The chants contained in this album were recorded at a live performance of a concert entitled The Music of the Crusades at St. Francis de Sales Church in St. Louis, Missouri, August 19, 2023. Most of the texts contained in these chants come from the daily cycle of Catholic liturgical prayer: that is, either from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or the Divine Office (the chanting of the Psalms of David and other sacred texts throughout the day by priests, monks, nuns, and laity). This cycle of prayer and sacrifice (Mass and the Divine Office) was developed by the Roman Church as it was received from our Jewish fathers in the faith.

So, it is truly fitting that this concert about crusader chants from the Holy Land takes us back to the origin of sacred music in the Middle East and Jewish chant. The chants will certainly sound different than Western music as we know it today. That is because the world of music did not used to be divided into “West” and “East” as it became with the development of polyphony at the Notre Dame School in Paris. Instead, all musicians used to employ different tonalities (sounds), scales (modes), and ornamentation (trills, vibrato, etc.) in their delivery of music. While this may be jarring at times to the modern ear, it would have been commonplace for much of Church history.

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