The codification and dissemination of the liturgical Use of Salisbury and its chant repertory, with special reference to the Bangor Pontifical (09)

Award

PhD Research Bursary

Supervisors/Schools:

Dr Sally Harper (School of Music)
Professor John Harper (School of Music)
Professor Nick Sandon (School of Music)
Dr Sue Niebrzydowski (School of English)

Description of Project:

The early 14th-century Bangor Pontifical is the most complete pontifical surviving from the British Isles and one of only two extant medieval liturgical manuscripts with musical notation which are known to be of Welsh provenance. Its layout and contents concord closely with the widely-used late medieval Use of Salisbury (‘Sarum Use’), adopted by stages in much of Wales from the mid 13th century onwards.

This doctoral study will focus on the Bangor Pontifical, but will relate directly to two major research projects in progress in Bangor – the study of the experience of worship in late medieval cathedral and parish church, and the digitization and web edition of the Bangor Pontifical (http://www.bangor.ac.uk/archives/bangorpontifical)

The appointed student will examine the Bangor Pontifical in detail and also within the wider context of the Use of Salisbury. He or she will contribute to the digitization and web edition by transcribing all of the chant in the manuscript; investigating the sources and concordances of the liturgical items (chant and text), including melodic and textual variants; compiling existing translations of Latin texts found in the Pontifical, and identifying texts requiring translation.

He or she will also have the opportunity for hands-on experience of medieval liturgy through witnessing or assisting with (as appropriate) a series of liturgical enactments at Salisbury Cathedral and St Teilo’s Church in St Fagans: National History Museum, Cardiff, which form part of the major AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society research project, ‘The experience of worship in late medieval cathedral and parish church’ (led by Professor John Harper with Dr Sally Harper).

Supervisory Team

Dr Sally Harper is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Music who has researched and published widely on music in medieval and early modern Wales and on medieval liturgy. Publications include a monograph on medieval English Benedictine liturgy (1994), chapters on the Bangor Pontifical and Penpont Antiphoner in Music in Welsh Culture before 1650 (2007), and a detailed initial study of the Bangor Pontifical (Welsh Music History, 1997). She is co-director of the Bangor Pontifical Project, and is part of the core research team for the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society project, ‘The experience of worship in late medieval cathedral and parish church’. She has also contributed to the web-based AHRC dafyddapgwilym.net project, and led a related AHRC research project on the performance of medieval vernacular verse in Wales, Ireland and Scotland). http://projects.beyondtext.ac.uk/vernacularpoetry/index.php

Professor John Harper is Research Professor in Music and Liturgy and Director of the International Centre for Sacred Music Studies. He is also Emeritus Director of The Royal School of Church Music. He has wide experience of music and liturgy as a practitioner (St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham, Edington Priory, Magdalen College, Oxford) and served for seven years as a consultant member of the Church of England Liturgical Commission. He is the author of the standard book, The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the 10th to the 18th century and leader of the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society research project, ‘The experience of worship in late medieval cathedral and parish church’.

Professor Nick Sandon is an Honorary Professor in the School of Music, and was formerly Professor of Music at University College Cork, and Exeter University. He is the editor of the major series The Use of Salisbury: the Mass (complete transcriptions of chant, text and rubrics: six volumes so far, Antico Edition), and a recognised authority on medieval chant and polyphony.

Dr Sue Niebrzydowski (School of English) is co-director of the Bangor Pontifical Project. She has specialisms in both codicology and palaeography, and her research interests include medieval English presentations of Mary (including medieval Marian devotion in the British Isles). She made a substantial contribution to the AHRC-funded translation and explanatory commentary of the Calendar, Psalter and Canticles for the online edition (2003) of the (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~lib399/).

For full details of the terms and conditions of this award see.

Queries prior to a formal application concerning this research project should be addressed to:
Dr Sally Harper (s.e.harper@bangor.ac.uk)

Application:

The application deadline is noon on Friday 30 April 2010. For more information on how to apply, please visit here

Applicants will be contacted during the month of June 2010 with information relating to their submissions.