"When Music was First Written Down: On the Origins of Gregorian Chant in the Early Middle Ages"

Daniel DiCenso, College of the Holy Cross, Monday, March 15, 4:30, SAC 300.

For generations musicologists have striven to pin down the origins of Gregorian Chant:  Where did the chant originate geographically?  When did the Gregorian melodies take their definitive form?  What role did the invention of musical notation play in stabilizing the melodies and in communicating the chant from one place to another?

Drawing on his first hand examination of every known source of chant for the Mass before the year 1000, Dr. DiCenso will offer a fresh look at the moment when music was first written down--demonstrating how books without musical notation may have been as important as musical notation itself in tethering sound to the written page during the early Middle Ages.  The talk will draw from the earliest sources of chant for the Mass and will feature several never-before-seen images of 8th and 9th century manuscripts from Dr. DiCenso's recent archival work in Belgium, France, Italy and Switzerland.

Daniel DiCenso is a Gates Scholar finishing his Ph.D. in musicology at the University of Cambridge under the direction of Prof. Susan Rankin.  His doctoral dissertation is entitled “Charlemagne’s Song: Gregorian Chant in the 8th and 9th Centuries.”

Prior to his doctoral studies at Cambridge, Daniel earned a BA in Music with a concentration in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from the College of the Holy Cross (1998), a MA in Musicology from the University of Pennsylvania (2001), a MS in Secondary Education from University of Pennsylvania (2001), a MA in Classical Studies from Villanova University (2005), and a Ph.D. in Education also from the University of Pennsylvania (2005).

Currently, Daniel is a Visiting Instructor at the College of the Holy Cross, where he teaches a number of courses in the music department including the History of Western Music, African American Music: From Blues to Rap and Popular Music.  As one of two students from Villanova to have won a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, Daniel also enjoys working with the Villanova Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships to encourage more Villanova students to apply for the Gates Cambridge and other graduate awards.

A Perfect Red: Color and Power in Islamic Art

The Art History Lecture Series, sponsored by the Art History Program and the Department of History, presents, "A Perfect Red: Color and Power in Islamic Art," a talk by Dr. Marianna Shreve Simpson, president-elect of the Historians of Islamic Art Association. The talk will take place on Thursday, April 15, at 4 p.m. in the DeLeon Room, 300 SAC. Learn more about Dr. Simpson here.

 

 

 

Spring 2010 Cultural Film & Lecture Series

Please click here to see the Spring 2010 Cultural Film and Lecture Series line-up. The theme this semester is: "I Know a Place."
 

Ethics Program Hosts Upcoming Spring 2010 Events

Please bring your lunch and join us for some stimulating conversation during this semester-long series. All members of the Villanova community are welcome to participate. Learn more here.

March 23 -- 11:30-1:00 Darlene Weaver

April 9, 2010 -- 12:30-1:20 SA 300 Ron Hill

Why Sex Matters: Biological, Cognitive, and Social Processes in Gender Development

Dr. Lynn Liben, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Human Development and Family Studies, and Education, at The Pennsylvania State University, will present a psychology colloquium on Monday, March 22, 2010, 4:00 p.m., Driscoll Hall Auditorium, Room 132. 

The title of the colloquium is "Why Sex Matters: Biological, Cognitive, and Social Processes in Gender Development." For more information about Dr. Liben and her research on gender development, visit her Web site.

BIRUTÉ CIPLIJAUSKAITÉ -- "The Historical Novel: Chronicle or Living Experience?"

The Department of Modern Languages is proud to announce the lecture, "The Historical Novel: Chronicle or Living Experience?," on April 14, 2010, at 3 p.m. in SAC 300. The lecture is being delivered by Biruté Ciplijauskaité, Professor Emerita from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Biruté Ciplijauskaité, John Bascom Professor of Hispanic Literature, is regarded today as one of the greatest living Hispanists. The author of 10 monographs, six critical editions, seven books on translation, and hundreds of articles dealing with Spanish and European literature of the XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, and XXI centuries, professor Ciplijauskaité has studied in depth the poetry of Góngora, the historical novel in Europe at the turn of the XX Century, contemporary poetry, and women authors of the XX Century in Europe. The talk is being co-sponsored by the Department of English and Global Studies. For detailed information, please click here.

 

College's Director of Advising Receives Outstanding Advising Award

The NACADA Region 2 Awards Committee has selected Nancy Allen, Ph.D., director of the Office of Academic Advising, as the 2010 NACADA Region 2 Outstanding Advising Award Winner in the Academic Advising Administrator category. This award is given in recognition of Dr. Allen's demonstrated abilities as a talented advising administrator in the region. In the judgment of the selection committee, Dr. Allen has demonstrated the qualities associated with outstanding leadership in academic advising.

Presentation of this award will be made during a ceremony at the Annual Region 2 Conference at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, N.J.