Medieval Music and Disease with Karen Cook
Episode 115 - September 5, 2023
Karen Cook (University of Hartford) joins the Infectious Historians to discuss some of her work on medieval music. Karen begins with an overview of medieval music – its purposes, context, instruments and the people who made it. She then moves on to speak about music related to epidemics – which is generally identified through its lyrics – with some analogies to Covid. The conversation then expands to include reception and medievalism, singling out a few video games that have used medieval or medieval-like music, as well as establishing new genres where contemporary pop music receives a “medieval” cover.
Further Reading
- Cook, Karen M. “Beyond the Grave: The ‘Dies Irae’ in Video Game Music.” Sounding Out! (blog), December 18, 2017.
- Cook, Karen M. “Beyond (the) Halo: Chant in Video Games.” In Studies in Medievalism, edited by Karl Fugelso, XXVII:183–200. Suffolk, UK: Boydell & Brewer, 2018.
- Cook, Karen. “Medievalism and Emotions in Video Game Music.” postmedieval 10 (December 1, 2019): 482–97.
- Macklin, Christopher. “Plague, Performance and the Elusive History of the Stella Celi Extirpavit.” Early Music History 29 (2010): 1–31.
- MacMillan, Kyle. “‘Save Us From The Plague,’ Pleads 15th-Century Hymn.” Early Music America (blog). Accessed September 6, 2023.
Additional links - music
- "Laudate" from Sid Meier's Civ IV.
- Modern reworking of Hildegard's "Quia ergo femina" in Pentiment.
- Medievalist music (using bits of plainchant throughout a modern score) in the "Amen" track in Medieval II: Total War.
- O Sancte Sebastiane, by Guillaume Du Fay, by Gothic Voices.
- Priest singing in Assassin's Creed II.
- Stella Celi Extirpavit, by John Cooke, performed virtually during the pandemic by Jouyssance Ensemble.
Our Guest
Karen Cook
Associate Professor of Music History – The Hartt School – University of Hartford.
