Music and Performance in the Book of Hours

Published by Routledge in 2022, Michael Alan Anderson’s Music and Performance in the Book of Hours examines the intersection of musical practice and late medieval devotional life. The work emerged from a growing scholarly interest in how liturgical music and performative reading functioned within the private spheres of the nobility and the burgeoning middle class. Anderson draws upon the rich iconography of illuminated manuscripts to demonstrate how music was not merely an auditory experience, but an integrated component of the book’s spiritual utility.

The book provides a rigorous analysis of the visual representations of musical instruments and choral performance found in these manuscripts. Anderson aimed to bridge the gap between musicology and art history, moving beyond simple cataloging to argue that the presence of musical motifs signaled the performative expectations of the book's owner. Upon its release, the volume was received as a significant contribution to the study of medieval liturgy, praised by peers for its ability to contextualize the ephemeral nature of sound within the static beauty of manuscript illumination.