Paula Stiles's Blog
Posted by Paula Stiles
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Medieval History at Suite101.
Posted by Paula Stiles
The recreation of medieval music--as it was actually sung and played--is a recent niche section of folk music. Some of the more popular collections include Christmas carols. There used to be carols for other major holidays and seasons. However, Christmas carols have pretty much taken over the repertoire since the late 19th century.
Recreations of medieval Christmas carols vary in their approach. Anonymous 4, for example, is a well-known group of four women who sing medieval tunes and poems a capella (without accompaniment). They cover English carols of the 14th and 15th centuries in their Christmas collection "On Yoolis Night: Medieval Carols & Motets" (1993), though they also put out a collection of medieval Hungarian Christmas music (basically Latin chants) in 2001. A "motet" is a rather vague term for a choral piece and dates back to the 13th century. Typical of the English collection is the 15th century Latin carol "Ecce Quod Natura" (Lo That Nature). The group's rendition of this carol sounds like a cross between Benedictine chant and Elizabethan tunes, with complex, polyphonic harmonizing between the four women. This reflects their general style.
"Ancient Noels" (1994) by Ensemble Galilei and Maggie Sansone is a different approach to similar material. Notably, it is completely instrumental as opposed to completely vocal. As such, it also covers different tunes. Again, the music has an Elizabethan feel and tends to cover England and northern Europe, though it does include some Basque and Galician (north of Portugal) carols as well. Unlike On Yoolis Night, it includes some old favorites whose titles listeners may recognize (though not the renditions), including "The Sussex Carol" and "In the Bleak Midwinter" (but not the same song as the one so popular now, which dates from the 19th century). The collection covers both late medieval and Renaissance works.
For a varied collection of songs with both vocals and instrumental accompaniment, try: "Medieval Christmas" (1991) by Boston Camerata. This collection includes songs from England, but also Provence, Italy and Catalonia.
For a looser, party version of mainly choral work, try "Worldes Blisse" (1999) by Mediaeval Baebes. Less academic than Anonymous 4 in their pronunciation and perhaps presentation, their collection is probably more conducive to a Christmas party or other holiday gathering. Anonymous 4's work is very quiet and has a tendency to get lost in the babble of a group.
Finally, there is "Sacred Songs from East and West" by Sister Marie Keyrouz, a singer and compiler of medieval Eastern Orthodox music. The first of this two-CD set is a collection of various Nativity (Christmas) chants from Byzantine and Maronite traditions. The second CD is a collection of renditions of more modern variations of the Ave Maria prayer. Your mileage may vary on how you like this second half. Keyrouz's approach is a capella, with a distinctly Middle Eastern feel of wailing chant within cool stone walls. Very different from your average English carol and worth checking out.
Posted by Paula Stiles
Waverly Consort will go back in time for holiday
Chapel Singers Present Choral Service Sunday
Travel Tour Group Offer Unique Trip
Church Abuzz With the Sound of Medieval Music
Pilgrims Return to St. Andrews
Also try this week's articles in the news.
Posted by Paula Stiles
Martyrs exist in all three biblical religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). The most formalized of the three, Christianity, has created a hierarchy of saints, beginning with the earliest apostles and extending into the 20th century. Depending upon their popularity, saints can be canonized anywhere between three years later (St Thomas Becket) to hundreds of years later. Martyrs tend to be canonized sooner than other types of saints, but this is not always the case.
The most common early saints (the subject of this week's article), and also most powerful, in Christianity, were the martyrs. The willingness of martyrs to die for their faith when Christianity was reviled everywhere has given them a power through the history of Christianity that continues today. Christians continue to revere early martyrs like the apostle Andrew and later medieval martyrs like Thomas Becket.
Jewish martyrs range from ancient biblical times through the medieval era of Christian and Muslim persecution to the Holocaust. Some of the more contested Muslim Sufi saints, like Mansur Al-Hallaj and Shams ad-din Tabrizi, were executed or murdered for heterodox beliefs. In Christianity, political martyrs like Joan of Arc died for being too inspirational to their own side.
The Muslim lunar calendar, which shifts around the Western Gregorian calendar, has no correlation with the holiday season, but the Christmas season is in part a celebration of martyrs for both Judaism and Christianity. Hannukah is a Jewish celebration that commemorates a miracle in the life of Judah Maccabee, a second century B.C.E. Judean warrior who died in battle against invading Greeks. Meanwhile, five major Christian martyrs have their feast days during the Christmas season: St. Andrew the First Apostle (Feast day: November 30; died 70), St. Lucy (Feast day: December 13; died c.304), "Doubting" St. Thomas the Apostle (Feast day: December 21; died c.72), St. Stephen the Proto-Martyr (Feast day: December 26; died c.33) and St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury (Feast day: December 29; died 1170).
Posted by Paula Stiles
Events
Medieval Indian art on Show at Royal Academy
Chapel Singers Present Choral Service Sunday
History Repeats Itself in Parrish: Sarasota Medieval Fair, World War II Event Visit Eras Past
[Cheylesmore] Manor Set to Open for the Public
Sounds of the Past [Anonymous 4]]
Lecture on Monastic Guidelines [Michigan]
The Sarasota Medieval Fair
Feudal Festival [Hunsader Farms]
Also try this week's articles in the news.
