An examination of the performance contexts in the medieval Ludus de Antichristo

What is it about?

This chapter examines how the monks of Tegernsee Abbey created a musical drama, the so-called Ludus de Antichristo (Play about the Antichrist) to express their concerns about their monastery's connections to the power-brokers of twelfth-century Europe. Utilizing Latin Christian eschatologies as the dramatic framework for their political and ecclesiastical concerns, the monks of Tegernsee produced one of the most inventive and imaginative pieces of musical dramatic performance in the Middle Ages.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

This work shows how understand performance cultures emanating from small communities--such that monasteries were--are integral to untangling the meanings encoded in surviving documents which appear to capture or instruct some kind of performance.