Tonus Peregrinus Biography
TONUS PEREGRINUS is a group of individual musicians each forging their own diverse careers, yet unified when they meet to make music from many times and places. The ensemble was founded by the composer and producer Antony Pitts in 1990, while studying at New College, Oxford under Dr Edward Higginbottom. The Latin term tonus peregrinus was the name given to one of the Church’s ancient psalm tones; in turn, this chant was based on a Jewish melody which may have been sung by Jesus and the disciples at the Last Supper. This particular psalm tone was unusual in that it had a different recitation tone in each half, hence its name, ‘wandering tone’; it was also known, despite its history, as the tonus novissimus, or the ‘newest tone’. TONUS PEREGRINUS combines these two characteristics in a repertoire that ranges far and wide from the end of the Dark Ages to scores fresh from the printer, and with an interpretative approach that is both authentic and original.
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