Four female singers of Dialogos join six traditional cantors from Croatia, to explore the richness of Dalmatian liturgical musical traditions since the Middle Ages. From Christmas to Easter, they follow the main liturgical celebrations and create a magnificent soundscape composed by learned and traditional chants in Latin and Slavonic languages.
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The dalmatica, a medieval garment used by both men and women, is mostly known as a liturgical vestment, typical for the Byzantine clergy. As a symbolic link between the Byzantine and Roman liturgical traditions, as a bridge between men’s and women’s clothing, it served as an inspiration for the creation of this project in which the four female singers of Dialogos are joined by six traditional cantors from Croatia to explore the Dalmatian liturgical musical traditions since the Middle Ages.
The two distinct groups of singers in this programme chose rare pieces, following the main liturgical celebrations from Christmas to Easter, to represent traditions of this country which enjoyed a very special “double status” in the Roman church, since medieval Croatian priests were allowed to celebrate the liturgy in the church Slavonic language in regions where it was already customary. In that way, the Dalmatian coast of Croatia and the islands lived in a double, bilingual liturgical tradition: Latin and Glagolitic. Glagolitic chant was mostly orally transmitted during the last ten centuries as a distinctive feature of Roman Catholic liturgical chant in Croatia. It is still preserved in some coastal, insular and hinterland communities of Croatia, where it is regularly performed through the entire liturgical year, reaching its culmination in the Christmas and Lenten seasons, particularly during Holy Week. Liturgical books which survive from medieval Croatia also bear witness to this double tradition: next to the calligraphy of manuscripts written in Beneventan notation which came from Southern Italy, we find other sources in Glagolitic script used in Croatia.
The Dialogos vocalists perform some rare gems conserved in Latin manuscripts, some of them coming from the female monastic world, while the Glagolitic chants originating from the coastal, insular and hinterland regions of Croatia are sung by the the vocal ensemble Kantaduri, creating together a rich sound fresco.
Katarina Livljanic
Dialogos
Voices: Clara Coutouly, Els Janssens, Katarina Livljanic, Aurore Tillac
Direction: Katarina Livljanic
Kantaduri
Voices: Stjepan Franetovic, Srecko Damjanovic, Josko Caleta, Nikola Damjanovic, Milivoj Rilov, Marko Rogosic
Direction: Josko Caleta
Semi-staging and Dialogos costumes: Sanda Herzic
• 5 June 2010
International Society for the Performing Arts
ISPA Pitch session
Zagreb, Croatia
Programme: Barlaam & Josaphat
www.ispa.org
• 5 July 2010
Festival Summer Evenings
Zagreb, Croatia
Programme: Judith
www.kdz.hr
• 15 July 2010
International Festival of Sacred Music
Fribourg, Switzerland
Programme: Dalmatica
www.fims-fribourg.ch
• 28 August 2010
Festival of sacred and baroque music, Froville, France
Programme: Abbo Abbas
www.froville.com