Medieval History
Does anybody give it their all the way the angels from the Ghent Altarpiece (1427-29) do? Their effort, their gusto, and the concerted (ha ha!) effort of those incredible frowns render the act of singing a completely physical, and possibly existential, one. Their refinery is pretty swell, too. The Ghent Altarpiece is a world unto itself, and the angels have always been favorites: the most physically real of the hundreds of figures painted by Jan and Hubert van Eyck. While we know that their facial expressions are actually prescribed by singing manuals (one could read the music on singers' faces as well as hear it in their voice in the Middle Ages), I don't think that we know what they're singing. A song oft sung before, undoubtedly, a song of a song. And so today, I have two songs of songs - two sets of renditions of songs originally sung by someone else. For how else to know if a song lives then by someone else singing it?
The first is of wee Eleanor, singing "Cornbread and Butterbeans" (and you across the table; hugging you and kissing you, as long as I am able). It's by none other than the Carolina Chocolate Drops (who just received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album!!!) and there I am driving her to school the other day, when out of the back seat emerges this little song. Nice.
The second song resung is actually a gateway to a whole universe of songs resung. History teachers have taken our favorite songs from the 1980s (and yes, mistakes were made, but Siouxie and the Banshees did rock) and rewritten the lyrics to give us prescient and pithy (and rhyming) versions of history. I give you Beowulf, but they have their own channel on YouTube where you can enjoy all 48 they've done thus far (Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" for the French Revolution is pretty swell).
Happy Holidays to us all!
- First Performance In 400 Years For Medieval Passover Music
Jewish high school students in Toronto, Canada, will sing two pieces of medieval music from the Passover Seder at their ?Sounds of Spring? Musical Concert. This is probably the first time in almost four hundred years that the music has been performed....
- The Ghent Altarpiece In 100 Billion Pixels
It is now possible to zoom into the intricate, breathtaking details of one of the most important works of art from the medieval world, thanks to a newly completed website focused on the Ghent Altarpiece. A stunning and highly complex painting composed...
- "long Live Restless Texts!"
Yvain Lunete, Laudine. Paris, BN, fr. 1433, f. 118 It's that moment of the semester in which I oscillate wildly between a lapel-grabbing "Have I taught you nothing?" and a tender "Soft, what light from yonder blue book breaks?" It's exam...
- Woo-ha!
The Carolina Chocolate DropsWell, wow! Maybe it's music that is going to save the world after all. It certainly did tonight - as a little slice of heaven from North Carolina came to our humble town and played and played. The Carolina Chocolate...
- The Funeral Of Our Lady
Photo by Eric Hardy Stanton St John, Oxfordshire, originally uploaded by Vitrearum. This panel of late thirteenth century glass at Stanton St John is Oxfordshire is interesting iconographically. It shows an episode from the life of Our Lady, as recorded...
Medieval History
Songs of Songs
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| Angels. Ghent |
The first is of wee Eleanor, singing "Cornbread and Butterbeans" (and you across the table; hugging you and kissing you, as long as I am able). It's by none other than the Carolina Chocolate Drops (who just received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album!!!) and there I am driving her to school the other day, when out of the back seat emerges this little song. Nice.
The second song resung is actually a gateway to a whole universe of songs resung. History teachers have taken our favorite songs from the 1980s (and yes, mistakes were made, but Siouxie and the Banshees did rock) and rewritten the lyrics to give us prescient and pithy (and rhyming) versions of history. I give you Beowulf, but they have their own channel on YouTube where you can enjoy all 48 they've done thus far (Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" for the French Revolution is pretty swell).
Happy Holidays to us all!
- First Performance In 400 Years For Medieval Passover Music
Jewish high school students in Toronto, Canada, will sing two pieces of medieval music from the Passover Seder at their ?Sounds of Spring? Musical Concert. This is probably the first time in almost four hundred years that the music has been performed....
- The Ghent Altarpiece In 100 Billion Pixels
It is now possible to zoom into the intricate, breathtaking details of one of the most important works of art from the medieval world, thanks to a newly completed website focused on the Ghent Altarpiece. A stunning and highly complex painting composed...
- "long Live Restless Texts!"
Yvain Lunete, Laudine. Paris, BN, fr. 1433, f. 118 It's that moment of the semester in which I oscillate wildly between a lapel-grabbing "Have I taught you nothing?" and a tender "Soft, what light from yonder blue book breaks?" It's exam...
- Woo-ha!
The Carolina Chocolate DropsWell, wow! Maybe it's music that is going to save the world after all. It certainly did tonight - as a little slice of heaven from North Carolina came to our humble town and played and played. The Carolina Chocolate...
- The Funeral Of Our Lady
Photo by Eric Hardy Stanton St John, Oxfordshire, originally uploaded by Vitrearum. This panel of late thirteenth century glass at Stanton St John is Oxfordshire is interesting iconographically. It shows an episode from the life of Our Lady, as recorded...