In medieval England, the Christmas season extended beyond Christmas Day, including saints' days, the Feast of the Circumcision on January 1, Epiphany on January 6, and Candlemas on February 2.
Recording & Production
This album, "Christmas in Medieval England," was recorded live in concert on December 20 & 21, 2013, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Cultural Impact
The song "Angelus ad virginem" is so famous it appears in Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," sung by a scholar named Nicholas in the Miller's Tale.
Compositional Technique
An 'isorhythmic motet' is a medieval compositional technique where the tenor part (or parts) is constructed on repeating rhythmic patterns (talea) and melodic patterns (color).
Performer Biography
Blue Heron, the vocal ensemble on this album, has been acclaimed by The Boston Globe as "one of the Boston music community's indispensables" and by Alex Ross in The New Yorker for its "expressive intensity."
Compositional Technique
Fifteenth-century England developed a unique repertoire of carols, with about 130 surviving, many for Christmas, often found in church music manuscripts.
Instruments
The harp on this recording, made by Lynne Lewandowski, features 'brays'—small wedges that create a buzzy, louder, and more sustained sound when the string vibrates against them.
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