ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 presents the issues of creating a strong identity through conscious musical choices, in this case an Anglican monastic identity. The discontinuous history of Anglican monasticism affords it a unique place in monastic history: when Henry VIII broke with Rome in the sixteenth century and created the Church of England, monastic life in England was outlawed, and it was not until three hundred years later that the first Anglican monastic communities were founded in the mid-nineteenth century. This chapter therefore tackles the construction of an Anglican musical identity through the creation and re-creation of community repertories, and how the communities have resolved the conflict between their desire to connect with their monastic (and thus Catholic) roots while constructing an Anglican monastic identity. The discussion concludes with an examination of a long-established female Anglican community whose repertoire was known as ‘the Anglican plainchant.’ However, half the sisters entered the Full Communion of the Catholic Church in 2013.
