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Abstract
At the medieval monastery in Lambach, Austria, the feast of Epiphany was one of great importance. In addition to a Magi play, frescoes survive on the walls of the romanesque abbey church which are centered thematically on the Epiphany story. Much work has been done comparing the text of the play to the subjects of the frescoes. None of these publications considers the evidence for performance of the play in the context of the decorated abbey church, because until now no such evidence has been known to exist. The fragmentary Gottschalk Antiphonary preserves the only coherent liturgical context for the play, including as it does a detailed and unusual Epiphany liturgy. In addition to presenting a study of the Gottschalk Antiphonary from codicological, paleographical, art historical, and musical perspectives, this dissertation places the Gottschalk Antiphonary in an appropriate cultural milieu by establishing liturgical, musical, and art historical influences on the abbey during this period, in an attempt to determine why Epiphany was the focal point of the Lambach year and to reconstruct exactly how the feast was celebrated there.
