Sequentia is an

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...

ensemble, founded in 1977 by

Benjamin Bagby Benjamin Bagby (born February 20, 1950) is an American singer, composer, harpist, and performer of medieval music. Biography Born in Evanston, Illinois, Bagby was educated at Oberlin College, Ohio, and the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Bagby founded ...

and Barbara Thornton. The group specializes mainly in

Medieval music Medieval music encompasses the sacred music, sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the Dates of classical music eras, first and longest major era of Western class ...

. Sequentia focuses particularly on music with texts, specifically

chant A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of no ...

s and other stories with music, such as the Icelandic ''

Edda "Edda" (; Old Norse ''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an Old Norse term that has been applied by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the ''Prose Edda'' and an older collection of poems ( ...

''. They are interested in the interplay between

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

and

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

, and sometimes do partially staged performances, such as that of

Hildegard of Bingen Hildegard of Bingen Benedictines, OSB (, ; ; 17 September 1179), also known as the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictines, Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mysticism, mystic, visiona ...

's ''

Ordo Virtutum ''Ordo Virtutum'' (Latin for ''Order of the Virtues'') is an allegorical morality play, or sacred music drama, by Hildegard of Bingen, composed around 1151, during the construction and relocation of her Abbey at Rupertsberg. It is the earliest ...

''. Bagby and Thornton have both been active in original research on the projects they perform.

History

Originally formed in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

in 1977, the group moved to

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Germany the same year, where they would work for more than twenty years. In 2002, Sequentia relocated to Paris. In 1977, while still at Basel, Thornton and Bagby, together with the group

Studio der frühen Musik Studio der frühen Musik was an early music group active from 1960–1980 and based in Munich. The leader of the group was Thomas Binkley, and the activity of the group coincided with the years he was teaching at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. C ...

and some associated singers, staged two 12th century

miracle play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...

s relating to

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

; the plays were taken on tour and a live recording from a performance in Amsterdam was put out the following year on an LP entitled ''Ludi Sancti Nicolai'' ("Plays of St.Nicholas"; EMI Electrola, 1978). Although the singers involved used the name "Ensemble Vocale

Guillaume Dufay Guillaume Du Fay ( , ; also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August 1397 – 27 November 1474) was a composer and music theorist of early Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered the leading European composer of h ...

", this experimental staging of two church dramas can be regarded as the debut record of Sequentia; the dramatic and angular vocal style and the approach to partly improvised instrumentation already has much in common with their later recordings. In 2016 the group performed ''Songs of Consolation'', a piece written in the year

523 __NOTOC__ Year 523 ( DXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Maximus without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1276 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominati ...

by the philosopher

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...

during his imprisonment prior to his execution. It followed restoration work of the 11th century manuscript stolen from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

that contained the pieces. The only long-term members of Sequentia have been

, Barbara Thornton, Norbert Rodenkirchen, and Katarina Livljanic after Thornton's death.

Margriet Tindemans Margriet E. Tindemans (March 26, 1951 – December 31, 2014) was a musician, specializing in medieval music. The fourth child of Wilhelmina Coenen and Henricus Tindemans, Margriet demonstrated her musical talents early, and was named first violi ...

was a member for the first nine years of the group's existence. Tenor Wolodymyr Smishkewych has sung with several projects since 2000. The rest of the members are hired according to the needs of the particular project. They mainly record on the

Deutsche Harmonia Mundi Deutsche Harmonia Mundi (founded 1958) is a German classical music record label. It was founded by Rudolf Ruby and based in Freiburg, Breisgau. The company was acquired by BMG Music in 1992 and is now part of Sony Music Entertainment. Ruby had Alf ...

label.

Discography

* ''Ludi Sancti Nicolai'' (1978, as ''Ensemble Vocale Guillaume Dufay'', with

) * ''Spielmann und Kleriker'' (1981, subtitled ''Minstrels and Clerics'' and ''Jongleurs et Clerics'') * ''Wandering Satirists of Medieval Germany'' (1983) * ''Trouvères. Courtly love songs from Northern France'' (1984) * ''English Songs of the Middle Ages'' (1988) * '' Philippe le Chancelier: School of Notre Dame'' (1990) * '' Frauenlob. Heinrich von Meissen'' (1990) * ''

Philippe de Vitry Philippe de Vitry (31 October 12919 June 1361) was a French composer-poet, bishop and Music theory, music theorist in the style of late medieval music. An accomplished, innovative, and influential composer, he was widely acknowledged as a le ...

: Motets and Chansons'' (1991) * ''Vox Iberica'': ** I: ''Sons of Thunder. Music for St. James the apostle. Codex Calixtinus, 12th century'' (1992) ** II: ''

Codex Las Huelgas The Codex Las Huelgas is a music manuscript or codex from ''c.'' 1300 which originated in and has remained in the Cistercian convent of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas in Burgos, in northern Spain. The convent was a wealthy one which had con ...

'' (1992) ** III: ''El Sabio. Songs for King

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, ; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, Kingdom of León, León and Kingdom of Galicia, Galicia from 1 June 1252 until his death in 1284. During the April 1257 Imperial election, election of 1 ...

and Léon'' (1991) * ''The Bordesholm Lament of the Virgin Mary'' (1992) * ''

Oswald von Wolkenstein Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376 or 1377 in Pfalzen – August 2, 1445, in Meran) was a poetry, poet, composer and diplomacy, diplomat. In his diplomatic capacity, he traveled through much of Europe to as far as Georgia (country), Georgia (as recoun ...

: Songs'' (1993) * ''

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

and the Troubadours'' (1993) * ''Aquitania. Christmas Musik from Aquitanien Monasteries'' (1994/96) * ''Visions from the Book'' (1996) * ''Shining Light. Christmas Music from Aquitanien Monasteries'' (1996) * ''Edda. Myths from Medieval Iceland'' (1996) * ''The Rheingold Curse'' (2001) * ''Lost Songs of a Rhineland Harper'' (2004) * ''Chant Wars'' (2004) * ''Fragments for the End of Time / Endzeitfragmente'' (2008) * ''

Hildegard von Bingen Hildegard of Bingen OSB (, ; ; 17 September 1179), also known as the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and as a medical writer and practitioner ...

: Complete Edition'' ** ''Symphoniae. Spiritual Songs'' (1985) ** ''

Canticles of Ecstasy ''Canticles of Ecstasy'' is an album of sacred vocal music written in the 12th century by the German abbess Hildegard of Bingen and recorded by the early music ensemble Sequentia that was released by the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi recording label in ...

'' (1994) ** ''Voice of the Blood'' (1995) ** ''O Jerusalem'' (1997) ** ''Saints'' (1997) ** ''Ordo Virtutum'' (1982, re-recorded 1998) ** '' Celestial Hierarchy'' (2013) *'' Boethius: Songs of Consolation'' (2018)''Songs of Consolation''
glossamusic.com

References

Sources * * * *

External links

*
Sequentia discography

"Restoring Lost Songs: Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy"
Sequentia's collaboration with the University of Cambridge to reconstruct the lost songs of

{{Authority control German musical groups Mixed early music groups Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups from Cologne

History

Discography

References

Further reading

External links