Race-ing Plainchant: Theodore of Tarsus, Hadrian of Canterbury, and the Voices of Music History

Abstract

Despite the demonstrable importance of Bede’s writings for understanding the history of music in early medieval England, his accounts of the practice and teaching of sacred music in Canterbury have attracted little attention. This article argues that Bede’s descriptions of Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury, and his colleague Abbot Hadrian indicate that their work was central to the spread of sacred music outward from Kent and into Northern England. The significance of situating the Canterbury school vis-à-vis early medieval Christian musical and devotional practice is heightened by Bede’s statements that Theodore and Hadrian were born in the Middle East and North Africa, respectively. This essay considers how a broader dissemination of this information might impact our understanding of the history of medieval music in England specifically, and the North Atlantic more broadly. Rather than including Hadrian and Theodore in the music historical narrative as a tokenistic gesture towards diversity, it is argued that acknowledging and centering their contributions assists in the larger project of reframing medieval music as the product of a multiracial, trans-European network of musicians.