Benjamin David Brand

Benjamin David Brand

Lily Auchincloss Post-Doctoral Rome Prize
5 settembre 2011–6 agosto 2012
Professione
Assistant Professor, Department of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology, University of North Texas
Titolo del progetto
The Historiae Sanctorum of Medieval Rome
Descrizione del progetto

The local repertoire of medieval plainsong known as Old Roman Chant includes thirty-six “historiae” in honor of martyrs and popes buried in the Eternal City. These sets of antiphons and responsories were integral to the growth of local relic cults and provided aural counterparts to the literary and pictorial Lives (vitae) of their holy subjects. My project will culminate in a critical edition of the Roman historiae and a related monograph that traces their development from the eighth to the thirteenth century. The latter will analyze the hagiographic sources of their texts, the style of their melodies, and the construction and decoration of burial churches for their saints. In so doing, it will not only illuminate a rich yet understudied musical repertoire but also reveal how the historiae both complemented and shaped the visual programs of the churches in which they were sung.