Double session on Modern Music and Manuscript Conservation

“Novos santos – novos cantos?”: Ofícios litúrgicos de S. Nicolau Tolentino, S. Diego de Alcalá e S. Isabel de Portugal em manuscritos de cantochão portugueses

António Alberto Monteiro Medina de Seiça (CESEM – NOVA University of Lisbon)

The liturgical calendar is one of the most important elements it is necessary to consider in order to understand the cultic peculiarities of religious orders and local dioceses. Scholarship on mediaeval liturgical offices (historiae) has greatly advanced our knowledge of the topic in past decades and, despite the fact that its focus was mainly on early offices, some important results have also been produced for later mediaeval repertories.

In this paper I will discuss the offices of three ‘new saints’—St Nicolau Tolentino, St Diego of Alcalá and St Isabel of Portugal—as they are found in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century liturgical books from the dioceses of Coimbra and Braga (northern Portugal). Specifically, I will focus on the creative process of providing new texts and melodies for the offices of these three saints and describe how tradition and innovation coexist in this process.

Manuscritos medievais: as intervenções de conservação realizadas na Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal

Teresa Lança Ruivo (Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal)

Interventions in the conservation and restoration of mediaeval manuscripts—either books or fragments—are often complex and challenging. The complexity of these interventions usually relates to the kinds of materials used to produce manuscripts—parchments, pigments, inks, gold, silver, bindings, wood, leather etc.— but also to the structure of the manuscript itself, which is often related to local practices that today have not been entirely studied and understood.

As a general rule, interventions relating to the conservation and/or restoration of manuscript(s) kept at the Biblioteca Nacional of Portugal are carefully planned in advance and include a forecast of any problem that may arise during the process and which could affect the manuscript and even become a further cause of deterioration and destruction.

In this paper I will discuss 1) the main issues related to the conservation and restoration of mediaeval manuscripts, mainly focusing on the materials used to produce such manuscripts and 2) the methodologies applied to the conservation and restoration of some manuscripts held at the Biblioteca Nacional of Portugal.

Both lectures will be delivered in Portuguese.

Second series of Interdisciplinary Research Seminars

Manuscritos em Diálogo

The interdisciplinary research seminars Manuscritos em Diálogo are jointly organized by the CESEM and the IEM. These seminars are envisioned as didactic events devoted to spread useful information on how to tackle the study and description of different kinds of medieval manuscripts, mainly Iberian. The seminars aim to create bridges among scholars from different areas and promote dialogue between them.

Scholars gathered together for the first series of seminars Manuscritos em Diálogo in the 2018 spring semester at the FCSH-NOVA University of Lisbon. Papers dealt with issues related to plainchant and manuscript copy, Eastern and Western liturgies, conservation and restoration of medieval manuscripts, and musical iconography.

The new series of seminars will be held monthly from September 2018 to January 2019. Papers will be delivered in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and English. All events are free and open to the public.

The research seminars Manuscritos em Diálogo are organized by Elsa De Luca and Alicia Miguelez.

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