IMS Study Group ‘Cantus Planus’ – 2014 Venice Meeting Session 1. Venice - Monday 28 July 16:30-17:30 Chair: Nausica Morandi Peter Jeffery The Choir of San Marco in a 13th-Century Mosaic In the basilica of San Marco in Venice, a well-known mosaic of the thirteenth century depicts two scenes: one in which the Venetians pray for the relics of Saint Mark’s body to be rediscovered, the other in which the discovery was made. There can be no doubt that two scenes are shown to be happening within St. Mark’s basilica itself. However, not much attention has been paid to the fact that the figures shown in the first scene include a choir of men and boys, though they are not shown singing but apparently bowing down in prayer. Detailed examination of the positioning, the vestments, the texts, the furnishings, when compared with the prescriptions of liturgical ceremonials, make it possible to specify what liturgical act is being represented, and to locate this within a tradition going back to a particular recension of the ninth-tenth-century Ordines Romani. This in turn helps answer some questions about the early rite of Venice, and about the Carolingian-era spread of the Roman liturgy to other parts of Europe. It also provides material for discussing the make-up and functions of early medieval liturgical choirs, particularly the role of the figure known as “paraphonista.” Manuel Pedro Ferreira Venetian Influence in 15th-century Portugal The Order of the Canons of St. John the Evangelist was founded in Lisbon around 1420 by Master Joham Vicente (1380-1463), physician for the Prince Regent D. Duarte. There was some initial hesitation concerning the forms of canonical organization; in 1427 the model followed at St. George of Alga in Venice was approved, but Augustinian rule was still considered a viable alternative until the confirmation in 1431 of Venetian-based constitutions. This paper attempts to trace vestiges of Venetian influence in three domains: para-liturgical cerimonies (e.g. processional planctus); liturgical selection and ordering of chants (as mirrored in late antiphoners written by the Portuguese Canons); and musical theory (a recently-discovered fragment of the Lucidarium by Marchetto da Padova, in a book connected to the Order). Session 2. Inventories and Catalogues - Tuesday 29 July 8:30-10:00 Chair: Zsuzsa Czagány Ana Čizmić Catalogue of Medieval Music Manuscripts in Dalmatia Dalmatia, the southern region of Croatia on the eastern Adriatic coast, has a rich medieval heritage that includes codices with musical notation. Many of these have been subjects of studies, and are therefore known to chant scholars. However, a considerable number of manuscripts have never been properly studied and have long been neglected, since there has never been a systematic approach to make an inventory of sources in this area. The scarce number of existing catalogues are mostly outdated and partial, describing predominantly the illuminated manuscripts, and they offer little or no information concerning the contents of the sources. Furthermore, many of the documented manuscripts have been misplaced, stolen or lost, especially during the war in the 1990's. As a part of an ongoing doctoral study a descriptive catalogue is being made, which provides a codicological description, contents and a short commentary of medieval liturgical sources containing musical notation. The aim of such a catalogue is not only to provide a first comprehensive inventory of sources in Dalmatia, but also to place them in their deserving context. This paper will present the catalogue and provide an overview of Dalmatian sources from a new perspective, as well as examine local traditions, such as unique and hitherto unknown offices in honor of patron saints of Krk (St. Quirinus) and Rab (St. Christopher). Santiago Ruiz Torres and Juan Pablo Rubio Sadia, OSB. Liturgical Fragments of the Diocese of Sigüenza (11th-16th centuries) This paper aims to present a valuable collection of forty-four liturgical fragments –all of them of plainsong with the exception of a fragmentary manuscript containing polyphonic music from the early 14th century– located in various archives in the province of Guadalajara (Spain). Altogether, the sources offer a wide overview of the liturgical and musical practice of the Diocese of Sigüenza from its restoration, between 1121 and 1124, until the assimilation of the Council of Trent. The importance of this church in the Iberian context lies in its frontier position between Castile, on one side, and Aragon, and therefore Europe, on the other. In the long term, this strategic location must have encouraged the establishment of a fluid network of musical exchanges, although its true scope and repercussions are still unknown. The analysis