Psallentes

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Psallentes ("those who sing") is a Gregorian chant ensemble founded in 2000 and based in Leuven, Belgium.

Gregorian chant Form of song

Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries, with later additions and redactions. Although popular legend credits Pope Gregory I with inventing Gregorian chant, scholars believe that it arose from a later Carolingian synthesis of Roman chant and Gallican chant.

Leuven Municipality in Flemish Community, Belgium

Leuven or Louvain is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in Belgium. It is located about 25 kilometres east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic city and the former neighbouring municipalities of Heverlee, Kessel-Lo, a part of Korbeek-Lo, Wilsele and Wijgmaal. It is the eighth largest city in Belgium and the fourth in Flanders with more than 100,244 inhabitants.

Contents

Members

Psallentes consists of singers Conor Biggs, Lieven Deroo, Pieter Coene, Paul Schils and Philippe Souvagie and is directed by Hendrik Vanden Abeele.

Psallentes has a lifelong association with early music ensembles Capilla Flamenca and Millenarium, with whom they made several recordings.

Capilla Flamenca is a vocal and instrumental early music consort based in Leuven, Belgium. The group specialises in 14th to 16th century music from Flanders and takes its name from the historical Flemish chapel, the choir of the court chapel of Emperor Charles V. When the emperor left Flanders in 1517, he took his best musicians with him to Spain to accompany him as "living polyphony".

In 2007, Hendrik Vanden Abeele founded Psallentes Feminae ("Psallentes Ladies"), consisting of Sarah Abrams, Helen Cassano, Lieselot De Wilde, Rozelien Nys, Rein Van Bree, Kerlijne Van Nevel and Veerle Van Roosbroeck.

Repertoire

Psallentes focuses on Late Medieval and Renaissance plainsong and related polyphony. From careful investigation and extensive use of original manuscripts, [1] Psallentes gather evidence on how this music was performed. Hendrik Vanden Abeele's research at the University of Leiden focuses on the thorny and controversial problem of rhythm, memory as the major requisite for a good singer of chant, and the voice as a research tool. [2] Interactions between research and performance result in ‘authentic’ as well as more present-day interpretations of plainsong.

Late Middle Ages Period of European history between 1250 and 1500 CE

The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from 1250 to 1500 AD. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period.

Renaissance European cultural period, 14th to 17th century

The Renaissance is a period in European history, covering the span between the 14th and 17th centuries and marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. The traditional view focuses more on the early modern aspects of the Renaissance and argues that it was a break from the past, but many historians today focus more on its medieval aspects and argue that it was an extension of the Middle Ages.

Plainsong is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. Though the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox churches did not split until long after the origin of plainsong, Byzantine chants are generally not classified as plainsong.

Discography

Arnold de Lantins was a Netherlandish composer of the late medieval and early Renaissance eras. He is one of a few composers who shows aspects of both medieval and Renaissance style, and was a contemporary of Dufay during Dufay's sojourn in Italy.

Pierre de la Rue was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the Renaissance. His name also appears as Piersson or variants of Pierchon and his toponymic, when present, as various forms of de Platea, de Robore, or de Vico. A member of the same generation as Josquin des Prez, and a long associate of the Habsburg-Burgundian musical chapel, he ranks with Agricola, Brumel, Compère, Isaac, Obrecht, and Weerbeke as one of the most famous and influential composers in the Netherlands polyphonic style in the decades around 1500.

Llibre Vermell de Montserrat manuscript

The Llibre Vermell de Montserrat is a manuscript collection of devotional texts containing, amongst others, some late medieval songs. The 14th-century manuscript was compiled in and is still located at the monastery of Montserrat outside Barcelona in Catalonia (Spain).

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ On 1 February 2008 the Flemish Community acquired the important Tsgrooten Antiphonary . Psallentes performed several extracts from this Antiphonary at the press conference announcing the acquisition.
  2. ↑ Abeele, Hendrik Vanden (February 2007). "Researching and Developing Performance Practice in Late Medieval Chant Researching and Developing Performance Practice in Late Medieval Chant" (PDF). Dutch Journal of Music Theory: 91–99. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
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