Performance in the monastery Santo Domingo de Silos
At first glance, our performance in the monastery Santo Domingo de Silos might not appear to be that special. During our stay in Spain we sang in front of much bigger audience, some of our performances might have been better, this time nobody clapped. But in spite of that, this concert was a very powerful experience, maybe the most powerful of all.
Getting a chance to sing in this monastery is a great honour, especially for a choir that isn’t a men’s chorus. At first we only planned to go for a guided tour around the abbey and to listen to the Gregorian chant. In January our teacher said that it would be really nice to sing here, however, the Spanish teacher Adolfo told her it wouldn’t be possible. Concerts hardly ever take place in this abbey and even when there’s one, girls never perform here. However, there’s no harm in trying, so Adolfo wrote a letter to the abbot and asked him to make an exception. It’s almost a miracle that the answer was positive; we got the permission to sing two appropriate songs.
Finally the day of visiting the monastery came. After the tour we went to the church, which was very modestly decorated and lit only by the sun. The monks came and began to sing, or rather began to pray though singing. It’s very hard to describe the impression of Gregorian chant. It’s a kind of music which is completely different from today’s music, but very beautiful. The prayer ended and it was our turn. We stood up and started to sing; first the Saint Wenceslas chorus, then a lent song Calligaverunt oculli mei. After we finished, there was a complete silence in the church. A beautiful silence.
So we found out that a concert without an applause (which is inappropriate in the abbey) can sometimes have a better atmosphere than one with a standing ovation. And that by singing two songs you can in a way make history.
Translated by: Dominika Krásenská
Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos
The abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos is located in Burgos Province in northern Spain, about 30 km far from Lerma. It was probably founded in 929 and was named San Sebastian. In the middle of the 11th century St. Dominic de Silos became the abbot of the abbey and was here until his death in 1073. Since then the abbey has been named after him. In 1835 the monastery was closed, along with many other monasteries in Spain. In 1880 Benedictines got the permission to revive the abbey.
In the past was very important local scriptorium along with the library, where we can find for example the Missal de Silos, the oldest paper work in the whole Christian West. The library is sadly not accessible for public.
Nowadays many tourists and pilgrims come to the abbey, mainly to see the beautiful Romanesque architecture (apart from the building we can see many reliefs and carvings) and to hear the Gregorian chant, which has been sung by the monks every day since the monastery was founded.
Translated by: Dominika Krásenská
Gregorian Chant
Chant is a general term for an unanimous singing of the catholic church but also of many protestant churches. The name „gregorian“ is connected with the nameof Gregory the Great who was elected a pope is the years 590-604. It was him who orderd to make a collection of liturgical chants. These chants were arranged into a songbook – Gregorian antiphony songbook.
There are two different ways of singing – responsorial and antiphonal:
Responsorial means changing between the soloist and the choir.
The antiphonay way is based on alternating two groups of singers (we can easily imagine this on an example of a czech folksong "Kdyby tady byla taková panenka").
Signs that are characteristic for gregorian chant:
a) unisono singing
b) latin lyrics
c) without an accompaniment of any instrument
d) the melody somehow flows with time
e) the rythm is irregular
In general, it is a sang prayer. The aim of gregorian chant is to proselytize its listeners to ecclestiactical values. I think that every listener can gain the inner peace whilst listening to the chants thet are meant to be sang in a church.
Doc. PhDr. David Eben, PhD is currently the most considerable and best-know Czech expert on gregorian chant. Moreover, he himself leads a man choir called Schola Gregoriana Pragensis which focuses on what else than gregorian chant.
Translated by: Eliška Petříková
Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos
C/Santo Domingo 1
Spain 09610 Santo Domingo de Silos (Burgos)
Telefon: 947390049. Fax: 947390033
e-mail: abadia@abadiadesilos.es
IES Valle del Arlanza
C/ El Parque, n°4
09340- LERMA
Silos, February 23 2015
Dear Mrs. Director:
As the abbot of cloister in Silos I am responding to your letter from the 9th of February and I inform you that the community of monks of Silos has no problem with your visit and to take part in our devotions.
The department of tourism have informed me that they have booked a visit on March 8. I assume/expect that they planned to attend the noon devotions as you wrote me in your letter. Although our community has been really busy with our schedule, we are pleased/happy that the Czech students from Gymnazium Jihlava will sing 2 songs/glees which you have suggested in the letter. But for the reminder, we are in devotional/liturgical part of Pre-Easter that we are celebrating; and due to that fact, it is not appropriate to sing ‘‘hallelujah‘‘.
If they follow the plan to sing those 2 sacred songs, It would be appropriate to notify us when they will see the monastery so that we could recomend them the best place in the monastery and we have to also announce it to the participant who will take part in the noon devotions.
Yours sincerely,
Dom Lorenzo Maté Sadornil
Abbot of Monastery in Silos
Translated by: Kateřina Střechovská
