Notre Dame – Laying the Cornerstone of Western Music
A young novice monk travels from Canterbury to Paris to study at its famous school, the Maîtrise Notre Dame de Paris, witnessing the building of the great cathedral and the birth of polyphonic music.
Let us take you back in time to the beginnings of the great Notre Dame de Paris. As it rises to dominate the skyline of Paris, something profound is happening with music that will resound through the centuries.
This Special Event celebrates the building of Notre Dame and a seminal moment in the development of Western Music with the premiere of an original, theatrical production: an imagined tale of a young novice monk who travels from Canterbury to Paris to study music. Over his lifetime, he witnesses the building of the great cathedral and participates in some of the most consequential events in the early history of Western music. Two narrators and a group of vocal and instrumental ensembles making up Ensemble Clausulae will take the audience on an entertaining and illuminating journey through these formative years, with Victoria’s gothic cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, standing in for Notre Dame. Special guest, Benjamin Bagby, one of the foremost interpreters of medieval music over the past 40 years, will travel here from Paris, to contribute as a musical consultant and coach and fill the role of one of the narrators.
Music from the late 12th and early 13th centuries by Léonin, Pérotin, and Philippe Le Chancelier, along with secular music of the time.
NOTE: This Special Event is not eligible for Membership Package vouchers.
