Search Results

This chapter traces the literary and musical development of Tuscan plainchant sung at the hours of the Divine Office, e.g. vespers, matins, lauds, and vespers, in honor of saints whose cults had been promoted by early medieval bishops. Such music often formed richly textured narratives that retold the lives and deaths of its holy subjects. Literary and musical analysis uncovers the chronology of this plainchant and shows how its composition coincided with turning points in the history of its respective cults. It reveals, moreover, that two distinct models of musical composition shaped the creation of these offices: first, the foundational repertoire of Gregorian chant codified in the early ninth century and second, the newer generation of “post-Gregorian” offices created by Frankish composers in the tenth century.

This chapter presents an overview of the twentieth‐century liturgical movement and the fruit of that movement in the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962‐65). Of particular importance was the nineteenth‐century recovery of the theology of the church as the Mystical Body of Christ which provided the needed theological foundation for liturgical renewal.

The nuns themselves performed the Divine Offices in their choir, following procedures carefully outlined in ceremonial books, a few of which survive for Venice. In most cases, these were sung in standard plainchant, although Santa Teresa had a unique repertoire, and San Lorenzo had an unusual set of ceremonies for Holy Week, especially the Mandatum (washing of the feet). While some Venetian nunneries were known for singing polyphony around 1500, this tradition ended with the reforms a few decades afterwards. Later sources show evidence of falsobordone and primitive polyphony, and occasionally of some use of organ and other instruments by the nuns. An interesting exception to this is the nunnery of Santi Marco e Andrea di Murano, several of whose nuns achieved some fame as singers in the first half of the seventeenth century, for whom Carlo Filago composed a book of motets.

Chapter 3 concerns the psalmody of the Divine Office, observing the purposes undergirding Carolingian intercessory accretions. I analyse the Carolingian reception of patristic psalms exegesis and instruction about the Divine Office in early monastic rules, and note the inherently public function of psalmody. By examining how Carolingian writers received and emphasized this teaching, I demonstrate that ninth-century church leaders believed that the Office should be characterized by an overtly universal orientation. The social dimension built into the performance and interpretation of psalmody, conceived of as an exercise in self-renunciation giving priority to acts of submission and unity in the chorus, lent itself to a usage which naturally adopted an intercessory function.

Unlike those in many other cities, Venetian nuns acted primarily as patrons, rather than performers. This chapter examines the employment of musicians, both singers and instrumentalists, for a wide range of religious occasions, from weekly sung Masses involving primarily clergy, to annual public expositions of the Holy Sacrament, to spectacular celebrations of the annual patronal feast of each nunnery, with the participation of some of the most important musicians of the city. These events were witnessed and described by both Venetians and foreign visitors, and were publicized in visitors’ guidebooks by such people as Vincenzo Coronelli. Both civic and ecclesiastical authorities attempted, with varying degrees of success, to limit expenditures for these events and what was sometimes seen as excessive display, more appropriate for the theater than the church. Authorities also worked to restrict contact between the nuns and the men whom they paid to perform.

The chapter details the daily routine of an apprentice, which involved singing and playing for an interminable round of church services as part of the enormous liturgical music industry in Italy. Such services included the hours of the Divine Office, daily Masses, saints’ days and feast days, religious processions, and other events in the liturgical calendar. Some performances by choristers took place outside churches, as well. Attempts by religious and secular leaders to rein in overly ornate or ambitious Italian church music making are described. Drawing on the accounts of travelers to the region, the chapter also highlights the role of church music as a lucrative tourist industry.