A Lammas Ladymass - 13th and 14th Century English Chant and Polyphony (Anonymous 4)

Album review

In the 13th and 14th centuries, votive masses to the Blessed Virgin were celebrated daily or weekly in many of the larger churches in England. These were special services dedicated to Mary and set to texts written in her honor. Masses were not composed in complete cycles by single composers until the late-14th century, so any recorded version of a medieval mass is a reconstruction, in the same way that each day's mass would have been constructed from different sources. Pieces were chosen to match the occasion or the purpose of the service, since most liturgical texts were related to specific feasts. A LAMMAS LADYMASS uses anonymous English music of this period, drawing together a variety of liturgical settings including motets with multiple texts, monophonic and polyphonic conductus (songs generally used at transitional points), and a troped Kyrie (one which has additional text inserted into the standard Kyrie text, as a type of commentary) to produce a Ladymass as it might have been celebrated in the 14th century. As is usual for Anonymous 4, the singing is lovely and simple, without sounding mannered or labored.
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