The Christian West and Its Singers

The tradition of Western music has become the most influential in the world. Western notions of melody and harmony have been spread far afield, first by a process of conquest and colonization that began in the Middle Ages, and later by the global influence of technologies – especially those of mass communication – that were developed in Europe and America. In a vast number of different cultures, children are set to study Occidental musical instruments, such as the piano or violin, to approach the performance of works by the ‘Great Composers’. This book is the first attempt to trace the rise and consolidation of singers and their art in the Christian West. It begins in the New Testament period and ends in twelfth-century Europe when churches, hospitals and monasteries shared a body of vocal music, including Gregorian Chant, that was sung hour by hour, day by day, from Ireland to the first crusading kingdoms in the Levant. The history of the singers who performed it is here placed against the social, political and economic life of a Western Europe slowly being remade after the collapse of Roman power. The unfolding story, with its generous illustrations, will be of interest to historians, musicologists, performing musicians and the general reader keen to explore the beginnings of Western musical art.