Issues in Medieval Liturgy
2005 Louisville, Kentucky
2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Convener 2005
John K. Leonard (professor of religious studies at Edgewood College of the Sacred Heart in Madison, Wisconsin)
Seminar Participants 2005
Susan Boynton; Heather Josselyn-Cranson; Michael Driscoll; James Hentges, O.S.C.; John K. Leonard; Gary Macy; Richard Rutherford, C.S.C.; Donald LaSalle, S.M.M.
Visitor: Anthony Ruff, O.S.B.
Seminar Report 2005
Depleted in numbers but not in enthusiasm, the Medievalists considered one substantial paper, discussed possible foci for seminar work in 2006, and made a pilgrimage to St. Meinrad Archabbey and a session with chant scholar and composer, Fr. Columba Kelly, O.S.B.
Papers/Presentations
Susan L. Boynton (assistant professor of historical musicology at Columbia University, New York and 2005 candidate for membership) presented “Andrés Marcos Burriel, S.J.: Liturgical Scholarship as Cultural Nationalism in Eighteenth-Century Spain.” As director of the Royal Commission on the Archives of Spain from 1751 to 1756, Burriel planned numerous publications to emphasize the glory and particularity of Spanish culture. Chief among these was a critical edition of the Old Hispanic rite; Burriel hoped to analyze and compare the sixteenth-century editions of the neo-Mozarabic rite, the diverse diocesan uses represented both in printed breviaries and missals, and the medieval manuscripts of cathedrals, monasteries, and religious orders. Beginning in 1752 Burriel noted discrepancies between the early-medieval liturgical books and the editions of the Mozarabic liturgy published in the early sixteenth century by Cardinal Cisneros. Burriel also carried out extensive analysis, comparison, and collation of the later Spanish diocesan uses, anticipating twentieth-century liturgical scholarship in several ways. By the end of 1752 he planned to transcribe entire codices and to publish two editions of the Mozarabic missal and breviary, a liturgical one for parish use and an annotated one for scholars.
While none of Burriel’s plans for the publication of liturgical books came to fruition, there is evidence that they were at an advanced stage by the mid-1750s, when the government decided to end the project. Although Burriel is relatively little known today, his labors prepared the way for twentieth-century modern scholars of Hispanic liturgy and chant such as Férotin and Janini. Burriel’s 1753 copy of Toledo 35.3 (Madrid 13046) was used by Férotin for his edition of the Liber Mozarabicus Sacramentorum. Burriel’s papers suggest that he had an unprecedented understanding of the medieval sources of the Hispanic rite and was developing an early application of the comparative method in the study of liturgical history.
On January 7th Fr. Columba Kelly, O.S.B., of St. Meinrad Archabbey hosted six members and visitor Anthony Ruff, O.S.B., for lunch and a tour of the Abbey Church before an interactive presentation on the current state of chant scholarship and performance practice. Columba illustrated the rhetorical foundations of all plainsong and demonstrated the use of the Graduale Triplex (which includes neumes from Laon 239 and St. Gall/Einsiedeln 121) to clarify rhythmic nuances in the performance of the Latin chant repertoire. After practicing the cheironomy indicated by the neumes and singing several pieces together, the group returned to the Abbey Church to sing selections from the Advent and Christmas repertoire of chant in English which is sung by the St. Meinrad Community.
John Leonard reported briefly on the current state of the new revision and expansion of Cyrille Vogel’s Medieval Liturgy, edited by Joanne Pierce and Leonard. Michael Driscoll agreed to set up a discussion board/chat room for seminar members to submit ideas and recommendations to be included in the new edition. Contract with the publisher is pending.
Other work
A small contingent of the seminar visited Gethsemani Abbey on January 9th. Possible topics for 2006 include a) reading and commenting on James McKinnon’s Advent Project, perhaps inviting medieval musicologists to join us; b) invite local Hildegard von Bingen scholar Mary Ann Pfau to address the seminar on a topic of her choosing; c) visit/excursion/study of Mission San Luis Rey; d) invite Raul Gomez and/or others to present on Mexican/Hispanic liturgy of the Colonial era; e) papers by several members on a variety of topics.