Graz Court Chapel as a Venue of Music Performances

Abstract

The liturgical music performed at the court in Graz from 1564 until 1619 was closely linked to the main court church, the Parish Church of St. Ägydius, then the Court Chapel and now Graz Cathedral. As the Venetian polychoral style, which exploits acoustic effects based on the spatial separation of groups within a musical ensemble, was predominant at that time, it is particularly interesting to consider where this music was performed in the court's main performance venue, St. Ägydius Church.

In order to investigate Graz Court Chapel as a music performance venue around 1600, an interdisciplinary team of musicologists, architects, building researchers and organ specialists undertook on-site investigations. These investigations revealed that the historic state of the present-day Graz Cathedral was considerably different in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. At that time, the church and its surrounding buildings contained a sophisticated system of elevated, interconnected walkways and galleries, as well as a rood screen. This system was designed to separate different levels of sacred dignity and gender. The elevated system was evidently also integral to liturgical music practices at the time, as archival sources and accounts of organ positioning demonstrate.