AMS Philadelphia 2009 Abstracts - American Musicological Society

Abstracts sunday morning 175
gerMAn chAnt AnD liturgy
elizabeth upton, university of california, los Angeles, chair
“DEO FORTIUS CANTANDO SERVIANT”: LITURGICAL
PRACTICE AND SOCIO-MUSICAL ORGANIZATION
IN ANNA VON BUCHWALD’S BUCH iM CHor
Alison Altstatt
University of Oregon
The so-called Buch im Chor was written by Prioress Anna von Buchwald from 1471–1487 for
the Benedictine women’s community of Kloster Preetz in the diocese of Lübeck. This unique
manuscript—a combined customary, ordinal, and chronicle of convent life—records significant
events in the cloister’s history and gives extensive information about the music, ritual
and social organization of the convent. This study will examine the Buch im Chor for what it
reveals about how the convent’s liturgy was practiced, particularly the individual singing roles
of children, nuns and priests. I will demonstrate how the cloister’s children participated in the
liturgy and how their presence served as a symbolic reflection of its theological significance.
Furthermore, I will discuss musical education within the cloister, presenting evidence that
indicates a pedagogical shift from aural learning to a preference for musical literacy. I will
then consider Anna von Buchwald’s division of singing duties between the cloister’s nuns and
resident priests. I will show that while the two forces typically sang the same number of masses
per week, the women were assigned material that was more varied and required more extensive
musical preparation. I will suggest that one goal of Anna’s musical division of labor may
have been to negotiate between conflicting singing practices of the women educated within
the cloister and the men trained in outside traditions. Finally, I will consider the liturgical
reforms included in the book, arguing that Anna von Buchwald’s aim was not to simplify
Kloster Preetz’s practice or to make it conform to an outside model, but rather to ensure a
high standard of musical performance within the convent. This study is the first musicological
examination of the Buch im Chor, an unparalleled source for understanding Benedictine
women’s musical and liturgical practice in the late fifteenth century. It allows us to see the
active role that Prioress Anna von Buchwald took in shaping the musical and ritual life of her
community. It is also the first investigation of unpublished musical manuscript sources in the
Kloster Preetz archive. As such, it represents the first effort to reunite Anna von Buchwald’s
writings with the musical repertoire of her community, and to contextualize them within the
practice of the diocese of Lübeck. It provides a significant case study in understanding the
musical and ritual life of women’s monastic communities in the late Middle Ages. Finally, it is
significant as a local study, expanding our knowledge of the diversity of repertoire and practice
within late medieval chant.