Medieval Music

La inspiración musical de Hildegarda de Bingen

by Georgina Rabassó

Published in `Sonograma Magazine', 11 (2011).

La música ocupó un lugar distintivo en la vida, la obra y el pensamiento de Hildegarda de Bingen, autora polifacética... more La música ocupó un lugar distintivo en la vida, la obra y el pensamiento de Hildegarda de Bingen, autora polifacética medieval que escribió numerosos tratados y magníficas composiciones. Hildegarda otorgaba a la música —y al canto de alabanzas en particular— una función activa en la historia de la humanidad, afirmando que cantar es una práctica mediadora por la que el ser humano hace presente a la divinidad, y al mismo tiempo renueva su propia condición edénica. El alma es “sinfónica”, dice Hildegarda, y el canto que el ser humano entona con el alma es un eco de la armonía celeste. Así, Hildegarda considera que la música es capaz de una transformación personal, y también colectiva, ya que entiende la práctica musical como una forma de cohesión social, en un momento histórico que no en vano es recordado como la época de las cruzadas.

From Trees to Degrees: Mensural Theory and Metaphysical Questions of Being

by Karen Desmond

Paper Presentation, Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Philadelphia, November 2009.

Within the last twenty-five years a handful of scholars have emphasized the necessity of reading the texts of late... more Within the last twenty-five years a handful of scholars have emphasized the necessity of reading the texts of late medieval music theory within the context of learning at the medieval university.  In this paper, I examine how two central metaphysical debates of the late thirteenth century impacted both the new systematization of mensural notation proposed by the musician and mathematician Johannes de Muris in his Notitia, and the subsequent attacks on this new system by Jacobus, author of Speculum musicae.  While certain ars nova treatises circulated as guides to specific technical problems of notation, Muris’s Notitia represents a whole-scale overhaul of mensural notation, systematizing it within a particular ontological framework.  It is imperative that we have a full understanding of the frameworks within which Muris and Jacobus were operating, for only then can we hope to appreciate the proposed innovations, and the reasons for the irreconcilable issues between the two men.

The first metaphysical debate concerned the unity of form within being.  The question was whether there existed a single form within man (Aquinas, Godfrey of Fontaines), or whether a plurality of forms existed simultaneously within one being (John Duns Scotus).  A related debate looked at how qualities were understood to change: the plurality-of-forms proponents outlined a theory of change known as the additive theory while the unity-of-form adherents rejected this additive theory of change, believing that it assumed characteristics of qualities that were really only predicable of quantities, and proposed an alternative theory known as the succession-of-forms theory.  While the references within the more well-known Book 7 of Speculum musicae to these debates are somewhat oblique, Jacobus makes specific and detailed references to them within chapters of Book 1 and Book 4.  I analyze these passages within the context of the Quodlibets by Godfrey, Walter Burley’s De intensione et remissione formarum and the Ordinatio of Duns Scotus.  This analysis will show Jacobus clearly advocating the unity-of-form position, and a close reading of the Notitia in this context will show how Muris developed his new systemization for mensural notation based on the Scotist position (which was further developed by John Dumbleton) that a plurality of forms may exist within one being, and that qualities change through addition or subtraction of degrees.  For Muris, there is but one species of tempus, and within this one species there is a plurality of accidental forms, which are measured along one dimension.  There are not different species of times, just greater and lesser times.  The individual notes are individuated by the quantity of their matter, and whether parts are added or taken away from this individuating quantity of matter.  Jacobus, on the other hand, holds onto the traditional explanation of the mensural system, conceptualized as a Porphyrian tree (like the arbor of Johannes de Burgundia) of the different species and sub-species of note values, each being distinct in their name, definition and essence, and each having an indivisible unity of form.

Texts in Play: The Ars nova Textual Tradition and its Hypertextual Representation

by Karen Desmond

Forthcoming Paper Presentation, Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, New Orleans, November 2012.

The sources that transmit early Ars nova theory present a complex web of interdependencies. Apart from the more... more The sources that transmit early Ars nova theory present a complex web of interdependencies. Apart from the more substantial texts of Jehan des Murs and Marchetto da Padova, there are a number of sources containing short texts that appear to emanate from the orbit of Philippe de Vitry. Vitry’s status as the author of a definitive written text has been thrown into doubt in recent years, with a hypothesis emerging that the extant sources are but remnants of a fluid teaching tradition originating with Vitry. Editions of these 'Vitrian' texts are found today in various edited volumes, journal articles dating from 1908, 1929 and 1958, and in the nineteenth-century Scriptores edition of Edmond de Coussemaker. The various presentation formats, and specific editorial policies and accessibility issues, however, have served to obfuscate attempts at their analysis and interpretation.

