeably relieved to conclude the uncomfortable inquiry and to return to his beloved subject. ‘Thank you, preceptor, and yet it is the spirit that sings!’

‘I agree . . .’ my master acknowledged, ‘the voice is the bearer of the soul.’

Sacar beamed, his face almost radiant with pleasure, ‘I believe, dear brother, that everything natural has its supernatural counterpart, do you agree? Even here in our modest church . . . The door which faces east is none other than Christ, through whom we enter heaven, the pillars are the bishops and doctors who uphold the Church, the sacristy is the womb of Mary, where Jesus put on human flesh. You see everything physical, has its spiritual counterpart.’

‘A reflection of the order and number of the universe.’

‘Music,’ Sacar continued, lost in thought, ‘music and prayer, the marriage of two complementary gifts. Omnem horam occupabis, hyumnis psalmis, et amabis . . . Music, being the greatest expression of the diversity of God through man and prayer ... tenere silentium, super hoc orationem diliges et lectionem nutricem claustralium . . . the expression of man’s unity with the saints who, on our behalf, deliver our lamentations at the foot of the Christ and through him directly to God. Could there be anything holier?’

‘Indeed.’