The Muséfrem team together with the CMBV are holding another day event, this time with a more structural approach, to check for common features across the different musical entities, thanks to the host of information now available in Muséfrem’s database.

Churches emphasised the solemnity of their masses and services by performing music, but each used such disparate and specific entities that it is tempting to conclude that no two were identical. Such diversity can of course be explained by many factors – church prestige, the role of music vs plainsong, available resources, local traditions, etc. However, going beyond the local factors and prevailing conditions which gave each musical entity its specific profile, historians and musicologists are now attempting to classify the data and shed light on the apparent disorder. The seminar aims to pave the way for discussion and devise a methodology. This exploratory approach has meant limiting the scope to cathedrals (in number only about 130), which have the advantage of shared institutional features while offering widely contrasting musical possibilities.