Sequentia

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Sequentia. Ensemble for music of the Middle Ages , named after the medieval music form sequence , is a classical music ensemble. It was founded in 1977 by Barbara Thornton (1950–1998) and Benjamin Bagby based in Cologne . In 2002 the headquarters of the ensemble was relocated to Paris .

Composition of the ensemble

The two founding members Barbara Thornton (vocals) and Benjamin Bagby (vocals, harp, lyre) have been working with appropriate singers and instrumentalists of medieval music from home and abroad since the ensemble was founded In the course of the decades a non-solid core developed which corresponded to the style of the ensemble and contributed to its unmistakability. The result was a female vocal ensemble called Vox feminae and a male vocal ensemble called Donnersöhne , named after the Boanerges from the New Testament. Accordingly, the main focus of the ensemble is on the vocal aspect. However, accompanying instruments are also represented in the ensemble from the start, including the medieval harp played by Benjamin Bagby, but also fiddle and flute.

Musical direction, style and philosophy

As graduates of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis , both ensemble founders were familiar with singing and improvisation techniques that were practiced by the members of the former Studio of Early Music Munich who taught there , an ensemble that at its time (around 1960 to around 1979) played a pioneering role in the Interpretation of medieval music. This includes a calmly flowing singing style as well as the improvisational playing around the given melody on the part of the accompanying instruments, but also an interplay between song and instrument connected with it. Decisive for this practice was the adherence to customs such as are still common today, for example in north-west African art music (self-name: Andalusian music ). In 1977, the colloquium Performance Practice of Medieval Songs, as a result of music-ethnological research , dealt with traditional music practice, especially in north-west Africa. Nonetheless, the Ensemble Sequentia soon found its own musical style that took many of these requirements into account. This also includes a slightly more differentiated intonation, which is based on the tempered mood, but still allows room for individual tone gradations. In addition, the ensemble developed its own melismatic, rhythmically free singing style, which is based on breathing arcs and less on the rhythm of words. It is obvious, however, that the reproduction of early music today can only be an approximation.

An essential basis of Sequentia's own musical expressivity is not least the conviction of the ensemble to elevate both the music and the meaning of the texts as a mediator of the worldview of the time into timelessness. Reference is repeatedly made to this in detail in the texts accompanying the sound carriers.

Stage projects (selection)

Already at the beginning of the Cologne period there was a collaboration with the early music editorial team of Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), which includes sound recordings and stage projects.

As a result of a colloquium organized by WDR in February 1982 on the music of Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179) in May of the same year, the first stage version of her mystery play Ordo virtutum (lit. "The dance of virtues" ), established since the Middle Ages . ) in the Romanesque church of Groß St. Martin in Cologne , which was broadcast on German television on Christmas Eve of the same year. In the same year, the recording was also released on phonograms (location: Klosterkirche Knechtsteden ) as a double LP Ordo virtutum . Both concepts came from Barbara Thornton, and the executors were members of the ensemble as well as the actress Carmen-Renate Köper in the role of Hildegard and the actor William Mockridge in the role of Diabolus. This recording was the first component of the long-term project to bring Hildegard von Bingen's complete musical oeuvre out on sound carrier, which should reach its climax in 1998 with the differently conceptualized second recording of Ordo virtutum . As a result of the death of Barbara Thornton (1998), who had developed the concept for the overall project, this was initially interrupted until it was finally completed under the direction of Benjamin Bagby with the CD Celestial Hierarchy , which was released in May 2013.

The ensemble's second major stage project was the Bordesholmer Marienklage from the second half of the 15th century in cooperation with WDR . It was performed in April 1992 in the Cathedral of Xanten under the direction of Franz-Josef Heumannskämper and released as a double CD in 1993.

In 1995, parts of the myths from Medieval Iceland came to the stage under the title Edda: Myths from Medieval Iceland based on a scenic concept by Benjamin Bagby and in collaboration with the Icelandic linguist Heimir Pálsson under the direction of Franz-Josef Heumannskämper in Luxembourg. The CD was released in 1999.

The last ensemble project realized together with Barbara Thornton was the second performance of Ordo virtutum in the Church of St. Ursula in Cologne in autumn 1998 based on Barbara Thornton's redesigned draft, which was intended to clarify the different approaches to this mystery play - also directed by Franz- Josef Heumannskämper. The corresponding CD was recorded in 1997.

The Rheingold Curse - A Germanic Saga of Greed and Vengeance from the Medieval Icelandic Edda (Der Fluch des Rheingoldes) was staged in New York in 2001 , after which it was released on CD that same year.

A special feature are Benjamin Bagby's solo appearances in the style of a bard, including the performance of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf , which has enjoyed worldwide success. He accompanies himself in a virtuoso manner on a six-string lyre . The DVD for the Beowulf performance was released in 2007.

Concert tours and cooperation with the Goethe Institute

Right from the start, the ensemble's main focus has been on Europe and North America. In addition, since 1979, numerous concert tours to South America and South Asia, the Middle East as well as Japan, Korea and Africa have been made possible under the patronage of the Goethe Institute .

