The sequences of Nidaros

The sequence was one of the most important types of music of the Middle Ages. Performed during the mass and sung throughout the churches of medieval Europe, the Latin poetry of this new compositional genre distinguished itself from what is commonly called Gregorian chant. The sequences of the medieval Cathedral of Nidaros and its vast archdiocese comprise a song repertoire remarkable for its sheer size, chronological comprehensiveness, and stylistic diversity. The current volume presents eleven studies on this musical tradition, and the authors, using a wide range of perspectives and approaches - paleographical, codicological, repertorial, textual, musical, and exegetical - place this Nordic practice in its broader European context. This book is more than a study of a regional tradition of a single genre: it instead touches on topics and methodologies fundamental to contemporary research on chant.