Abstract
This article discusses the theology of the late twelfth-century offices in honour of the Danish patron saint Knud Lavard, asking to what extent this theology can be seen to have been underlined in musical representations. Altogether, there is surprisingly little war imagery in the offices. Although Knud Lavard was a military leader, a dux, and is presented in the offices as a miles Christi, and although some formulations in the office can be read to construct him as a crusader, his mildness and his passive suffering are much more emphasized. Indeed, the theological tenor is that of a Christ-like martyr being slaughtered without resistance. The emphasis is thus on suffering as a consequence of evil and unprovoked aggression, verbally as well as musically. This will be underscored by textual as well as musical analysis of central parts of the offices, focusing on the relationship between the responsories and the homiletic readings of the last Nocturns of Matins, which so far have not been much discussed in scholarship, taking also the sequence for the Translation Mass, Diem festum veneremur, into consideration.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Plainsong & Medieval Music |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 71-96 |
| Number of pages | 26 |
| ISSN | 0961-1371 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2014 |
Keywords
- Faculty of Humanities
- chant
- word-music relation
- Identity construction
- Faculty of Theology
- liturgy
- homiletics
- sanctity