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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFirst performance in 1,000 years: ‘lost’ songs from the Middle Ages are brought back to life
An ancient song repertory will be heard for the first time in 1,000 years this week after being reconstructed by a Cambridge researcher and a world-class performer of medieval music
Songs of Consolation, to be performed at Pembroke College Chapel, Cambridge on April 23, is reconstructed from neumes (symbols representing musical notation in the Middle Ages) and draws heavily on an 11th century manuscript leaf that was stolen from Cambridge and presumed lost for 142 years.
Saturdays performance features music set to the poetic portions of Roman philosopher Boethius magnum opus The Consolation of Philosophy. One of the most widely-read and important works of the Middle Ages, it was written during Boethius sixth century imprisonment, before his execution for treason. Such was its importance, it was translated by many major figures, including King Alfred the Great, Chaucer and Elizabeth I.
Hundreds of Latin songs were recorded in neumes from the 9th through to the 13th century. These included passages from the classics by Horace and Virgil, late antique authors such as Boethius, and medieval texts from laments to love songs.
However, the task of performing such ancient works today is not as simple as reading and playing the music in front of you. 1,000 years ago, music was written in a way that recorded melodic outlines, but not notes as todays musicians would recognise them; relying on aural traditions and the memory of musicians to keep them alive. Because these aural traditions died out in the 12th century, it has often been thought impossible to reconstruct lost music from this era precisely because the pitches are unknown.
- See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/first-performance-in-1000-years-lost-songs-from-the-middle-ages-are-brought-back-to-life-0#sthash.yadn5AXI.dpuf
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)CTyankee
(63,912 posts)and has been recorded today. The Yale School of Music and Yale Theological School combined forces to present Hildegarde's music today. She was also a mystic who had visions and was a poet and a healer. What a window on the 12th and 13th century!
Gman
(24,780 posts)That gives the history of Western Classical music. He talks extensively about this type of musical notation and later Gregorian Chant (which this sounds a lot like). He goes into detail about Hildegarde. I recommend the course to anyone interested in classical music.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)turned out to be very interesting....loved it!
Codeine
(25,586 posts)to music. Evocative and beautiful.
panader0
(25,816 posts)I have a great admiration for intelligent people--and you are one.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)I had a grad school course in Mysticism and it was terrific. We also studied the poetry of Rumi. I still have that book and often revisit what he wrote. Hildegarde was a theologian and a mystic and had mystical encounters. She was quite a woman.
saturnsring
(1,832 posts)Qutzupalotl
(14,317 posts)Perhaps they'll get around to airing this very collection, I don't know.
dorkzilla
(5,141 posts)I love ancient/early music and I've never heard this show before, so thank you for including this link!
Qutzupalotl
(14,317 posts)when my local classical station picked it up. I try to never miss a show.
If you Pandora, "Jordi Savall" makes a good seed, as might any of the names in the lower right of my link.
dorkzilla
(5,141 posts)The way some people follow rock bands, I follow Savall. I drove all the way from NY to Boston to see him and Paul O'Dette play at the Boston Early Music festival a few years back. I saw O'Dette this past January with Ronn McFarlane and the following week I saw Jordi again at the Met. I would travel the ends of the earth to hear that man (I own every CD he put out).
He's also got quite a bid on Spotify, which I now prefer to Pandora.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Thanks for the heads up, n2doc.
forest444
(5,902 posts)Never let it be said it didn't have its moments of beauty too.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)forest444
(5,902 posts)Of course, whenever anyone mentions that period of time I can't help but visualize scenes from John Boorman's Excalibur (yes, I'm an '80s kid).
zentrum
(9,865 posts)the short clip at the link is magical.
ananda
(28,866 posts)This is an amazing story!
Thanks for posting.
Uncle Joe
(58,366 posts)Thanks for the thread, n2doc.
PatrickforO
(14,577 posts)You could get lost in music like that.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Someone said "All arts strive to be music." And I love early western music. The further back you go, the more it might as well be avant gard.
Remember Y2K.... when the world was gonna end? Back then the 4 woman group Anonymous Four put out an album "1000: A Mass for the End of Time - Medieval Chant and Polyphony for the Ascension".... because everyone thought the world was gonna end in the year 1000 too.
It's of course amazingly beautiful, contemplative, dreamy, distant....
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Okay, not really. But very interesting.
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)Thank you.
tavernier
(12,392 posts)I'd prefer a slightly softer male voice translating the verse, but otherwise it was a delight to the ears.
Thanks for posting!
Kang Colby
(1,941 posts)over the moans and groans of bubonic plague.
UTUSN
(70,710 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,321 posts)UTUSN
(70,710 posts)zazen
(2,978 posts)At least as compared to first world life now, daily life then was so friggin' HARD and yet they created such amazing art and artifacts, without pain relief, or artificial light, or central heating, or regular clean food. It never ceases to amaze me. I feel so lazy and soft compared to those people.
dorkzilla
(5,141 posts)You totally made my day
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)I am still suffering narcolepsy from the Medieval Babes concert I got dragged to against my will twenty years ago.
oldandhappy
(6,719 posts)burrowowl
(17,641 posts)Codeine
(25,586 posts)Thank you for bringing this to our attention!!
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)It's like meditation music.