Birgittine Chantscapes : Chant and Liturgy in the Order of St Birgitta of Sweden14th – 21st century

Abstract

This book takes the reader on a 800 year long journey through the chant and liturgy of the Order of the Birgittines investigating liturgical books from the Birgittine abbeys in Vadstena, Mariënwater/Maria Refugie (the Netherlands), Mariëntroon (Belgium), and Altomünster (Germany). Karin Lagergren explores how the liturgy maintained the Birgittine identity through all these centuries and how it negotiated the Birgittine liturgical heritage in order to adapt to a changing world. The Birgittine Order is a monastic order with the charismatic figure of St Birgitta as its very special hallmark, providing spiritual unity and a firm foundation for the Birgittine identity. How could such a figure remain constantly present and relevant to the Order’s existence and members? This is one of the questions the book attempts to answer. Furthermore, it seeks to address how the Birgittines used, expanded, altered, and lived with the Birgittine liturgy, through examining their liturgical books. More generally, interest lies in exploring how groups use chant and liturgy and adapt them to their particular needs; the Order of the Birgittines provides a specific case. Another issue concerns the intriguing question of the transmission of the Birgittine liturgy. In summary, the overall and guiding idea behind this book is to describe how liturgy expresses fundamental ideas about how a community chooses to define itself, in this case the Birgittines. A theoretical basis for this understanding has been adopted from Max Weber’s concept of charisma. Understanding arises through examination of the musical content of the liturgical books as well as the structure, layout and decoration of the books and how these can be linked to historical circumstances. The Birgittine liturgical chant repertoire in this study is regarded as a ‘chantscape’, a term covering the entire Birgittine liturgy as experienced by the sisters and brothers of the Order. This term, used here for the first time, is based on the more familiar concept of ‘soundscape’ and will be the guide for analysis of musical examples and then related to questions of Birgittine spirituality and Birgitta’s charismatic authority. This book is the first to address the Birgittine chant and liturgy after the Middle Ages and considers many sources that until now have been unexplored.