Benjamin Bagby and Katarina Livljanic
Chant Wars:
A Medieval Musical Lecture and Performance
April 21, 2003
Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Department of Music
The theme of "Chant Wars" is the famous ninth-century confrontation between the Carolingians and the various regional chant traditions they sought to replace. "Chant Wars" uses two separate male vocal ensembles, making it possible to explore the vocal and stylistic elements of this confrontation, and allowing contemporary listeners to hear the incredible diversity of chant styles of medieval Europe. The Carolingian reform of the liturgy and its musical structures arrived in the different regions of the Carolingian Empire almost as a "cultural revolution," finding in many places an already-existing local liturgy with which it had to contend. Each of these local musical traditions has been preserved in a different way: some of them have survived until our time (Ambrosian chant in Milan); some survived for several centuries before being completely eradicated (Beneventan chant in Southern Italy); and some were merged with layers of other traditions in building the repertory we commonly call "Gregorian chant."
In 2005, Bagby and Livljanic and their ensembles recorded "Chant Wars" for the Sony BMG label.
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