A MEDIEVAL OFFICE FOR ST BRIGIT:
TCD MUSIC MANUSCRIPT TO BE PERFORMED

Visit of Canty to Ireland in February 2005
'Flame of Ireland': An Office for St Brigit

The Scottish vocal ensemble, Canty, together with William Taylor, medieval Irish harp, will undertake a concert tour of Ireland in February 2005 on the occasion of the launch of their CD of the liturgy of the Office of St Brigit from a 15th-century breviary now in the Library of Trinity College Dublin. The CD is entitled Flame of Ireland. An Office for St Brigit (Sanctuary Classics, London 2005). They are scheduled to perform in Maynooth College Chapel on Wednesday, 2 February; the parish church of St Brigid, Kildare Town, on Thursday, 3 February; and in the Chapel of Trinity College Dublin on Friday, 4 February. This will be the first performance since the time of the Reformation, and so it represents a significant and important event in the history of Irish music, culture, and spiritual devotion.

Canty are the four female voices of one of Scotland's leading professional early music ensembles, Cappella Nova, which is Vocal Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Strathclyde. They are collaborating with Dr Ann Buckley of the Music Department, NUI Maynooth, in a major international research project (funded under the Government of Ireland IRCHSS Projects Grant Scheme) to edit and record all of the surviving chant materials for the veneration of Irish saints in both insular and continental sources. The number of manuscripts involved is in excess of 300, with over forty Irish saints already identified.

TCD MS 80 is one of a number of Sarum Divine Office sources from Anglo-Norman Ireland. Although we do not know the details of its provenance, this was compiled probably in the 15th century and is believed to have been used in the parish of Kilmoone, Co. Meath, from at least 1470 until 1604.

This version of the office for Brigit exists also in two other MSS, TCD 78, an antiphonary, and TCD 88, another breviary. MS 78 is dated to between 1488 and 1500. It is believed to have been used originally at St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny, and subsequently in Clondalkin (during the second half of the 16th century). MS 80 has the most complete version of the office since it includes all of the readings. These are not found in MS 78 while MS 88 is not notated.

Ann Buckley
Maynooth, 6 January 2005