Rebecca Maloy, a professor of musicology and director of the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, will deliver her in-person lecture “Constructing Sanctity Through Sound in Early Medieval Iberia” at 5 p.m. on March 8 in Grusin Music Hall.

Maloy was selected to receive the 2021-22 Distinguished Research Lectureship, which is among the most esteemed honors bestowed by the faculty upon a faculty member at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Roy Parker of Biochemistry and the BioFrontiers Institute was also selected to receive a 2021-22 Distinguished Research Lectureship. Parker’s Lecture is scheduled for April 5.

About Professor Rebecca Maloy

Rebecca Maloy, professor of musicology and Erismann Faculty Fellow, also serves as director of the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Maloy specializes in the liturgy and chant of the early Middle Ages. She is the author, most recently, of Songs of Sacrifice: Chant, Identity and Christian Formation in Early Medieval Iberia (2020). She currently collaborates on the multidisciplinary project Doctrine, Devotion and Cultural Expression in the Cults of Medieval Iberian Saints, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom. Other recent work has been funded by the American Council of Learned Societies, the European Research Council and the Institute for Advanced Study.

In her teaching and mentoring, Professor Maloy’s acumen and guidance have shaped the education and careers of numerous students and junior scholars.

About the talk: Constructing Sanctity Through Sound in Early Medieval Iberia

The multifaceted roles of the saints in medieval Europe have long been recognized: they were intercessors, exemplars, companions, healers and miracle workers. Far less is understood, however, about the how saints were constructed and venerated on the Iberian Peninsula. Between the seventh and 11th centuries, devotion to the saints was structured by rituals of great textual richness and musical beauty, known as the Old Hispanic (or Mozarabic) rite. Examining its texts and melodies in relation to late antique theories of the senses, Maloy will show how they functioned to establish saintly authority, construct ideals of sanctity, and shape a multisensory, uniquely Iberian experience. 

About the Distinguished Research Lectureship

Each year, the Research & Innovation Office (RIO) requests nominations from faculty for the Distinguished Research Lectureship and a faculty review panel recommends one or more faculty members as recipients.  

The lectureship honors a tenured faculty member, research professor (associate or full) or adjoint professor who has been with CU Boulder for at least five years and is widely recognized for a distinguished body of academic or creative achievement and prominence, as well as contributions to the educational and service missions of CU Boulder. Each recipient typically presents a lecture in the fall or spring following selection and receives a $2,000 honorarium.