The Vision of Tondal
Irish legend time. This is for those of you who know your Gregorian chanting from your Glagolitic.
Tondal’s Vision is an Irish legend from the 12th century, which in the 15th century became a part of the Croatian Glagolitic literature (The Petris Miscellany, 1468).
The Vision of Tondal, composed in the 12th Century in Latin by an Irish monk named Marcus (Marcus, your dinner’s ready), was passed on and translated into numerous languages of mediaeval Europe. Two Croatian versions of The Vision have survived, of which the ‘Vartal’ Collection, dedicated to a Benedictine community of women on the Dalmatian coast, is a highly faithful 16th Century copy.
In their KC debut, the Glagolitic Chant of Dialogos Ensemble, Paris, directed by Katarina Livljani? from Croatia, is being performed in Kansas City on Saturday February 24th at 8:00 pm, in the Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral.
Back in 1998 Katarina Livljani? founded a department for interpretation of Gregorian coral at the University of Limerick, Ireland.
And how does the Vision of Tondal story go? Spoilers ahead, for those of you rather adept at working out plot from listening to medieval music.
In this strange story, the soul of the knight Tondal visits an unknown place, guided by an angel, loses its way, crosses bridges in the darkness, observes and undergoes the torments of souls, invokes the angel and weeps, wishing to die, but unable to die… When Tondal feels himself overcome by unknown goodness and light, he bows before a golden throne that is mysteriously empty. This initiatory journey beyond death lasted only a ‘blink of night,’ and with regret, his enlightened soul rejoins his ‘dark body.’ Returning transfigured, he hears the voices of those who watched over him during his inner journey
Your typical night out in Dublin then, just without the trip to Abrakebabra.
And There’s More:
- On The Friends of Chamber Music
- On Croatian World Network
- On the official Diagolos website
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
The Vision of Tondal