Next 16 September I will be presenting, together wit Antónia Fialho Conde, a paper at the X Residência Cisterciense S. Bento de Cástris, that will take place at the former feminine Cistercian monastery of São Bento de Cástris in the outskirts of Évora.
This paper, titled “Novos textos musicais para as monjas de Cástris no final de setecentos”, focuses on three plainchant choirbooks copied at the scriptorium of Alcobaça Abbey (Motherhouse of the Cistercian Order in Portugal) in 1798 for use at the Évora monastery. The books feature two first volumes of a Sanctoral antiphonary and hymnary and a third book comprising invitatories and several antiphons for Year. The books also feature several reformation both on the texts and the chant compared to other previous sources from the Évora monastery. In the paper we will trace the process of acquisition of the books as well as an overview of the changes in terms of repertory from the sixteenth and seventeenth-century chant books, with some examples to illustrate them.