Canto Aperto - Sint-Truiden, The Festival Location

The city of Sint-Truiden  boasts a rich history, in which its Benedictine abbey played a central role. A brief glimpse into its past shows its importance for the music history of the Low Countries, as well as its manyfold connections to the Mosan region and the Rhineland, to religious (dioceses of Metz and Liège) and political power (the German emperors, the dukes and counts of Brabant, Limburg, and Loon). 

Today, the city is situated at close distance to the most important historical cities in the region, such as Tongeren (20 km), Liège (35 km), Maastricht (40 km), Aachen (70 km), and Cologne (140 km),  and takes part in the rich international cultural life of the 'Euregio', the zone connecting the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Although only a few buildings of Sint-Truiden's famous abbey remain, a substantial part of its manuscript patrimony survives. Furthermore, the city today is rich in historical concert locations (various churches, the Cultural Center, the Academiezaal) and cultural associations (such as Villarte ) that continue to contribute to the city's vibrant cultural life.

A Medieval Abbey and City

The Benedictine abbey of St Truiden (St Trond) was at the origins of the city of the same name. Throughout its history, from its foundation by Trudo in 655 until its abolition in 1796, it remained strongly connected to the local community and to the devotional and cultural life of the region.

Trudo grew up as a faithful Christian. After the death of his parents, he studied in Metz, where he was ordained a priest by the city's bishop, Clodulfus. The community of priests founded by Trudo probably followed the rule of Columban. After his death in 693, his grave became a place of pilgrimage. The presence of the relics of Eucherius of Orléans and Libertus of Mechelen increased the abbey's fame. According to legend, Trudo's family was related to the Pippinid dynasty, who promoted Christendom in the area and founded churches and abbeys to this end. The abbey's first, seventh-century church remained in place until the devastations of the Normen in 881-83. Only in 944 was the abbey revived by the German Emperor, Otto I. Until this time, the bishops of Metz had full jurisdiction over the abbey and its possessions. Bishop and abbot Chrodegang (d. 766) introduced Latin liturgy and the regula canonicorum; abbot Drogo (801-855), an illigitimate son of Charlemagne and bishop of Metz, introduced the rule of Benedict.

Music in Medieval Sint-Truiden

In the early twelfth century, the abbey played a crucial role in the music history of the Low Countries. The abbey of St Truiden is the first location in the Low Countries where the use of Guidonian notation (neumes on staves) is documented. The Gesta abbatum Trudonensium recall how abbot Rodulfus (1108-38) introduced the new system which enabled the younger monks who had learned it to sing chants they had never heard before, to the amazement of the older generation. The Gesta also tell us about the difficulties Rodulfus experienced in establishing the correct melodies, because every monk sang according to his own local tradition, and about Rodulfus's diligence in making his own music manuscript. Some also attribute to Rodulfus the chants of the office of St Trudo, preserved in a number of manuscripts, and the chants of the Officium stellae of Munsterbilzen. Even though it is hard to tell how correct these attributions are, it may be clear from the above that Sint-Truiden was a flourishing center of devotion, composition and manuscript production, at the crossroads of various influences from the Mosan area, the Rhineland and even, although indirectly, Italy (Guido of Arezzo).

The abbey was at the origin of the city: it attracted economic activity, pilgrims and trade, and took many building initiatives to secure the city against invaders. The city's territory was under the supervision of the abbot, the bishops of Metz and Liège, and was repeatedly claimed by the dukes of Limburg and Brabant, and the counts of Loon. The treasury of relics, significantly expanded by abbot William of Ryckel's purchase of the relics of St Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins from Cologne, continued to attract pilgrims, visitors and further stimulated economic activity. In the sixteenth century, new building campaigns ensured a greater openness from the abbey towards the city. In the eighteenth century, a final campaign was designed to give more prominence to the power of the abbot. 

Other churches had been built in the city since the Middle Ages: the eleventh-century St Gangulphus, the chapter church of the Assumption of Our Lady, the church of the Holy Grave, largely reconstructed after earlier models in the nineteenth century, the beguinage church, etc. A Franciscan monastery settled in Sint-Truiden as early as 1226. In 1451, the Benedictine monks of the abbey received the approval of prince-bishop Cardinal Nicolas of Cusa (1401-64) to install a cantoria in the chapter church of the Assumption of Our Lady, a school where music was taught to the choirboys, who were mostly six in number at the church of Our Lady.

All these churches provide excellent accomodation (and organs) for various kinds of concerts today.