Prof. Calvin Bower (University of Notre Dame), Summi regis archangele, Michael: The challenge of angelic sequences in the ninth and tenth centuries
13 maja 2025 (wtorek), godz. 11:00, IS PAN, ul. Długa 26, Sala im. Sobieskich
ABSTRACT:
The principal theme of this lecture will be a liturgical sequence for Michael, the archangel: Summi regis archangele. But research on this composition has led Bower to examine the broader background of devotion to angels in general. During the late eighth century devotions to angels and prayers to specific angels became extensive but rather undisciplined, and consequently leaders of the Church—for example, St. Boniface—brought the problem to Pope Zachariah and the unruly prayers to angels became limited to three angels specifically mentioned in scripture: Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael. But in the late ninth and early tenth centuries Michael emerged as the central figure in this devotion. Four sequences were specifically dedicated to Michael, a repertoire comparable to no other single liturgical feast. Notker composed two sequences for Michael, and a single West-Frankish (French) sequence specifically addresses Michael while citing the other two 'approved' angels. Yet these sequences were all transmitted principally within sequentiaries—within larger liturgical collections. A fourth sequence from the same period, Summi regis archangele, seems initially to have been transmitted outside of traditional collections, and has received relatively little attention. Both the textual and musical manuscript traditions of this sequence are very irregular and raise challenging questions concerning the background of this specific composition, and broader questions concerning the origins and developments of the sequence in general. Bower will try to unfold several of these challenges using principally Summi regis archangele and Notker's Magnum te Michahelem as examples.
SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE:
Calvin M. Bower, now retired, was Professor of Music and Fellow of the Medieval Institute, University of Notre Dame, from 1981 until 2006; he was also Mitglied in the Musikhistorischekommission of the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften from 2002 to 2014. His two principal areas of research have been the history of medieval theory and the early of the liturgical sequence. His edition of Notker's Liber ymorum was published by the Henry Bradshaw Society in 2016.
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Trier, Stadtbibliothek, ms. 120, f. 185v