Doctoraatsverdediging Niels Berentsen

On December 14th Niels Berentsen will publicly defend his thesis in the Senaatskamer in the Academiegebouw in Leiden.

Niels’ project aims to expand our knowledge of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century polyphony, through music-historical scholarship as well as practical experiences. An in-depth investigation of the material remains of late medieval musical culture—compositions and theoretical writings about music—forms the basis for experiments with polyphonic improvisation above plainchants together with colleague-singers and students. The project has developed new ways of understanding late medieval polyphony, which are useful not only for teaching and analysis, but which may form a stimulus for contemporary performance practices of early music as well.

The supervising team consists of:

Prof. Frans de Ruiter
Prof. Gérard Geay
Stratton Bull
Dr. Fabrice Fitch