Books : Holy Week and Easter Ceremonies and Dramas from Medieval Sweden (Early Drama, Art, and Music Monograph Ser. : No. 13)
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from: Western Michigan Univ Medieval
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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.298172609485
EAN num: 9780918720375
ISBN number: 0918720370
Label: Western Michigan Univ Medieval
Manufacturer: Western Michigan Univ Medieval
Printing Date: 1990-06
Publishing house: Western Michigan Univ Medieval
Sale Popularity Level: 3185236
Studio: Western Michigan Univ Medieval
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Rated by buyers -
Latin liturgical drama in thirteenth century Sweden? Who could possibly be interested in that?
Actually, the Swedish aspects of this study are of minor interest compared to the clarity and utility the author brings to the whole subject of music dramas inside the Christian churches of the Middle Ages. The surviving manuscripts from Sweden, and the accounts written by observers at the time, reveal that the practices among the relatively new converts to Christianity of the far North were almost identical to those of France, England, and Germany. In other words, the clergy and the monastic communities did indeed carry a uniform Christian culture with them wherever they thrived.
These musical occasions were liturgical very first and only dramatic in clearly circumscribed fashion. They were inseparable from the ordinary rituals of the liturgical calendar - only performed as highlighters of specific holy days; always sung by clergy, monks, or nuns (and in large monasteries in France, by oblates, children given to the church) in the course of normal musical devotions, rather than by lay people; extremely seldom involving instruments other than bells; always sung in churches, though more frequently at side chapels or special locations than at the high altar; not essentially public performances or occasions for popular participation. The essential musical elements were the chants associated with the Hours, the Gregorian chants in almost all cases, particularly Matins and Vespers; thus the form of the "dramatic portions" of the ritual was the "trope", that is, the extension or decoration of the traditional chant. Most of the performance would have been the tonal recitations of the psalms, with their proper poetic antiphons and hymns.
A parallel culture of religious drama existed among the laity in Franc and England, that is, the Corpus Christi plays, performed on movable stages outdoors, each segmnet of drama being the possessiona nd production of a guild. Aside from subject matter, there's very little resemblance between the liturgical dramas and the Corpus Christi plays.
The conduct of liturgical music-drama is described clearly and in detail in Audrey Ekdahl Davidson's excellent book. Original Latin texts and solid English translations are included for seven dramas and dramatic processionals, and the music for three of the most complete has been transcribed in simple modern notation. Davidson also recounts the history of such ritual dramas in later centuries - their fate subsequent to the arrival of Lutheranism, and the lingering traces of them in Swedish church communities up to the present.
Don't imagine that you can buy the book and stage a liturgical drama meaningfully in your local church or synagogue! A lot of scholarship has been devoted to comprehending the music and re-conceiving the ritual. The music alone requires a substantial understanding of chant, and an ability to find the propers in the liturgical sources such as the Liber Usualis. The best way to get close to this serene spiritual art, after reading about it, is to hear it on a CD. The recorded performances by Le Reverdie and Ensemble Organum are excellent.
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