Understanding the Old Hispanic Office

An innovative, scholarly introduction to the distinctive and enigmatic Christian liturgy of early medieval Iberia.

Incorporating notational, musical, theological and historical perspectives, this path-breaking study brings Old Hispanic chant into the mainstream of medieval music studies. Based on new methodologies for working with early medieval liturgy from Spain, it introduces this distinctive body of manuscripts, services and liturgical genres.Based on highly original archival and palaeographical research, this is the first methodological and factual primer in English on the distinctive liturgical tradition of early medieval Spain. It provides clear and approachable blueprints for future work on the description and analysis (musical, theological and cultural) of this and other liturgies. For non-specialists, the authors introduce the main features of Old Hispanic liturgy, its manuscripts, its services and its liturgical genres. For specialists, they model a variety of ways to work with the Old Hispanic materials in depth, incorporating notational, musical, theological and historical perspectives. For those interested in musical notation, the book lays out a method for working with unpitched neumes, with illustrative results, that will inspire and challenge others working on monophonic chant. For historians and liturgists, the texts and melodies are analysed in combination with the theological context that informed their creation.