While HTML versions of medieval music theory treatises are available online (TML, Lexicon musicum Latinum), technologies available today could better present the relationships between these texts. In this paper, I demonstrate how digital technologies could more fully realize the potential of a truly 'hypertextual' edition, and more accurately (and cost-effectively) reflect the fluidity and variance that characterize medieval texts. The digital edition I have prepared, following the guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), of an important text of the Ars nova (incipit 'Omni desideranti notitiam') is the first modern edition of this text, extant in three Italian sources dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. My analysis of Omni desiderata notitiam demonstrates that Jacobus de Montibus used it, in his Speculum music, as a primary authority for the Vitrian tradition (in a written version), as did other fourteenth-century theorists. I reconsider the importance of this text within the early Ars nova, and I extrapolate on the advantages of presenting the entire Ars nova textual tradition online. The modern reader of a digital edition, using hypertext, could mimic the intertextual and indeed hypertextual experience existent within the medieval work (whether text or music), whose web of reference and allusion was apparent to the medieval reader in on the 'game.'

Las piezas del 'Hortus deliciarum' de Herrada de Hohenbourg

by Georgina Rabassó

Published in 'Sonograma Magazine', 13 (2011).

La abadesa Herrada de Hohenbourg describe la función del 'Hortus deliciarum' con una metáfora muy sugerente. Compara... more La abadesa Herrada de Hohenbourg describe la función del 'Hortus deliciarum' con una metáfora muy sugerente. Compara los textos allí reunidos con las flores de un jardín y a sí misma con una abeja que las selecciona y confecciona con ellas un panal de miel, alimento espiritual e intelectual de las religiosas de su cenobio. Esta obra de carácter enciclopédico con finalidad formativa fue compilada a finales del siglo XII por parte de Herrada con la colaboración de su comunidad. La obra manuscrita se conservaba en la Biblioteca de Estrasburgo, pero en 1870 se perdió en el incendio de la misma durante la guerra franco-prusiana.En 1979 el Warburg Institute de Londres publicó la reconstrucción de la obra bajo la dirección de Rosalie Green. Esta edición consta de dos volúmenes de grandes dimensiones: uno de ellos presenta la reconstrucción del manuscrito y el otro agrupa artículos sobre distintos aspectos de la obra. Es por esta vía documental que nos acercamos a las “piezas” que forman el Hortus deliciarum: a los textos y las magníficas ilustraciones allí reunidos, así como a las aún poco conocidas composiciones musicales.

In 'Spirit' and in Truth: Rhythm and Time in the Music of Arvo Pärt as related to Medieval Polyphony and Philosophy

by Philip Rice

Written for Intro to Musicology at Westminster Choir College, Fall 2010. Instructor was Dr. Sharon Mirchandani

The music of Estonian minimalist, Arvo Pärt, is influenced by the style and form of medieval polyphony. This influence... more The music of Estonian minimalist, Arvo Pärt, is influenced by the style and form of medieval polyphony. This influence permeates both his compositional method, and the resulting musical affect. This paper focuses on rhythm as a point of comparison, most significantly the appearance of rhythmic modes in his vocal works, and the declamation of text. Also significant is his biography, which includes a period of monasticism which the author postulates may have led to the "tranquil" mood of much of his music.

Comparación entre el albogón medieval y la "tuba" ibérica. (Blog Post)

by Ángel Román Ramírez

Una lebeta conservada en el Museo de Prehistoria de Valencia representa una danza guerrera, mostrando una serie de... more Una lebeta conservada en el Museo de Prehistoria de Valencia representa una danza guerrera, mostrando una serie de guerreros y jinetes de los cuales dos se hallan enfrentados y parecen estar "luchando" de manera ritual. Esta iconografía podría relacionarse con las danzas guerreras de los turdetanos a las cuales Tito Livio aludía.

Breves notas sobre a representação do meio-tom nos manuscritos litúrgicos medievais portugueses, ou o mito da «notação portuguesa»

by João Pedro d'Alvarenga

Published in Medieval Sacred Chant: from Japan to Portugal (Actas do Colóquio Internacional «Monodia sacra medieval», Lisboa-Évora, 2-5 de Junho, 2005), ed. Manuel Pedro Ferreira (Lisbon, CESEM, Colibri, 2008), pp. 203-19

