The Office Music of Saint Gengulphus

Simon

Noted earlier but now (after long Covid delay) up and running.

Saint Gengulphus was a Burgundian knight of Varennes-sur-Amance in the present département of Haut Marne in the Grand Est region of Northeastern France. He was a man of outstanding piety and charitableness who served as a soldier under Pepin the Short, and whose martyrdom took the unusual form of being murdered (ca 760) by his wife’s lover. His name is entered as a saint and martyr in the Roman Martyrology on 11th May, which is generally accepted to have been the date of his death. He is particularly regarded as the patron saint of deceived husbands and unhappy marriages.

Maybe this is a Saint that in this day and age of increasing numbers of divorces, broken and unhappy marriages might seem appropriate to try to breathe some new life into this neglected cultus.

The Psalterium Foundation has found the late C13th office music in a (now lost) manuscript and has transcribed the Messine notation (from the area around the city of Metz in NE France) into the square note notation familiar to this Forum.

Here is a link to the music for his office: https://www.gengulphus.com/music-for-his-office/

Full information on Saint Gengulphus himself (everthing you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask): https://www.gengulphus.com/

The Psalterium Foundation has transcribed this music and hopes to record this in May of 2022 in Southern Burgundy.

http://www.psalterium.nl/stichting-psalterium-the-psalterium-foundation/

tomjaw

Have just had another look at the hymn, the problem is not only do we have only a few hymns to this meter (Iambic trimeter) but many of the melodies have a split that does not fit this Hymn.

I have now found a melody that fits, https://gregobase.selapa.net/chant.php?id=13218
The global chant database has only one melody as found above...

We need a database of meters and melodies!

Simon

Just a note to communicate that, from May 1 to May 7, 2022 we have - finally after a more than two/three year Covid delay - recorded the office music of St. Gengoux in the Romanesque Église Notre Dame de la Nativité in the village of Malay in Southern Burgundy. To give you an indication of what has been recorded, attached is the music of the Magnificat antiphon of the first vespers, the Invitatorium of the matins and the antiphons and responses of the first and second nocturns as we have transcribed from the only source we have been able to locate. See above links in earlier posts.

Pls note: this music is a preliminary draft made a couple of months ago. We have made some changes - even during the recording itself.

The website has photos of all the pages of the whole office: https://www.gengulphus.com/metz-0461/ which you can view for yourself and see how we have notated/transcribed this in our own edition.

Also note: Our edition is in the now used square note notation with our own added St. Gall neumes to assist us in an interpretation that we feel comfortable with and gives us a lead and indication of how we feel the music might have been interpretated in the late 13th/early 14th century. This is a wholely subjective instrument for us and also very subject to change as we sing the music!

The draft edition also has Dutch translations of the texts of the music. Not very useful for most of you. We will make English translations. Watch this space but don't hold your breath. Our Latinist man - who was actively present at the recording - is gravely ill. Made the recording week - an event he longed for and contributed to - but is now hospitalized with a very uncertain prospective. He is in our thoughts and prayers (the man in the middle of the photo attached). (Later note: he passed away Sunday May 22).

Not sure at present how we are going to present/market this. Labors of love often need a lot of patience.

Welcome to the MusicaSacra Forum!

Categories