'What does the medieval refrain do in Latin song?, asks Mary Channen Caldwell at the opening of her engaging new study. A very great deal, as it turns out. Throughout Devotional Refrains, she argues for refrains as carrying multivalent musical and cultural meanings, beautifully demonstrating their often overlapping devotional, temporal, structural, and performative implications.' Rachel May Golden, University of Tennessee
Introduction: Latin song and refrain; 1. Latin song and refrain in the medieval year; 2. Refrains and the time of song: Singing religious narratives; 3. Singing the refrain: Shaping performance and community through form; 4. Remembering refrains: Composition, inscription, and performance; 5. Retexting refrains: Latin and vernacular refrains in contact; 6. Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.