Psallentes and Capilla Flamenca

The Gregorian chant found in the manuscripts of the late Middle Ages is central to almost all the projects of the ensemble. When, during the nineteenth century, the monks of Solesmes began the so-called restoration of Gregorian chant, it stemmed from a justified concern to return to the oldest sources of chant. Nevertheless this created a negative impression of the Gregorian chant from earlier than roughly the eleventh or twelfth century. All Gregorian chant before the glory days of the great illuminated manuscripts was labelled ‘lapsed’. It is Psallentes’ express intention to re-establish, once and for all, the Gregorian chant from before the Council of Trent (that is, before 1550). Gregorian chant appears, certainly until that date, to have been vital enough to provide a rich and important foundation for polyphony.

Working with ensembles like Capilla Flamenca – in this particular instance masters of the interpretation of chiefly vocal polyphony of the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries – is therefore an obvious thing for Psallentes to do: polyphony and Gregorian chant provide each other with their natural context. While in an average concert or recording the rich polyphony appears as an independent artistic form, Psallentes makes a sizeable contribution to these projects by helping to forge the historic and liturgical elements into an inspiring and creative whole. Dirk Snellings (Capilla Flamenca) and Hendrik Vanden Abeele (Psallentes) are at the heart of this remarkable collaboration.