Herald AV Publications

HAVPCD151 – Christmas in Royal Anglo-Saxon Winchester 10th-century Chant from the Winchester Troper

In 10th century England, especially in a great royal and monastic centre such as Winchester, Christmas, like Easter, was an occasion for liturgical celebrations of exceptional splendor and magnificence. Apart from the Gradual, every item of the Proper and the Ordinary of the Mass was expanded and embellished by the addition of tropes (added verses), which filled out and commented upon the standard texts, elaborating joyfully upon their doctrinal content. Some of these tropes were known all over Europe; others were local and may well have been the work of Winchester’s own Cantor, Wulfstan. This selection represents what might have been heard in the Old Minster during the Third Mass, or Mass of the Day, on Christmas Day.