The Chant of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Madeleine of Le Barroux

May 8, 2013 7:06 AM

"The monks of the Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux (site in French) stream their chanted Office each day as explained on their website. For those of us who do not live in European time zones, this project attempts to automatically record their hours and make them available for download" or streaming.

Automating and combining two excellent online resources--the live-streamed chant from Le Barroux and the text of the various daily and nightly Offices from Divinum Officium--this new site is the work of a layman interested in monastic chant (source code here).

Background: Who are these guys? Why do they sing like that, what exactly are they singing, and why do they do sing it at certain times of day?

Hint: the site is available in a nice, professional white if you click the "Style" box at top left.

posted by resurrexit (3 comments total)

For those who wondered about this use of the word "office", these prayers are also known as the Liturgy of the Hours, including perhaps the best-known "vespers".
posted by knile at 7:22 AM on May 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Sung in actual Gregorian, apparently.
posted by Segundus at 7:37 AM on May 8, 2013

Lovely post: thank you!
posted by cool breeze at 3:18 PM on May 8, 2013