An Ancient Philosophical Song Reconstructed and Played for the First Time in 1,000 Years

"The task of performing such ancient works today is not as simple as reading and playing the music in front of you. 1,000 years ago, music was written in a way that recorded melodic outlines, but not 'notes' as today's musicians would recognize them."

"Because these aural traditions died out in the 12th century, it has often been thought impossible to reconstruct 'lost' music from this era - precisely because the pitches are unknown."

"Now, after more than two decades of painstaking work on identifying the techniques used to set particular verse forms, research undertaken by Cambridge University's Dr. Sam Barrett has enabled him to reconstruct melodies from the rediscovered leaf of the 11th century 'Cambridge Songs.'"

The song 'Songs of Consolation' is based on Boethius' work and was lost until recently. Performing ancient music is complex due to the lack of written notes. Music from 1,000 years ago relied on oral traditions, which faded by the 12th century, making reconstruction difficult. Dr. Sam Barrett's research at Cambridge University has successfully identified techniques to reconstruct melodies from the 11th-century 'Cambridge Songs.' The performance features musicians from the ensemble Sequentia.

Read at Open Culture