FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ensemble Benedictus Releases Album “Music for the Canterbury Tales”
A 23-track programmatic journey through the Tales via medieval music.
Dateline: HOUSTON, Texas, September 26, 2025 – The medieval music project Ensemble Benedictus has just released its inaugural album, “Music for the Canterbury Tales,” a programmatic, 23-track collection of medieval music illustrating scenes, characters, and themes from Geoffrey Chaucer’s classic work “The Canterbury Tales,” ca. 1390. The project was developed by Elisabeth Ellison (vielle, percussion, arranger), classical and early-music bassist from Houston. Notable early-music producer and performer Tina Chancey (vielle) served in both roles, as well as contributing arrangements. The roster features early-music professionals Al Cofrin (lute, arranger), Martha Gay (harp), Stephanie Gudeman (recorders, shawms), Cayla Cardiff (mezzo soprano), and Ben Kerswell (baritone).
Each of the 23 tracks corrollates to The Canterbury Tales in a specific way – most to individual Tales. The medieval pieces were thoroughly researched and chosen to foundationally consist of music Chaucer could plausibly have encountered in his lifetime, which included extensive time outside England. Among them are two works named in The Canterbury Tales: “Angelus ad Virginem” and “Alma Redemptoris Mater”. Additional music was sourced and/or scored to reflect story settings that were exotic to Chaucer’s pilgrims; for example, a hymn from the Syriac liturgy, which dates to the 4th century AD, describes the Tale about “the Sultan of Syria.” The Knight’s Tale, about ancient Greece, amalgamates historical figures from multiple centuries, but the pigrim listeners wouldn’t have known the personnages never coexisted. To illustrate the “off” premise of this Tale, project leader Elisabeth Ellison wrote “a basse danse rhythm in 5.” “I wanted to draw the listener into the paradigm of the pilgrims,” says Ellison. “Just as they are trying to impress each other with humor and drama in telling the Tales, I wanted the music to convey the range of their joy, impishness, naïveté, piety – and also their misguidedness.”
Virtually all the performances are on reproduction medieval instruments, including percussion. A variety of styles are presented, from rustic performances of folk music to more polished compositions. Vocal works are performed in their original languages: Latin, Old French, Hebrew, and Breton. The ensemble also created crowd noise entirely in Middle English for the album’s opening scene “The Tabard Inn”, named for the actual inn in Southwark from which the fictional pilgrims departed toward Canterbury.
The musical lineup was completed with the talents of Paul Ellison (double bass), Maxwell Magallon (soprano) and Barrett Sills (Middle English narration). The album was recorded in February-March 2025 by Brian Baker at Sound Arts Studios, Houston, Texas. For the full track list, project information, manuscript references and personnel bios, visit: https://eellisonbassist.com/music.
Contact:
Elisabeth Ellison
713-352-6068
e.ellison.bassist@gmail.com
www.eelllisonbassist.com
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