proposed here aims to shed light on the topic through an interdisciplinary work including different fields of study such as: musicology, liturgy, historiography or codicology. Among the most outstanding elements of this fragmentary corpus is the discovery of an antiphonary with the Office of St. James the Apostle, dated ca. 1100, and therefore, in an earlier version than the Codex Calixtinus, with which it shares interesting textual and melodic concordances. In addition, the analysis of this collection seems decisive to decipher the keys to the process of the liturgical romanization of Castile. Among its most exceptional aspects, one should appreciate the originality of the Sigüenza cultual tradition, shaped by a multiplicity of influences and liturgical archetypes both from and outside the Iberian Peninsula. Karin Strinnholm Lagergren Liturgical Music Manuscripts through Five Centuries in the Birgittine Abbey Maria Refugie (the Netherlands) The Birgittine Abbey Maria Refugie, founded in ca 1437, has despite its adventurous history kept a fine collection of manuscripts and printed books. Concerning liturgical books with music notation, the library holds ca 60 manuscripts form the late 15th century up to 1844. These are mainly graduals, antiphonaries and processionals for mass and office for the Birgittine sisters, all written by hand. Like many other small liturgical milieus, the Birgittines did not get any printed books until modern times. The manuscript production can be linked to four distinct periods when the abbey experienced periods of change/crisis. The aim of the paper is to: (1) give a survey of the liturgical music manuscripts in the abbey library of Maria Refugie, and (2) give some preliminary results from a research project concerning the musical transmission during five centuries in this abbey using the key words variation and stability. On a larger scale, the liturgical music of the Birgittines is a tool for investigating long term uses of liturgical music, from medieval times until the age if industrialization. Therefore the paper will end with some more general remarks using a sociological terminology on factors outside the music itself such as i.e. legitimization, authority and tenacious structures that may be in favour for stability or change of the music and text itself. Session 3. Old Hispanic Chant - Tuesday 29 July 8:30-10:00 Chair: Andreas Haug Emma Hornby & Rebecca Maloy A Taxonomy of Old Hispanic Cadences: Methodology and Challenges Until recently, the melodic language of Old Hispanic chant remained almost entirely unexplored. Many of the characteristics with which chant scholars usually engage are not preserved in the unpitchreadable neumes (range, cadence notes, goal tones, recurring pitch patterns). We are currently exploring Old Hispanic cadences, concentrating on the information that the neumes do preserve, such as melodic contour and text underlay. Despite the great variety of neume shapes used near cadences, we can begin to identify recurring strategies that consistently coincide with breaks in the verbal syntax throughout the tradition. To give us a large body of data with which to undertake our analysis, we are entering Old Hispanic chants into a database, using drag-and-drop fonts created from neume images in the manuscripts. We have found that the same strategies are used to conclude phrases that end with lengthy melismas and phrases that have a maximum of two or three notes per syllable. Classifying these strategies across the repertoire poses several methodological challenges, and these are the focus of our paper. We can classify according to the treatment of the final syllable(s) of the phrase: the majority of cadences can be classified into a handful of broad categories using this approach. Alternatively, we can classify according to the appearance of characteristic material that usually precedes the final syllable(s), which produces many more categories of cadence. We explore the benefits and limitations of each approach and consider the varying role of accent in the treatment of cadential material. Raquel Rojo Carrillo The Vespertini as Vitnesses to the Transmission of Old Hispanic Chant in Traditions A and B The existence of two distinct traditions within the indigenous Christian liturgy of the medieval Iberian Peninsula is one of its most intriguing features. These traditions, labelled “A” and “B” by liturgy scholars, are clearly connected, but have different liturgical assignments for much of their common material. They are also related in their music, known as “Mozarabic” or Old Hispanic chant (OHC). Nevertheless, these traditions present differences in certain musical aspects. In this paper I will explore the relationship between tradition A and B by analysing a single