News

In October 2024, Sam Barrett and Sequentia will participate in 'Boethius 524-2024', an interdisciplinary conference organised by the Association for Central European Cultural Studies in collaboration with the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague, to commemorate the 1500th anniversary of the death of Ancius Manlius Severinus Boëthius (d. …

We're delighted to announce that the Restoring Lost Songs website has been included in the Medieval Digital Resources database (MDR). This database, run by the Medieval Academy of America, 'aims to provide access to websites that contain content of interest to medievalists and meet the Academy's scholarly and technical standards of web presentation…

We're delighted to announce the launch of a a new series of videos, made in collaboration with filmmaker Blazej Mikula from the Cambridge Digital Library. The videos focus on one manuscript – the 'Cambridge Songs' Leaf – which contains neumatic notation for six of the songs from Book I of Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophiae, recently reconstruc…

1000-year old melodies for Boethius' On the Consolation of Philosophy as reconstructed by Sam Barrett, Ben Bagby and Hanna Marti with Norbert Rodenkirchen are now available for download in a new performance edition.  Six songs from the recovered Cambridge Songs leaf span Boethius' lament in the face of his impending execution through to Philosophy'…

The most recent issue of the Journal of Musicology features an article by Sam Barrett summarizing the project to restore lost Boethian songs. Drawing together the materials gathered together on this website, the article introduces the historical context for the songs, explains reconstruction processes, presents evidence for instrumental participati…

We are delighted to announce that the project CD Boethius: Songs of Consolationhas been selected as one of allmusic.com's albums of 2018. 

On Wednesday 20 February, Dr Sam Barrett will be talking about restoring the lost songs of Boethius, alongside the 11th-Century Cambridge Songs Manuscript as part of the event Manuscripts and Music by Candlelight at the Cambridge University Library. For the second part of the event, Dr Barrett will be joined by his early music ensemble, The Kenderd…

In this week's edition of The Early Music Show, presenter Lucie Skeaping talks to Sam Barrett and Benjamin Bagby about their collaboration, and the process of reconstrucing the songs from Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae.The programme will air on BBC Radio 3 at 2pm on 25 November 2018, and will be available to listen to again for 30 days aft…

The new series of 'Sons de l'edat mitjana' (Sounds of the Middle Ages), on the Radio Station Catalunya Musica, will open with a feature on Boethius: Songs of Consolation. Sam Barrett will talk to presenter Maria Montes about the research that led to the reconstruction of the Boethian songs, and his collaboration with Sequentia. The programme will a…

We're delighted that Sequentia's CD Boethius: Songs of Consolation, has entered the Official Specialist Chart straight in at no. 14 (20 July 2018). Wonderful news for all involved in this unique collaboration.

Sam Barrett will appear on BBC Radio 3's In Tune on Thursday 12 July, to talk about his new CD with Sequentia, Boethius: Songs of Consolation.Catch the interview live, shortly after 5pm, or listen again for 30 days after the broadcast on BBC IPlayer.

Boethius: Songs of ConsolationMetra from 11th-century CanterburyImprisoned in Pavia in the early 520s, Boethius could not have anticipated that his final work would become one of the most widely read books of the Middle Ages. The Consolation of Philosophy portrays his struggle to reconcile himself to his fate by exploring the ways of man, the role …