Abstract
This paper explains that the CD recording "The Lily and the Lamb: Chant and Polyphony from Medieval England" by Anonymous 4, an all female quartet that specializes in medieval music is an excellent example of this period's chant and polyphony music. The author points out that the recording is composed of eighteen tracks that are divided up into six different types of songs: one antiphon, five conductuses, two hymns, two motets, one processional hymn and seven sequences. The paper concludes that this recording is helpful in learning about sacred medieval music.

From the Paper
"A sequence is a category of Medieval Latin chant and is also known as prose. It is part of the liturgy and comes after the Alleluia. It usually begins with an introductory phrase of the form "aa." Then phrases are paired together until the concluding phrase "n." The total form of a sequence usually written as: "aabbccddeeff...n." There are seven sequences in this recording and they range in length from a little over a minute to over eight minutes long. While listening to the sequences in this recording, I noticed that they all seemed to follow the same pattern with the voices."

Tags:quartet, conductus, antiphon, non-liturgical, sequence

Abstract
This paper explains that the Roman Catholic Church abolished the practice of tonsure to consecrate monks in 1972; however, the ritual tonsuring remains as part of the liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church, "The True Catholic Church" (splinter group originating in Holland) and Buddhism. The author points out that, although modern anthropologists have correlated ritual and performance, the end result of ritual is usually substantially different than the end result of modern secular theatrical performance. The paper concludes that, although the ritual of tonsure may have some minor theatrical aspects including its use of antiphons (a form of liturgical theatre in the 9th century), this ritual is not a theatrical performance but rather a semi-private ritual between postulant monks and their bishop with a few personal observers. Long quotations.

Table of Contents
Description of the Ritual of Tonsuring in the Roman Catholic Church
Dramaturges Definition of Theatrical Performance
Ritual of Tonsuring as Liturgical Theatrical Performance
Theatrical Critique and the Ritual of Tonsure
Ritual and Theatrical Performance
Conclusion

From the Paper
"The primary reason is how do we critique an ancient ritual? When we critique modern productions, we evaluate many things, the production itself, the actors and their portrayal of the characters in the play and the settings.. Only, if one were to have attended several rituals of tonsure in order to look at their individual production value. How good was the choir, how smooth was the ritual performed, how involved were the individual supplicants? Then, we might begin to apply such methods of critique. The fact is these rituals are rare and private, usually attended only by the supplicants, the bishop, the choir and the supplicant's families."

Tags:production-value, secular, antiphons, semi-private, ephemeral