These days we are constantly hearing about cyber crime and how the perpetrators are getting more sophisticated. Many of these criminals are also very young and some of the crimes reflect a growing belief among the young that intellectual property like publications and music should be freely available for all. Internet based file sharing sites are a typical example of this phenomenon.

While you read the following article why not listen to my e-baroque compositions – just click on the box below:

or if techno music is more your cup of tea here are my techno/ambient compositions:

 

I hope you find the article below interesting…please visit chrisduggleby.com again.

In this week’s article I would like to share with you a story of intellectual property theft that goes right to the heart of the Catholic church. In fact even by producing this article and sharing with you the details of this intellectual property I myself could face the threat of excommunication. The property was stolen from the Vatican. This crime was not committed by some modern day computer whiz-kid – in fact it was perpetrated 245 years ago (1770) by a fourteen year old.

This young boy was not some starving waif stealing so that he could buy his next crust of stale bread. He was a rather well-to-do Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Every Holy Week the Sistine Chapel in Rome performed a wonderful piece of choral music by the composer Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652). It was forbidden by the Catholic church to transcribe this music and the piece could only be performed in the services specified by the church. Writing it down or performing the piece outside of these services was punishable by excommunication.

During the holy week of 1770 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited the Sistine Chapel in Rome with his father and heard this uplifting piece of music: the ‘Miserere‘. Later he wrote down the music from memory, visiting the chapel one more time in order to make any necessary corrections. After about three months he was summoned back to Rome by Pope Clement XIV. Fortunately for the young composer rather than excommunicating him the Pope praised him for his talent and awarded him the order of the Golden Spur (a kind of papal knighthood).

To celebrate this early example of ‘free’ music sharing for the masses I have prepared a new video to accompany my own version of Miserere. Please accept it as a token of my good wishes during this festive period.

You will notice that my own arrangement of this remarkable (four centuries old!) piece of music features some digital choir boys. However I am very much aware that we live in an inclusive society and it would be remiss of me to only feature the boys in this celebratory article. In fact I am also aware that not all of my readers are avid fans of classical music. Therefore I have also prepared another more modern piece of music (I think Techno is the term given by the younger folk to this thrusting stuff). Rather than boys this somewhat newer composition gives greater prominence to the choir girls and also makes use of some slightly more mature gospel singers (to maintain the ‘religious’ thread).

Here is the video for my latest techno composition ‘Choir Girls: Turn Me On‘)

I hope you find at least one of these pieces of music to your taste (if not please take a strong drink and try listening again!). Enjoy the festive period and thanks for keeping in touch with me via ChrisDuggleby.com. If, in the aftermath of the celebrations, you do find yourself feeling a bit down why not pop onto the internet and listen to some of that free music – and perhaps remember to pay homage to the audacity of that 14 year old boy who believed good music should be enjoyed by the masses.

Chris Duggleby.