Book review: Manuel Pedro Ferreira, Cantus coronatus: 7 cantigas d'El-Rei D. Dinis / by King Dinis of Portugal, De Musica 10, Kassel, Edition Reichenberger, 2005

by João Pedro d'Alvarenga

Published in Revista Portuguesa de Musicologia 14-15 (2004-5), pp. 243-48

La musica delle cantigas galego-portoghesi. Bilancio di vent'anni di ricerche (1977-1997)

by Manuel Pedro Ferreira

in Luciana Stegagno Picchio (ed), Civiltà letteraria dei paesi di espressione portoghese, I: Il Portogallo. 1. Dalle origini al Seicento, Firenze: Passigli Editori, 2001, pp. 167-79. Posted with the publisher's permission.
Translation of:
“A música das cantigas galego-portuguesas: balanço de duas décadas de investigação (1977-1997)”, in:
(1) Derek W. Flitter & Patricia O. Baubeta (eds.), Ondas do Mar de Vigo, Birmingham: Seminario de Estudios Galegos, 1998, pp. 58-71;
(2) Congreso O mar das cantigas, Santiago de Compostela: Xunta de Galicia, 1998, pp. 235-50;
(3) M. P. Ferreira, Aspectos da Música Medieval, vol. I (Lisboa, 2009),pp. 35-48.

Overall presentation of scholarship on the music of the medieval Cantigas, since the re-discovery of the Vindel MS in... more Overall presentation of scholarship on the music of the medieval Cantigas, since the re-discovery of the Vindel MS in 1977, until 1997. Includes bibliography.

Cantemus Domino cantica gloriae. Una visión panorámica de las epístolas farcidas en España a partir de la contenida en la misa de Santiago del Codex Calixtinus

by Arturo Tello Ruiz-Pérez

Published in El Codex Calixtinus en la Europa del siglo XII. Música, Arte, Codicología y Liturgia. ed. Juan Carlos Asensio, León: Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y de la Música, Ministerio de Cultura, 2011, pp. 228-257.
ISBN 978-84-87075-79-7

En el escenario general de la canción litúrgica, este trabajo tiene por objeto arrojar luz sobre algunos aspectos de... more En el escenario general de la canción litúrgica, este trabajo tiene por objeto arrojar luz sobre algunos aspectos de la tradición litúrgica, musical y literaria de las epístolas farcidas contenidas en manuscritos españoles. Está claro que el Codex Calixtinus es un testimonio particular en múltiples facetas, entre las cuales como unicum se sitúa Cantemus Domino cantica gloriae. Por ello mismo, por sus mismas peculiaridades, esta epístola será tomada como parangón privilegiado en la valoración litúrgico-musical de las diez epístolas farcidas localizadas hasta ahora en más de dos docenas de fuentes y fragmentos de la España medieval.

Musik und Betonung in 'cantigas d'amigo'

by Manuel Pedro Ferreira

in Cramer, Thomas (Hrsg.) / Greenfield, John (Hrsg.) / Kasten, Ingrid (Hrsg.) / Koller, Erwin (Hrsg.), Frauenlieder — Cantigas de amigo, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel, 2000, pp. 247-57.
Posted by kind permission of Franz Steiner Verlag
Portuguese version: "Música e acentuação nas cantigas d'amigo", in M. P. Ferreira, Aspectos da Música Medieval, vol. I, Lisboa: IN-CM, 2009, pp. 101-12

Accentual patterns in medieval Galician-Portuguese poetry have been rarely investigated as such or in their possible... more Accentual patterns in medieval Galician-Portuguese poetry have been rarely investigated as such or in their possible relation to music-setting. Since the cantigas d'amigo by Martin Codax survive with musical notation and show some correlation between text-accent and melodic composition, they provide a firm point of departure. An hypothesis is proposed: if a similar melodic approach was used in other cantigas d'amigo, then it must have left a residue in accentual patterns running consistently throughout the respective stanzas. This is illustrated by songs attributed to Fernan de Quinhones, Lopo and Estevan Travanca. The parallelistic cantigas by King Dom Dinis are then analysed from this perspective, but they show instead a different approach, largely indifferent to accent..

Bases for Transcription: Gregorian Chant and the Notation of the Cantigas de Santa Maria

by Manuel Pedro Ferreira

in José López-Calo (coord.), Los instrumentos del Pórtico de la Gloria: Su reconstrucción y la música de su tiempo, Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza, Conde de Fenosa, La Coruña, 1993, Vol. 2, pp. 595-621
Spanish translation:
"Bases para la transcripción: el canto gregoriano y la notación de las Cantigas de Santa María", in id., ibid., pp. 573-594, 616-21
Portuguese versions:
(1st part) “Uma questão de ritmo”, in F. Monteiro & A. Martingo (coord.), Interpretação Musical – Teoria e Prática. Lisboa: Colibri, 2007, pp. 219-46.
(2nd part) "A notação musical das «Cantigas de Santa Maria»", in M.P.Ferreira, Aspectos da Música Medieval no Ocidente Peninsular, vol. 1: Música palaciana, Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional/ Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), 2009, pp. 180-95.

