Understanding the Old Hispanic Office

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.

Emma Hornby is Professor of Music at the University of Bristol. As Principal Investigator, she directed the ERC-funded Old Hispanic Office research project that formed the basis of this book. Kati Ihnat is an Assistant Professor of History at the Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, specialising in the religious cultures of the Middle Ages. Rebecca Maloy is professor of Music at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is the author of three monographs, most recently Songs of Sacrifice, on the Old Hispanic offertory. Raquel Rojo Carrillo is a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Music. Her research focuses on medieval Iberian plainchant.