Te Deum - Paradise 24 / Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri (1320)

Madrid  • 

This is the "Te Deum", a chant that Dante hears in Paradise of his Divina Commedia. The music is a 13th-century plainchant melody + two voices I added according to the rules of improvised organum around 1300. What you hear could open a window to what it really may have sounded like in Dante's mind: a historically informed performance. Organum would normally be improvised with one added voice; in Dante's imaginary Paradise, music is something beyond the human imperfect ear. Since he becomes more "perfect" in his own journey through the Afterlife, in the Commedia he is actually able to hear the chants. My soloperformance "Incipit" was the result of my PhD about Dante Alighieri's "Divina Commedia" and its soundscape. It's a historically informed performance, mixed with contemporary theatrical performance. The PhD is located here: https://www.academia.edu/28226500/INCIPIT_The_search_for_a_new_multidisciplinary_language_at_the_crossroads_of_Antiquity_and_Contemporaneity_PdD_Thesis_2016_Sprenkeling My eBook "The Sonorous World Of Dante's Commedia: A Study Of All Musical References in Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise" is here: https://www.amazon.com/Sonorous-World-Dantes-Commedia-References-ebook/dp/B01LI6EMHQ