Lauda for Ildhafn

I wanted processional music for the Bloth in 2013 - the 10th anniversary of Ildhafn as a Barony, and 20th as a shire.

I needed something that work as processional music, would be relatively easy to adapt for Ildhafn, and would be relatively easy to learn.

The Italian laudi seemed a good place to start. Quoting Chris Elmes and Cait Webb, of Gaita, in Medieval Music: A collection of 12th-14th century tunes for singers and instrumentalists:

"The Laudi were devotional hymns of the confraternities of Italy in the 13th-14th century.  They were often used in processionals involving a number of singers and instrumentalists (laudesi)." (p24)

I chose Lauda novela, as transcribed in the book above as a starting point. It's in Italian, with a short refrain and longer stanzas, and appears to be in honour of the Virgin.

I decided upon Latin rather than Italian, as I wanted a less regionally-specific feel. I decided also to use only the refrain (I had little time to get words working and rehearse singers).

Thus I came up with:

Laudate Rudiger, nostrem baronem, laudate Aleynora baronissam.

This can be adapted easily enough to include the names of past baronial couples: Asbjorn and Marienna, Inigo and Cicilia, Emrys and Beatrice.

I chose not to Latinise the given names, and to use the rather rare Latin words for baron and baroness, as they'll be familiar to the intended audience, and I'd like the performance to be broadly comprehensible.

I consulted Niermeyer's Medieval Latin Lexicon (1976) to be certain that the words I used existed in medieval Latin, even if they were rare.

  ~ Katherina Weyssin