Took in a wonderful concert in Cambridge this evening at St. Pauls Roamn Cathloic Church in Harvard Square as part of the Boston Early Music Festival Concert Series. Sequentia and Dialogs performed chant from the 10th and 11th century, focusing on stylistic differences between Roman and Carolingian Chant. A wonderful evening.
Charlemagne was distress to find that the church liturgy was not being sung in a consistent manner across his empire. With assistance from the Church is sought to induct a globalization of the plainchant practices of the Frankish empire. In the program members of the choir would read excerpts of historical accounts to frame the conflict that insured between Roman, the practitioners of the Carolingian style, and the emperor.
One that sicks in my mind is an account of a request of Charlemagne to the Pope. He asked the Church for assistance in the matter of education Frankish canters in the art of Roman Chant. The Pope responded by sending 12 of his best trained canters and monks. They were to be dispersed around the empire to major churches to instruct the Fankish canters of proper chant technique. The monks were jealous of the Franks and vowed to each other to singing differently, thus worsening the situation in the empire. Charlemagne caught wind of this and notified the Pope. The monks were recalled and punished with exile or life in prison. The pope was of the opinion that sending any further monks would be fruitless as they would be wrought with the same corruption. The solution was to have Chalemagne send his “smartest canters” to Rome for training, under a vail of secrecy as to not revel their Frankish heritage. The act was successful.
wrought
It is always fascinating to me how works from antiquity could be brought back to life. The text is intact and on occasion the music. Usually though the music must be reconstructed in what is thought to be the proper style or from exiting traditions. Harder to reproduce is the singing style. In this program the directors attempted to reproduce this from what limited descriptions were available. Considering that this information would have been passed from canter to canter, the effort is truly extraordinary.
Both groups, especially Sequentia, have earned much respect in the early music community for the authenticity of their presentations. What struck me was the scholarly approach that the music directors of the respective group took to ensure the quality of the work. The vocal performances were impeccable, gorgeous, and inspiring. I recommend to any enthusiast of medieval music to seek them out. The space of St. Paul Roman Catholic Church in Harvard Square is just as wonderful for sung music.
