Luisa Nardini

Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies

Toronto; Universita' di Roma 'La Sapienza'

Neo-Gregorian Chant for the Mass in Southern Italy: A Bridge between Old and New Style

2004-2005

Luisa Nardini earned her PhD in Musicology at the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" with a dissertation on the neo-Gregorian chant found in manuscripts from southern Italy (11th-13th centuries). She has received scholarships to study at the University of California, Santa Barbara with Prof. A.E. Planchart. She was appointed as a lecturer at the University of Santa Barbara, California (2002-2003), where she taught Music History and Notation. In 2003-2004 she was an A. W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto, where she is currently finishing her postdoctoral Licence in Medieval Studies. She has published articles and delivered conference presentations on Gregorian chant, medieval musical theory, music iconography, early polyphony, and Hildegard von Bingen. She has performance experience as a pianist and choir singer and director. Her project at the Italian Academy will be the preparation of a book containing the edition and study of the neo-Gregorian chants for the Mass in southern Italy from the ninth to the thirteenth century. Her previous research on the subject has shed light on some of the most controversial problems regarding the earliest history of Western music and the interrelationships between Roman, Gallican, and Italian chants, as well as on issues of oral and written transmission in the medieval musical culture.