A new page has been created for chants for the ordinary of the Mass. It will be added to as Mass settings are rendered in the new English texts, with audio samples.
Also, for former students of CMAA programs, a new googlegroup now permits exchanges of messages and ideas. See our list page.
The CMAA is very pleased to have been named the publisher of the first-ever conference volume for the Byrd Festival this year. It is called A Byrd Celebration, and it features essays by the world top Byrd experts, writing about all aspects of his life and work. The volume will be available for those attending, but for those who are not going to be there, you can still order it in softcover.
These essays are not what one would find in musicological journals. They are essays based on lectures given to flesh-and-blood attendees of The Byrd Festival over ten years. These are the writings of world-class scholars who are speaking to laypeople who are attending simply for the reason that they find Byrd’s music beautiful, fascinating, and important. So each essay is designed to reach people with a story that illuminates the life and work of this most fascinating composer of music in Renaissance England.
The contributor list is truly a who’s who of Renaissance music scholarship: Richard Marlow (Trinity College, Cambridge), Kerry McCarthy (Duke University), Philip Brett (1937-2002; King’s College, Cambridge), Joseph Kerman (University of California, Berkeley), William Peter Mahrt (Stanford University and the CMAA), David Trendell (King’s College London), Richard Turbet (University of Aberdeen), and Mark Williams (London).
They frankly deal with the liturgical and music issues of Byrd’s life, not only treating him as artistic genius but regarding him as inspired with a higher mission. Further, all the writers are very much aware of the roots of Byrd’s musical spirituality in the Roman Rite and its chant.
Editor Richard Turbet put all this together over years of work, and it was only completed this summer, when the last of the papers finally came in. Conference director Dean Applegate revealed that he wanted it available for this year’s festival, August 10-24, 2008, Portland, Oregon. The deadline has been met.
You can see a table of contents here.
This 210-page, large cover edition makes an enormous contribution both to the understanding of Byrd and to making his timeless music come to life in our own times. We do believe that you too will appreciate the scholarship and the inspiration behind these essays and the composer they celebrate.
Order from https://shop.musicasacra.com.
