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Project

The origin, development and standardization of the medieval historia in the Low Countries (10th-14th centuries): a contribution to the repositioning of chant in Early Music historiography.

1 A challenge to Early Music historiography (Middle Ages end of the Ancien Régime) Chant (Gregorian chant, plainchant) is traditionally considered to be a repertory that originated in the early Middle Ages, that was consolidated by the Carolingian and Ottonian era, and that was transmitted more or less unaltered through the following centuries. As a result, the traditional understanding of chant in Early Music history is mostly restricted to the repertory of the so-called vieux fonds (up to c. 1000 AD). In contrast to this traditional view, a number of important chant genres emerged from the 10th century on. The continued addition of new feasts to the liturgical calendar occasioned the composition of new music (not only polyphony, but important works of chant as well), in genres such as the hymn, prosula, sequence, trope and new office chant (historiae). Examples include Gottschalks sequence for the feast of the Divisio apostolorum (11th century), the historia Regali natus for the canonization of Charlemagne (12th century), and Fernando de Talaveras historia for the liberation of Granada in 1492. Indeed, the composition of new historiae persisted until the 17th century. The emergence of these new chant genres undermines the traditional historiography of Early Music. As a consequence, the traditional view of the liturgical music of the Ancien Régime (the Middle Ages and Renaissance in particular) is distorted: it strongly emphasizes polyphony, but almost ignores the later developments in chant, and the novelty, quality and quantity of particular genres. Redressing the balance between plainchant and polyphony in Early Music history thus constitutes a major challenge to musicologists. The historia offers ideal material with which to address this challenge. It was the most important new chant genre in the Low Countries, and may be considered as the most representative genre of sacred monophony by virtue of its wide dissemination across Europe, as well as the quality and quantity of music in preserved sources. The present research project will demonstrate that the Low Countries prominence, productivity and European influence in historia composition occupied a place in musical life that is fairly comparable to that of Renaissance polyphony a number of centuries later. To bring this challenge to a good end, the traditional methods of analysis are not sufficient. In order to come to a full musical understanding of the historiae, the proposed research demands complementary and innovative methodologies, which will contribute to a new and integral view of Early Music history and analysis. 2 The study of historiae The designation historia refers to a liturgical office for a saint or another feast, such as Trinity or Corpus Christi, in which the narrative lessons (for Matins) and the antiphons and responsories tell a story, written in prose or in poetry. From the 10th to the 14th century, composers of historiae developed procedures and techniques that became characteristic of the genre, such as specific types of rhyme, verse and meter, a stricter modal organization and specific melodic goals. From the 10th century on, the heartland of historia composition was northern France and the Low Countries (including Liège). Music-historically, these historiae are important for many reasons. They are among the earliest musical compositions that can be reliably dated and attributed to a specific composer. A significant number of compositions from the Low Countries were disseminated throughout Europe (Stephen of Lièges historia for the Trinity, the historiae for Corpus Christi, Sts Servatius, Livinus, Maternus). Among medieval chant genres, the historia was undoubtedly the most elaborate (an average historia contains 40 to 50 sung items) and the one with the highest rate of production. Manuscripts and documentary sources confirm both the high artistic quality of the historiae (such as the early historiae from Ghent, Liège, Echternach, and Maastricht) and their continued composition from the 10th to at least the 17th century (e.g. the late historia for St Bavo in Haarlem/Ghent). Moreover, these sources survive in impressive numbers: research preliminary to this project has thus far yielded a checklist of more than 250 antiphoners (the most important source for historiae) from the Low Countries. As the number of historiae increased, finally, the genre was documented and commented upon by the most influential liturgists, such as Durandus of Mende (13th century) and Radulphus de Rivo (1403). Despite its richness and importance, the genre of the historia not only lacks a place in the broader history of music, but also in the history of chant and in the history of music in the Low Countries. Audas study of the three historiae by Stephen of Liège (1923) is outdated, and the work of later scholars often covers individual historiae only. While leading chant scholars have worked on historiae from Germany (Hiley, Hankeln), England (Hughes) and France (Goudesenne), and by single composers (Chartier on Hucbald), the contribution of the Low Countries to the genre has not yet been studied systematically (Hagghs work on the saints' offices of Ghent being a singular exception). Cantus Planus, the chant study group of the International Musicological Society (IMS), has set up a series of critical studies and editions, entitled Historiae, enabling major progress in the field; in this series, however, historiae from the Low Countries are not represented. Thus, even though international interest in the historia is growing, the genre and its sources in the Low Countries have been unjustly neglected. Therefore, the present research project will provide a detailed assessment of the origin, development and standardization of the historia in the Low Countries. 3 Methodology Given the very large dimensions of the entire repertory, four representative case-studies are proposed, allowing investigation of the chronological and geographical evolution of the genre. Since some of the earliest historiae were composed in the Low Countries and the composition of historiae reached an undisputed peak in production between the 10th and the 14th centuries, these elements offer a logical geographical and chronological demarcation. Consequently, the focus of the four case-studies is on the earliest, formative and most productive period of the genre in the Low Countries (after the 14th century, most historiae were contrafacts, parodies, or compilations of older chant). Moreover, the four selected historia-studies are differentiated regarding the types of communities and institutions they represent, their respective sociological backgrounds and relationships to (political) power and influence. In order to make the position, contribution and influence of historiae from the Low Countries in a European context clearly visible, the genre will be studied from a comparative point of view. Indeed, the development of historiae is not simply a local phenomenon, but one which invites comparison of their evolution in the Low Countries to that in other European regions, most importantly the adjacent countries. Furthermore, the analysis of the selected historiae will make full use of the tools that have been developed hitherto in chant scholarship. These include, on the one hand, textual analysis of meter, rhythm, and dependence on Latin vitae or other hagiography, and, on the other hand, musical analysis of modal order and melodic construction. However, as mentioned above, the project also proposes the introduction of new methodologies to complement those that already exist. More precisely, it is necessary to adopt an innovative approach to the following three important parameters of chant: modality, the notions of genre and style, and the interpretation of musical context. First, the modal construction of the historiae is the outcome of a decision made by a composer, not of a gradually evolving chant tradition, as was the case in the vieux fonds. An analysis of historiae that wants to avoid anachronisms must take into account such a major change in musical culture, as it throws a different light on the older historiography of chant dialects (such as the East- and West-Frankish variants) and reforms (such as the Cistercian reform). Second, the increasing standardization of the genre and the corollary changes in use of melody and modality led to a new style of historia chant, one that sometimes shared features with genres that were subject to a similar standardization, such as the sequence and the hymn. As new sequences and hymns became necessary for the celebration of a new feast, they were mostly composed together with the new historia, in a related style. The study of this process of standardization will therefore have to distinguish between genre-specific features that remained intact, and stylistic features that were common to historiae, sequences and hymns in the new style. Third, a full understanding of historiae requires an assessment of the historical and cultural contexts in which they functioned. More precisely, the performance context of historiae will be considered: historia chants were not only sung in their proper (primary) settings of the liturgy of the hours, but were also performed in the secondary settings of processions and commemorations. These secondary settings involved a deliberate selection of chants, with selective repetition as a result. Such use of chant promoted civic and religious awareness, as well as community identity.
Date:1 Oct 2008 →  30 Sep 2011
Keywords:Gregorian, Early music
Disciplines:Art studies and sciences