Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RESALVE (The Revival of Salve Regina. Medieval Marian chants from Aveiro: musical sources, gender specific context and performance)
Période du rapport: 2021-09-01 au 2023-08-31
The RESALVE project explored the musical heritage of the Dominican female convent of Aveiro, Portugal, between 1461 and 1525. Focusing on the intangible cultural heritage of Dominican chants, particularly the beautiful Marian chants, this research project investigated the chant's various uses in liturgy. The researcher examined the Salve Regina antiphon as a case study, but also different office cycles for Mary and other female saint figures, revealing insights through musicological and historical methods. While recognizing the threatening disappearance of this chant tradition, the project emphasized the importance of artistic performances, field research in contemporary religious communities, and recordings for preservation. The initiative by vocal ensemble Kantika sought to revive Aveiro's chants, connecting early music performances with modern audiences. The project also investigated the interplay between local and pan-European aspects within the Dominican order during the late medieval period, shedding light on Portugal's relatively unexplored late medieval chant tradition. Beyond academic circles, the project contributed to preserving cultural heritage on the Iberian Peninsula, transcending current political borders—an innovative aspect involved in studying new sources and disseminating knowledge, fostering collaboration between universities and organizations. The project's unique blend of scientific research and artistic revival, incorporating contemporary vocal techniques, provided a fresh perspective on medieval chants, avoiding mere hybridization for an original and homogenous ensemble sound. RESALVE is firmly based on methodological interaction with other disciplines such as history, hagiography, liturgy, philology, gender, and art studies and, therefore, participates in an informed and coherent narrative about the medieval chant, concerning not only Portugal but also a more comprehensive European area.
Throughout her 24-month research project, the researcher focused on identifying and studying a corpus related to Dominican liturgy and Marian chant from the Jesus convent in Aveiro. In the initial six months, she conducted field trips to Aveiro and Central Portugal, published 1 project-related article, and engaged in public outreach through a public lecture in the National Gallery of Berlin, a dedicated website, and social media. She participated in two International conferences in Newcastle and Prague. The following six months involved further corpus analysis and participation in conferences (IMC in Leeds, MedRen in Uppsala); she co-organized an interdisciplinary session on Portuguese Convent Culture in Leeds. The researcher attended seminars at the CESEM (Nova University) and participated in two training workshops about the Portuguese Early Music database PEM. She prepared a workshop at the Escola Superior de Musica of Lisbon, auditioned students of the Early Music class, and published a Call for papers for the conference “Performance of Medieval Monophony”. In months 13-17, the researcher conducted two workshops and rehearsals. The program “Canto Dominicano” was performed jointly by Ensemble Kantika and four students of ESML in Lisbon and at the Monastery of Batalha under the label “Saison France-Portugal” by the Institut Français. The second concert was recorded. The researcher also participated in the National conference ENIM in Aveiro and organized an international conference at Nova University in Lisbon, “Performance of Medieval Monophony”; selected articles will be published in January 2024 in a special issue of the journal Textus&Musica. An interview with performer Brigitte Lesne about Dominican chant was published in January 2023; it is an excellent example of crossing scientific outcomes with artistic experiences for the broader public. The final period included a field trip to Dominican communities in Prague, one workshop at ESMAE in Porto, and dissemination activities. She participated in three international conferences at Sorbonne University in Paris, the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, and MedRen in Munich, where she co-organized a session on the performance of sacred chant. She published two more project-related chapters in peer-reviewed books. The researcher’s extensive engagement with the academic community and public showcases the impactful outcomes of her project, acknowledging EU funding throughout.
The exploration of Dominican chant repertoire initially revealed a predominant focus on male contexts within earlier studies. Female convents, like the Jesus Convent in Aveiro, Portugal, remained largely unexplored in scholarly discussions. Aveiro’s sources had only received initial attention from musicologists. Despite theoretical performance studies and numerous plainchant recordings, the representation of Dominican chant, especially within the female repertoire, needed to be improved, prompting the need for alternative interpretations. The project bridged a gap between scholarly discussions and practical performance and offered a renewed approach to music history accessible to both scholars and music enthusiasts. The discovery and connection of overlooked liturgical books from Aveiro, while linking them to other Dominican female convents, provided valuable insights into local and widespread religious practices. The editing, analysis, and indexing of the Marian chant repertoire from Aveiro made these chants available to the international scholarly community. The examination focused on the variability in Dominican melodies, particularly the Salve Regina, and shed light on questions of musical style and innovation in medieval chant performed by women. The pan-European transmission of these chants was explored by drawing examples from other convents like German St. Katharinenthal or French Poissy. The analytical approach tracked gendered features in the Dominican Marian repertoire by comparing chants with those from other female communities. For the Performance part, the collaboration between experienced performers from Ensemble Kantika and young Portuguese singers was a fulfilling aspect of this process.
The outlined objectives were successfully completed and more insight provided into the Dominican chant repertoire from Aveiro. The cataloging efforts will enrich the PEM database, offering a more exhaustive collection of sources from Aveiro. Beyond scholarly contributions, the project made a lasting impact on the broader community and the performance of Aveiro’s Marian chants by Ensemble Kantika contributed to preserving the unique Dominican heritage. The sociocultural insights into identity formation and the contemplative life of late medieval Dominican nuns’ communities were gratifying aspects of the research. Continuing this research through a six-year position of research fellow at the same institute reflects the continuing impact and commitment to advancing the field beyond the project’s scope.
The outlined objectives were successfully completed and more insight provided into the Dominican chant repertoire from Aveiro. The cataloging efforts will enrich the PEM database, offering a more exhaustive collection of sources from Aveiro. Beyond scholarly contributions, the project made a lasting impact on the broader community and the performance of Aveiro’s Marian chants by Ensemble Kantika contributed to preserving the unique Dominican heritage. The sociocultural insights into identity formation and the contemplative life of late medieval Dominican nuns’ communities were gratifying aspects of the research. Continuing this research through a six-year position of research fellow at the same institute reflects the continuing impact and commitment to advancing the field beyond the project’s scope.