Projects

Lost Songs

In the mid-1980’s, Benjamin Bagby began his work on the reconstruction of the Beowulf epic, and since then he has been deeply involved with those European musical repertoires which have literally ‘vanished’, for which the surviving manuscripts do not provide enough information for a reliable transcription. Aided by musicologists and philologists (such as Sam Barrett and Peter Dronke of Cambridge University, Jan Ziolkowski of Harvard University, and Heimir Pálsson of Uppsala University), Bagby – often working together with his colleagues in Sequentia – has built on his work with Beowulf to reconstruct the music of other early sources: Anglo-Saxon texts (such as Deor and the Wanderer); the deep reservoir of stories found in the Icelandic Poetic Edda; the Old Saxon Heliand; the Old High German Muspilli, the Hildebrandslied and Otfrid von Weissenburg’s Evangelienbuch; the Latin and German lyrics found in the 11th century manuscript known as the Cambridge Songs. Many of these have been recorded (see below) and other projects are in preparation.

Programs and recordings

• Fragments for the End of Time / Endzeitfragmente
  (Sequentia concert program since 2005; CD in 2008)
• Beowulf
  (solo concert since 1990; DVD in 2007)
• Lost Songs of a Rhineland Harper
  (Sequentia concert program 2000-2007; CD in 2004)
• The Rheingold Curse: A Germanic Saga of Greed and Revenge from the Medieval Icelandic Edda
  (Sequentia music-theater project 2001-2; concert program since 2001; CD in 2001)
• Edda: Myths from Medieval Iceland
  (Sequentia music-theater project 1995-7; CD in 1999)

Programs in preparation
[working titles]

• Frankish Phantoms (8th-10th centuries)
• Anglo-Saxon Elegies (7-8th century laments in Old English)
• Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (6th century Latin song)

Read Benjamin Bagby's article Searching for the Lost Voice of My Germanic Ancestors which appeared in Early Music America

Upcoming Concerts

28 October 2011
Early Music In Columbus, USA
Chant Wars

13, 14, 15 January 2012
Musée National du Moyen Âge, Paris, France
Frankish Phantoms

25, 26 February 2012
Da Camera of Houston, USA
Fragments for the End of Time

See full concert schedule

News

Between Music and Story-telling

In the context of a performance by Sequentia of The Rheingold Curse at the Radovljica Early Music Festival (Slovenia) in August, 2011, Benjamin Bagby spoke with Katarina Šter. Read the English original version of the interview here

Bagby and Rodenkirchen on WDR3

In June, 2011, Benjamin Bagby and Norbert Rodenkirchen were interviewed by journalist Anna Austrup for a Sequentia 'Portrait' broadcast in the West German Radio's prestigious 3rd program, in conjunction with a live broadcast concert in Cologne's 'Romanesque Summer' concerts series.
Listen to the recorded interview (in German)

2011 Thornton Scholarship

Laura Osterlund is the recipient of the 2011 Barbara Thornton Memorial Scholarship.
Read more

Benjamin Bagby on WQXR

On January 23, 2011, Bagby joined host David Garland at New York's classical music station, WQXR, to share his insights on the challenges and pleasures of bringing medieval music to life, and to present recordings by Sequentia.
Listen to the recorded interview

Beowulf on DVD

Benjamin Bagby’s legendary performance of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf (part I) recorded live in Helsingborg, Sweden.
Visit the Beowulf website