Sarah Ann Long 
Music, Liturgy, and Confraternity Devotions in Paris and Tournai, 1300-1550 [PDF ebook] 

The first study focusing on the composition of new plainchant in northern-French confraternities for masses and offices in honor of saints thought to have healing powers


Starting in the fourteenth century, northern France saw the rise of confraternities and other lay communities of men and women, organized around trades and religious devotions dedicated to specific patron saints. The composition of new plainchant for masses and offices in honor of saints thought to have healing powers occupied an important place in the devotional landscape of the region.


Sarah Ann Long’s deeply researched new book highlights the decentralized nature of religious and spiritual authority from 1300-1550, which allowed confraternities to cultivate liturgical practices heavily influenced by popular devotional literature. It challenges pre-conceived notions of the power of the Catholic Church at that time, and the extent to which religious devotions were regulated and standardized. The resulting conclusion is that confraternity devotions occupied a liminal space that provided a certain amount of musical freedom. Examining musical culture at the intersection of the medieval and early modern eras, this work explores such subjects as manuscript production and early music printing; and it investigates not only plainchant, but a broad range of musical styles from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries. These include polyphonic embellishments of chant written by some of the most famous composers of the era, which were performed at the French, Burgundian, and Papal Courts.

Tabella dei contenuti

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Editorial Procedures for Foreign Languages and Music Examples

Introduction

Confraternities and Popular Devotions to St. Barbara in Tournai

Relic Translation and Healing in Liturgies for St. Catherine and St. Nicholas in Paris

Historical Narratives and the Importance of Place in Masses for St. Sebastian

Compositional Practice, Networks, and the Dissemination of the Mass Ordinary in Confraternity Sources

The Role of the Parisian Book Production Community in the Perpetuation of Popular Devotions

Conclusion

Appendix 1 Sources

Appendix 2 Inventories of Sources from Tournai

Appendix 3 Scribal Hands and Gatherings in the Tournai Notary Confraternity Manuscripts

Notes

Bibliography

Index of Chant and Polyphonic Compositions

Index of Early Printed Liturgical Books

Index of Manuscripts

General Index

Circa l’autore

SARAH ANN LONG is an assistant professor of musicology at Michigan State University. Her Ph D (2008) is from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.