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For centuries, visitors to Paris have been thrilled by the imposing Cathedral of Notre Dame, whose massive towers and elegant flying buttresses dominate the Ile de la Cité. We perceive the cathedral as a large church, a single building surrounded by city streets, quaint (and overpriced) cafés, a park with romantic benches for lovers, a popular rollerblade slalom course, and the long lines of tourists waiting to climb the towers. But in the 12th century, the cathedral of Notre Dame was situated within its own ‘campus’, a vast complex of interconnected buildings (including several smaller churches) surrounding the cathedral itself, all encircled by a wall and enclosing almost one full third of the island. Within these walls (the ‘close’ of the cathedral precinct) there existed an autonomous mini-state, with its own laws and enforcement, free from the secular power wielded by the French king residing nearby; with housing and meals for the hundreds of clerics who worked and lived there; with an army of servants to keep the whole place operating smoothly; with students from many countries following lectures in theology and philosophy; with aristocratic churchmen called canons, managing their vast estates and political intrigues from comfortable dwellings within the close. There was a school for the choirboys, a private port on the Seine, and the palace of the archbishop himself, where important guests were entertained, and where the brightest, most ambitious spirits of learning and the arts were able to demonstrate their virtuosity. Latin – spoken and sung in a variety of accents and with varying degrees of elegance – was the official language of the community, but courtly French could also be heard, and even the rude dialect of the city was felt in subtle ways. The cathedral itself (the present structure was begun in the 1160’s and the towers were not finished until at least 1250) was at the heart of this city within a city, and deep within the cathedral was yet another walled precint: the choir before the high altar, where the singing of the mass and offices was carried out night and day by a large number of canons and lesser clergy who were rewarded in return for this service. It was in this enclosed space that the best young male vocalists of in Europe were to be heard on important feast-days; it was here that the most innovative musical minds gave expression to new ideas in thrilling sonic structures which echoed the dynamic new architecture surrounding them.
The program will include liturgical and non-liturgical polyphony and song from Notre Dame, from the nearby monastic church of St. Victor, from the archbishop’s palace, from the streets of the city, the university, and the courts of the French king. The sections of the program will be as follows:
I. Students and Clerics in the City
II. Sacred (and not so sacred): the sounds of new music
III. Eros and ambition on the island of temptation
IV. Philosophers, controversial professors and angry young men
V. The art of sacred misbehaviour
This new program (available beginning in October, 2008) will celebrate both the 30th anniversary of Sequentia’s first concert as well as the debut of the ensemble’s newly-formed ensemble of men’s voices based in Paris. |
