Projects / Programmes
Old traditions in new vestments: Musical and textual reworkings in the performing practice of the liturgical music
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.08.00 |
Humanities |
Musicology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H320 |
Humanities |
Musicology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.04 |
Humanities |
Arts (arts, history of arts, performing arts, music) |
repertoire migration and transformation, music borrowings and reworkings, sacred music, post-Tridentine plainchant, opera arias
Researchers (8)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
Music genres developed, changed and transformed with time. Some of them, even if they existed in the same time period, were perhaps strictly separated, but the others were connected more than we would assume regarding their function and form. The genres of some seemingly incompatible traditions of completely different origins met in time because they found themselves in a common function. In the territory of today’s Slovenia, for the time between the council of Trent and the end of the 18th century, such traditions were the liturgical plainchant and the music originating in secular, even profane genres, such as opera, which was of more recent origin. In the 18th century—if not before—they met in liturgy, with the same texts and in the same function. Plainchant music of that time usually continues or reworks older tradition, but in the case of secular music we find textual and sometimes musical reworkings. Both genres of music were known to listener, each from a different context: one from the liturgical, the other from the profane context; one genre was the most sacred, while the other was probably the most secular; one had the patina of tradition, the other excitement of novelty. How could this so different music exist and co-exist under a common liturgical cover?
This unusual couple will be the subject of the proposed project, which will study performing practice of two different musical traditions, which can be found in liturgical “vestments”, i.e. reworkings, in the time between the Council of Trent and the end of the 18th century on the territory of today’s Slovenia. The main studied repertoire will be the post-Medieval chant, for which many sources are preserved and which can be observed through the whole time in question, as a tradition with possible further reworkings. A contrasting, even opposite tradition to this “most ecclesiastical tradition”, the tradition of reworkings of the (perhaps most) “profane music” (such as operatic compositions), will serve for the comparison. The project will attempt to answer the following: what was the repertory of the Modern Era plainchant from the territory of today's Slovenia; where, how, and in which context it was written down; and when, how, in which context, and by whom it was performed. At the same time, it will try to establish possible connections with other music genres, especially with the hitherto unknown profane music reworked for the liturgical use. It will also aim to discover parallels of this segment of musical life in Slovenia in the music from other European countries, where similar research is done more and more.
The research will focus on the sources used in the territory of today’s Slovenia, and preserved in Slovenia or abroad. They will be analyzed, catalogued and categorized, and the results of this analytical work will enable comparisons between both repertoires. Later, comparisons will be carried out in a broader European (especially Central-European) context since comparable European sources will be drawn into comparison. We are explicitly interested in roles of both traditions in the liturgy, their performing practice and probable stylistic differences. Implicitly, the project will raise questions about the relationships between the sacred and profane in music of a certain period, between the original and its reworking, and between the text and music in the original piece as well as in its reworking.
Significance for science
Recent – but still rare – European studies concerning late plainchant and reworkings of the profane music from the period in question show that this is an up-to-date, even new subject, and that many sources of this music are still unknown. On the basis of new sources of the plainchant tradition and reworkings of profane music, revealing the hitherto unknown repertoire used in the liturgy, the project will be able to reveal several until now relatively unknown aspects of the musical life on the Slovenian territory, and show that it was richer than was assumed previously. It will be an important contribution to our knowledge of musical life in the lands of today’s Slovenia and its possible new connections to other European countries where research of this phenomenon is ever more present as well. It seems that this phenomenon was foremostly connected to the Central Europe and can as such tell us a lot about musical practices and life in the broader area. Thus, the information gathered and syntheses concluded could contribute to the European music historiography in general.
In the context of the common liturgical use, the project researches together two seemingly incompatible genres or music traditions which would usually be studied separately because of the differences in their origin and primary function. So the results of research will necessarily be new and exciting, even surprising. Such research which looks for new definitions and understanding of musical life in a certain time changes the view of the scientific as well as lay audience on music history and opens door to new ideas and research directions.
In drawing attention to the little known repertoires, the project can stimulate similar studies and perhaps even open a new field of studies of influences and connections between such repertoires throughout Europe. The project wishes to point it out on a broader level that generally accepted concepts should not be applied to certain musical phenomena or all periods in history without considering the possibilities and concepts originating from the sources first. Discovering new information in the seemingly marginal repertoires, which with their flexibility and changeability evade firm categorization, but also give us a direct insight into the creativity of a certain time, will stimulate re-thinking the established musicological and aesthetical concepts about certain musical phenomena.
The project research will be concerned with the musical performing practice, which is still a novelty in Slovenia, especially in the field of early music. The so-called performance-based research as a scholarship based not only on the written record of music, but also on the knowledge on its performance, is more and more present. Direct connections of scholarship and performing practice are still rare, but challenging and promising, especially for the repertoires which seem to have developed through practical performance even more than through the written medium.
Significance for the country
Recent – but still rare – European studies concerning late plainchant and reworkings of the profane music from the period in question show that this is an up-to-date, even new subject, and that many sources of this music are still unknown. On the basis of new sources of the plainchant tradition and reworkings of profane music, revealing the hitherto unknown repertoire used in the liturgy, the project will be able to reveal several until now relatively unknown aspects of the musical life on the Slovenian territory, and show that it was richer than was assumed previously. It will be an important contribution to our knowledge of musical life in the lands of today’s Slovenia and its possible new connections to other European countries where research of this phenomenon is ever more present as well. It seems that this phenomenon was foremostly connected to the Central Europe and can as such tell us a lot about musical practices and life in the broader area. Thus, the information gathered and syntheses concluded could contribute to the European music historiography in general.
In the context of the common liturgical use, the project researches together two seemingly incompatible genres or music traditions which would usually be studied separately because of the differences in their origin and primary function. So the results of research will necessarily be new and exciting, even surprising. Such research which looks for new definitions and understanding of musical life in a certain time changes the view of the scientific as well as lay audience on music history and opens door to new ideas and research directions.
In drawing attention to the little known repertoires, the project can stimulate similar studies and perhaps even open a new field of studies of influences and connections between such repertoires throughout Europe. The project wishes to point it out on a broader level that generally accepted concepts should not be applied to certain musical phenomena or all periods in history without considering the possibilities and concepts originating from the sources first. Discovering new information in the seemingly marginal repertoires, which with their flexibility and changeability evade firm categorization, but also give us a direct insight into the creativity of a certain time, will stimulate re-thinking the established musicological and aesthetical concepts about certain musical phenomena.
The project research will be concerned with the musical performing practice, which is still a novelty in Slovenia, especially in the field of early music. The so-called performance-based research as a scholarship based not only on the written record of music, but also on the knowledge on its performance, is more and more present. Direct connections of scholarship and performing practice are still rare, but challenging and promising, especially for the repertoires which seem to have developed through practical performance even more than through the written medium.
