About

    Performance from Historical Notation

    Beginning in the Fall 2026 semester, a small ensemble of singers and instrumentalists at St. Paul’s Church in Harvard Square will perform medieval and Renaissance music from historical notation. Whenever possible, we will work from facsimiles of original sources held in the Houghton Library at Harvard University.

    The ensemble will focus on plainchant and polyphonic music from the Low Countries and Northern France.

    Some of our sources

    Antiphonary, Flemish or Northern French, ca. 1480, open at the Benedicamus domino
    Harvard University, Houghton Library, MS Typ 133, Antiphonary (Flemish or Northern French, ca. 1480), “Benedicamus domino”.
    Leiden, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken, MS 1439, Choirbook, opening ff. 280v–281r: Benedictus Appenzeller, Ave maris stella
    Leiden, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken, Archieven van de Kerken, MS 1439, Choirbook (for St. Peter’s Church, Leiden, 1559), Benedictus Appenzeller, “Ave maris stella”.

    Education

    Weekly Vespers

    A weekly Vespers program at St. Paul’s, Harvard Square, gives musicians experience in performing from historical notation – from neumes through sixteenth-century mensural notation.

    Houghton Library

    Thomas Forrest Kelly will lead a visit to Houghton Library to study its medieval manuscripts firsthand, and will give occasional (optional) specialist workshops for the ensemble’s participants.