La mirada, la voz y el corazón: notas sobre las alusiones directas a la danza en la lírica d'oïl de los siglos XII y XIII

by Arturo Tello Ruiz-Pérez

Published in Delantera de paraíso. Estudios en homenaje a Luis G. Iberni, eds. Celsa Alonso, Carmen Julia Gutiérrez y Javier Suárez-Pajares, Madrid: ICCMU, 2008, pp. 531-556. ISBN 978-84-89457-39-3

Figurata ornamenta in laudibus Domini: gramática, retórica y música en los repertorios de canción litúrgica conservados en España

by Arturo Tello Ruiz-Pérez

Published in Cuadernos de Música Iberoamericana, 13 (2007). pp. 5-34. ISSN 1136-5536

With the aid of a series of representative examples, the objective of this article is to highlight the connections... more With the aid of a series of representative examples, the objective of this article is to highlight the connections between the teaching of, and speculation about, disciplines including grammar, rhetoric and biblical exegesis, and the creation, transmission and assumption of new "extra-official" liturgical repertories at different moments and places during the Middle Ages. Using resources such as ornatus, and with a view to providing a better understanding, composition and proclamation of the truths of Christian faith shown during its celebration, liturgical song (text and/or music) was frequently understood and treated as a genuine liturgical commentary on the very evolution of the liturgy. Thus, the relationship between the old and the new, "sung liturgical commentary" and comments made outside the liturgy, and between the official Gregorian and "extra-official" repertories of tropes, sequences, prosulas, etc., will be examined from the point of view and in the context of liturgical action.

Acerca de la problemática en la transmisión de los tropos del Gloria: la vida de Laus tua Deus, un ejemplo temprano en un manuscrito gerundense

by Arturo Tello Ruiz-Pérez

Published in Cuardernos de Música Iberoamericana, 14 (2007). pp. 7-40. ISSN 1136-5536

Using one of the earliest-known examples of trope (Laus tua Deus), conserved in the early-twelfth century troper from... more Using one of the earliest-known examples of trope (Laus tua Deus), conserved in the early-twelfth century troper from Girona (Paris Bibl. Nat. n. a. lat. 495), this article aims to give a practical description of the problems posed by a repertory of the nature of the Gloria tropes. In this respect, the transmission, characteristics and, ultimately, the configuration of the different regional profiles of this chant provide a special framework for it to be analysed from various points of view. Furthermore, in contrast to the "stability" of the Gregorian repertory, certain issues urgently requiring immediate discussion arise: oral transmission versus written notation, biblical versus newly created sources, standardisation versus recreation, etc.

"Mio Cid" como "Cantar". Algunas consideraciones de índole musicológica

by Arturo Tello Ruiz-Pérez

Published in Revista de Musicología, 32/2 (2009). pp. 21-34. ISSN 0210-1459

In a field of study largely determined by orality, in regard to creation / recreation, performer / audience, memory /... more In a field of study largely determined by orality, in regard to creation / recreation, performer / audience, memory / transmission, voice / notation, etc., this paper aims to shed light on aspects of epic poetry from a musicological perspective (although not dissociated from Philology and other disciplines), paying particular attention to what has been called «the new historical view of chant transmission» (H. Hucke). Thus, given that no traces of music from the Cantar de Mio Cid have come down to us (which is understandable given its «necessary» simplicity), and using the guidelines outlined in Johannes Grocheio’s De Musica, a good breeding ground for the objectives raised here can be found by comparing the forms and processes involved in hagiographic chant and in certain types of liturgical song (such as farsed epistles and particularly those in Catalonian).

Bagajes interpretativos en torno a Ma vïele de Gautier de Coinci

by Arturo Tello Ruiz-Pérez

Published in Roseta. Revista de la Sociedad Española de la Guitarra, 5 (2010). pp. 6-23. ISSN 1888-8305

La ‘tibia’ di Apollo, i modelli di Jacopo e l’eloquenza landiniana.

by Pedro Memelsdorff

Published in: Antonio Delfino – Maria Teresa Rosa-Barezzani (eds.), Col dolce suon che da te piove, Studi su Francesco Landini e la musica del suo tempo, Firenze: Sismel Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2009, pp. 241-255.

What’s in a sign? The ‘Bq’ and the copying process of a medieval manuscript: The Codex Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Alpha. M. 5. 24 (olim Lat. 568).

by Pedro Memelsdorff

Published in: Studi musicali, XXX (2001), pp. 255-280.

“Vilage”: fortuna e filiazione di un Credo di Zacara.

by Pedro Memelsdorff

Published in: Francesco Zimei (ed.), Antonio Zacara da Teramo e il suo tempo, Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, 2005, pp. 301-335.