Scientific staff

The Ensemble Sequentia has had a close connection to science and research since its foundation, and in its projects it works with international linguists, culture, history and musicologists such as Wulf Arlt , Barbara Stühlmeyer and Ulrich Mehler or the Icelandic linguist Heimir mentioned above Pálsson, collaborates in the research area Middle Ages .

Artistic impact

Benjamin Bagby and Barbara Thornton's long and continuing teaching activities (until their death) at renowned academic music institutions in Europe and North America attracted a new generation of people who were influenced by the Sequentia style. In addition, the participants of the Sequentia ensemble, who came from other musical contexts, became familiar with the musical style that they had developed, so that this is now also being heard in other ensembles.

Awards

In 1978 and 1980, the ensemble received funding from the Volkswagen Foundation for research stays at the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel .

In 1980 the ensemble received research grants from the Siemens Foundation for the recording project Spruchdichter .

Discography

  • Spielmann und Kleriker , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 1981, EMI 1988
  • Hildegard von Bingen: Ordo virtutum , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 1982, EMI 1987
  • Motto of the 13th century , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 1983, EMI 1988
  • Trouvères , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 1984, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1987
  • Hildegard von Bingen: Symphoniae / Geistliche Gesänge , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 1985, 1989
  • English Songs of the Middle Ages / Englische Lieder des Mittelaltes , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 1988, 1989
  • Philippe le Chancelier (approx. 1165–1236) - Conductus, Lai, Sequence, Rondellus / School of Notre Dame , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1990
  • Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361) - Motets and Chansons , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG 1991
  • Vox Iberica I: Sons of Thunder / Sons of Thunder - Songs for St. Jakobus (12th century) , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 1992
  • Vox Iberica II: Codex Las Huelgas - Chants from the royal convent Las Huelgas de Burgos (13th / 14th century) , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1992
  • Vox Iberica III: El Sabio - chants for King Alfonso X. of Castile and Léon (1221–1284) , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1992
  • Bordesholmer Marienklage (approx. 1475) , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1993
  • Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376–1445): Lieder / Songs , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1993
  • Hildegard von Bingen: Canticles of Ecstasy , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1994
  • Dante and the Troubadours , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1995
  • Hildegard von Bingen: Voice of the Blood , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1995
  • Visions from the Book , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1996
  • Shining Light - Christmas Music from Aquitanian Monasteries (12th c.) , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1996
  • Aquitania - Christmas Music from Aquitanian Monasteries (12th c.) , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1997
  • Hildegard von Bingen: O Jerusalem , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1997
  • Hildegard von Bingen: Saints , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1998
  • Hildegard von Bingen: Ordo Virtutum , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1998
  • Edda : Myths from Medieval Iceland , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 1999
  • Frauenlob (Heinrich von Meissen, approx. 1260-1318) - The Celestial Woman / Frauenlobs Leich, or the Guldin Fluegel, in Latin: Cantica Canticorum , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 2000
  • The Rheingold Curse - A Germanic Saga of Greed and Vengeance from the Medieval Icelandic Edda , Marc Aurel Edition 2001
  • Lost Songs of a Rhineland Harper , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics 2004
  • Crown and Veil: Music from Medieval Female Monasteries / Crown and Veil: Music from Medieval Female Monasteries , Art and Exhibition Hall of the FRG (Bonn) / Ruhrland Museum Essen 2005
  • Chant Wars - The Carolingian “Globalization” of Medieval Liturgical Chant , a collaboration with the ensemble Dialogos, directed by Katarina Livljanic, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / SONY-BMG Music 2005
  • Fragments for the End of Time / Endzeitfragmente , Raumklang 2008
  • Visions of Paradise - A Hildegard von Bingen Anthology , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / SONY Classics 2009
  • Hildegard von Bingen: Celestial Hierarchy , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi (SONY) 2013
  • Hildegard von Bingen - The Complete Edition (9 CDs and detailed text book), SONY 2017

literature

Detailed accompanying texts for all recordings.

References and comments

  1. ↑ Performance practice of the medieval song - report on a Basel symposium on the performance practice of the medieval song, taking into account the work of the “studio of early music” and the “Andalusian practice” of North Africa , in: Basler Jahrbuch für Historische Musikpraxis, Vol. 1, Winterthur / Basel 1977.
  2. ↑ See also Pythagorean tuning .
  3. ↑ B. Bagby: The Sound of Medieval Singing , in: 10 Years Forum Old Music Cologne - A Documentation , Cologne 2008.
  4. ↑ This article was written in 2013.
  5. ↑ Supplement to the double LP Ordo virtutum from 1982 and the double CD Ordo virtutum from 1999.
  6. ↑ See www.sequentia.org .
  7. ↑ See www.bagbybeowulf.com .
  8. ↑ See the ensemble's website , discography.
  9. ↑ Last CD recording from the musical oeuvre of Hildegard von Bingen.

Web links