For centuries of European history, singing for a person at the moment of death was considered to be the ideal accompaniment to a life’s ending.

In her recently published book, Music in Medieval Rituals for the End of Life (Oxford University Press), musicologist Elaine Stratton Hild examines and recovers, to the extent possible, the music sung for the dying during the Middle Ages and considers the functions of the music—a lost art of comforting the dying and the grieving.

This publication began as a research project at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study in 2018.

Dr. Hild returns to campus as part of a project to record these chants, making them available not only as written notation in an academic publication, but also as accessible sound recordings.

Please join Dr. Hild and the singers creating the recording, including Regina Scime, Erin Taylor, and Joe Balistreri of the Sacred Music program, for a presentation and discussion of the chants, the manuscripts, and the recording process, on Wednesday, February 21, at 2:30.

This event will be live-streamed.

Originally published at sacredmusic.nd.edu.