The Revival of Salve Regina. Cantos Marianos Medievais de Aveiro: Musical Sources, Gender Specific Context, and Performance

The RESALVE project explored the musical heritage of the Dominican female convent of Aveiro, Portugal, between 1461 and 1525. Focusing on the intangible cultural heritage of Dominican chants, particularly the beautiful Marian chants, this research project investigated the chant’s various uses in liturgy. The researcher examined the Salve Regina antiphon as a case study, but also different office cycles for Mary and other female saint figures, revealing insights through musicological and historical methods. While recognizing the threatening disappearance of this chant tradition, the project emphasized the importance of artistic performances, field research in contemporary religious communities, and recordings for preservation. The initiative by vocal ensemble Kantika sought to revive Aveiro’s chants, connecting early music performances with modern audiences. The project also investigated the interplay between local and pan-European aspects within the Dominican order during the late medieval period, shedding light on Portugal’s relatively unexplored late medieval chant tradition. Beyond academic circles, the project contributed to preserving cultural heritage on the Iberian Peninsula, transcending current political borders—an innovative aspect involved in studying new sources and disseminating knowledge, fostering collaboration between universities and organizations. The project’s unique blend of scientific research and artistic revival, incorporating contemporary vocal techniques, provided a fresh perspective on medieval chants, avoiding mere hybridization for an original and homogenous ensemble sound. RESALVE is firmly based on methodological interaction with other disciplines such as history, hagiography, liturgy, philology, gender, and art studies and, therefore, participates in an informed and coherent narrative about the medieval chant, concerning not only Portugal but also a more comprehensive European area.