Chant and Culture
6-9 août 2013, Vancouver
Call for Papers
The University of British Columbia's Committee for Medieval Studies presents
8th Annual Colloquium of The Gregorian Institute of Canada, August 6-9, 2013;
University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, British Columbia
The Gregorian Institute of Canada has focused from its inception on
performance, providing a unique opportunity for scholars and
performers from Canada and around the world to share and discuss
their ideas, research, and experience. This year's theme — Chant and
Culture — is inspired by an essay currently found in WILLIAM MAHRT's
book, The Musical Shape of the Liturgy, and which also originally
appeared as Gregorian Chant as a Fundamentum of Western Musical
Culture, in Sacred Music 102.1 (Spring 1975): 3 21. WILLIAM MAHRT, Professor
Emeritus of Music at Stanford University, will be giving this year's
keynote address. In addition to academic papers, there will be
workshops in chant performance. Vancouver Early Music Programme & Festival will have concerts on campus
at the same time, including one on the medieval Carmina Burana by BENJAMIN BAGBY
and the ensemble SEQUENTIA.
Submissions on any topic of chant research are welcome, but paper and workshop proposals that address the broadly conceived colloquium
theme — Chant and Culture — are particularly encouraged and will be
favored over others in the selection process. Suggested topics
include anything related to Mahrt's thesis: i.e., "Gregorian chant
was not only the historical predecessor of a great development of polyphonic music; it was also the actual structural basis of the
better part of medieval and renaissance sacred music. One could chart
this history in great detail, but more interesting are the ways in
which it played the role of a fundamentum, and the part it played in
the development of a polyphonic fundamentum. From the high middle
ages onward, there existed a polyphonic sacred music which used the
materials and even the thought processes of each age. A creative
interaction between the traditional fundamentals of sacred music and
the ideas of the time is a hallmark of the entire history. If at
times it seems that the ideas of the time prevailed, it must not be
forgotten that polyphonic sacred music always existed in the context
of some kind of performance of Gregorian chant as chant."
Please send a 250-word abstract to the program committee, chant at
gregorian.ca. Abstracts may be sent and papers presented in either
English or French. Conference papers will be limited to 30 minutes,
followed by a 10-minute discussion period. Performance practice
workshops will last 40 minutes.
The deadline for proposals is January 15, 2013.
For further information, registration, and conference updates, please
visit the Gregorian Institute of Canada website at https://www.gregorian.ca