1) A musicological approach – identifying and analyzing the sources and chant melodies Manuscripts containing Marian chants (antiphoners, missals, graduals, breviaries, and processionals) that were used and produced by the sisters of Aveiro – of whom we know the exact names – will be identified, mapped and analyzed. The resources available today (published library catalogues and online databases) are still incomplete and often do not identify the chants accurately. That is why it is necessary to provide an edition and indexation of the Marian chants in the Museum of Aveiro and examine their holdings. Special attention will be paid to notational analysis and characteristic features, and geographical markers of Aveiro’s notation are staff notation (on five lines) and vertical bars whose significance has not yet been satisfactorily elucidated by scholars or performers. 

2) A historical approach – gender-specific social and religious context 

As for the historical dimension, it is expected to discover more information about the historical context of Aveiro’s convent during the project. Gender studies are essential to this research project on the liturgical chant repertoire of the Dominican sisters from northern Portugal. Specific features of chants from a female Dominican convent are compared for the first time to performance issues at the male convents. Dissemination includes a monograph entitled “The liturgical book production in the new female scriptorium of Aveiro’s convent de Jesus” to be published in autumn 2023; bringing this subject to an even wider audience.

3) Performance – practical performance and transmission 

 The performance forms a fundamental part of this project which will restore, perform and record Marian offices from Aveiro with the vocal ensemble Kantika. In addition, acoustical experiments, like processional singing in Dominican churches or field trips to Portuguese Dominican churches, will be documented. During the restitution process, there will be a focus on questions of the performing tempo, pauses, and grouping to add new interpretations to the ‘artistic debate’.