LISTEN NOW: Stolen manuscript reveals song not performed for 1,000 years

'After rediscovering the leaf from the Cambridge Songe, what remained was the final leap into sound.'

A Cambridge researcher and world-class medieval music performer combined their talents to perform an ancient song for the first time in over 1,000 years.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The music, titled "Songs of Consolation," was performed for the first time on April 23 at Pembroke College Chapel alongside poetic pieces of Roman philosopher Boethius' magnum opus, The Consolation of Philosophy.

It was reconstructed from neumes - Middle Ages music notations - mostly discovered on an 11th century manuscript leaf believed to have been "accidentally" removed from the Cambridge collection over 142 years ago.

Dr. Sam Barrett, of Cambridge University, explained, "This particular leaf - 'accidentally' removed from Cambridge University Library by a German scholar in the 1840s - is a crucial piece of the jigsaw as far as recovering the songs is concerned.

The leaf was accidentally uncovered by historian and Liverpool University academic Margaret Gibson in 1982 and was returned to Cambridge University.

"After rediscovering the leaf from the Cambridge Songs, what remained was the final leap into sound."

Though recreating the music was both historically important and entertaining, Dr. Barrett described the difficulties in working with the neumes, which fail to specify the pitch of some notes.

Barrett pieced together 80-90 percent of the song then turned to a 3-piece group of performers specializing in medieval songs to help fill the gap.

The group, called Benjamin Bagby of Sequentia, was credited with helping rediscover repertoires from Beowulf and the Carmina Burana.

The group joined Barrett to test scholarly theories and the possible accompanying hand and voice requirements to slowly bring the music to life.

"When I see [Ben] working through the options that an 11th century person had, it's genuinely sensational; at times you just think 'that's it!' He brings the human side to the intellectual puzzle I was trying to solve during years of continual frustration."

Barrett described the work was transitive and its completion satisfying.

"The notations on this single leaf allow us to achieve a critical mass that may not have been possible without it.

"There have been times while I've been working on this that I have thought I'm in the 11th century, when the music has been so close it was almost touchable. And it's these moments that make the last 20 years of work so worthwhile."

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