Mission Statement
Psallentes is a professional vocal ensemble dedicated to Gregorian chant and related plainsong. It was founded by Hendrik Vanden Abeele in 2000. Particular attention is paid to chant from the the great age of polyphony (principally the fourteenth and fifteenth century) and to chant from Flemish sources of the time. Besides its own projects, Psallentes works regularly with several ensembles, among which is Capilla Flamenca – the polyphonic quartet of Dirk Snellings, and Millenarium – the French ensemble around the hurdy-gurdy player Christophe Deslignes. With this group, with other ensembles, with soloists, and as a solo ensemble, Psallentes has realised a large number of projects, amongst which are several CDs which have been enthusiastically received by the international music press.
Since its foundation in 2000, Psallentes has been in search of a new, original and moving way of performing Gregorian chant, with a powerful and expressive sound, yet taking as its point of departure the historical situation and context of the chant in question. This explains the direction of Hendrik Vanden Abeele’s doctoral researches since 2004 at the University of Leiden, with further training at the Orpheus Institute Ghent (docARTES) in the performance practice of plainchant in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.
For centuries, Gregorian chant was the most performed and the most widely heard music in western musical history. In musical historical reference books we always find the same chronology: from plainchant to primitive polyphony and Notre Dame to Ars Antiqua, Ars Nova and the Renaissance. Even in the heyday of all these musical styles Gregorian chant still played a prominent role in the liturgy of the Christian church.
When Gregorian chant was rediscovered in the nineteenth century, a result of the nostalgia for all things from the Middle Ages, a ‘restoration’ movement was launched in several quarters. This restoration, at least according to those promoting it, consisted of a return to the Gregorian chant of earliest times. The chant was cleansed of all later ‘aberrations’ and ‘mutilations’. It was restored to its oldest and thus purest form, since after the tenth century Gregorian chant had evidently been in decline. From the nineteenth century on, the original chant was increasingly studied and a romantic idiom coloured performance practice.
Meanwhile the interest in later Gregorian chant has continued to increase. The attention paid to cultural heritage has grown steadily, and the many fifteenth century graduals, antiphonals and processionals that may be found in local libraries and archives also belong to that heritage. Flanders possesses several rich and important collections, for instance those of Ghent and Tongeren.
In connection with these fifteenth century sources there arise many questions and problems for the modern historically-accurate performer of Gregorian chant (and derived polyphonic forms):
- Latin: text and pronunciation
- voice: usage, tessitura, range, pitch, tuning
- tempo, rhythm and phrasing
- number of singers
- place and time of performance
- repertoire: transmission, composition, regional differences
- use of ‘simple polyphony’ and improvisation
- interaction with polyphony.
The previously mentioned graduals, antiphonals and processionals contain a largely unexplored treasury of information about (certain aspects of) these problems. What performance instructions are (not) to be found in these sources? Specifically, regarding the most obscure performance aspect of plainchant, rhythm: is it possible to determine which conventions were employed regarding rhythm just by studying the quadratic notation then usual?
We start, in fact, not just from what the sources tell us about local and contemporaneous performance practice, but equally, from how this concrete historical performance situation (and the inevitable and permanent lacunae in our knowledge of it) can become a moving reading of Gregorian chant that is a source of inspiration, both artistically and intuitively, to modern western man.
Even today performances of Gregorian chant tend to take place in amateur circles, as often as not in a liturgical context and in a predominantly romantic style. As an alternative to this, this research makes use of the following premises:
- contact with the fifteenth century sources by the professional singer,
- solo work and multi-voiced improvisation,
- performance of plainchant as a typical, contemporaneous context for polyphony,
- establishment of Gregorian chant as concert music in its own right,
- a continuing interest in forms of spirituality by western man,
- adaptation of Gregorian practices to a present day musical discourse.
The objective of Psallentes in its projects is to increase insight into, and consciousness of, the historic performance practice of Gregorian chant in fifteenth century Flanders, so that, in performance, the singer and the leader of the ensemble can achieve the greatest possible authenticity, in both meanings of the word. (Authentic in the sense of agreeing with, or keeping to the original, but also authentic in the sense of aiming for truth and profundity in a contemporary experience of plainchant.)
A deeper insight into, and a greater consciousness of, the performance practice of Gregorian chant in fifteenth century Flanders will undoubtedly influence the performance of chant and its relationship with polyphony. It will become clear that plainchant and polyphony are privileged partners within liturgical art, and that, therefore, Gregorian chant provides an important contribution to the contextual and historic performance of polyphony.
Performance experience can be enhanced by referring to primary sources. The exchange between theory (historical sources, reflection and literature) and practice (present day rehearsal and performance, albeit not in its historical context) is the fundamental generator of new ideas and new insights. An important underlying objective is also to contribute to the current debate about the search for a methodology for artistic research, within which artistic practice is both driving force and motive.
The overall objective is, in short, to develop an appealing, creative, contemporary approach to fifteenth century Gregorian chant. The main target of Psallentes is therefore to perform plainsong with professionally-trained voices, taking as a starting point its historical context - as far as the sources from the late Middle Ages permit - and aiming for a renewal and enrichment of the experience of Gregorian chant in a contemporary situation. From this central aim three concrete objectives follow:
The clarification of repertorial difficulties, an increase in confidence (or reduction in uncertainty) in rhythmic usage in plainchant during the relevant period, and the development of current performance and interpretation, based on the historical context of fifteenth century Gregorian chant.
Fifteenth century Gregorian chant is used as the point of departure for a contemporary approach to plainchant. Three artistic productions which bear the working titles Memorabilia, Ethica and Parafernalia demonstrate this approach. This triptych will furnish the artistic finale of the doctoral project (University of Leiden). These productions provide the nucleus of Psallentes’ entire artistic output for the coming years. As well as this there will be projects complementary to these productions, for instance the super-romantic project based on nineteenth century Gregorian chant, with harmonium accompaniment.