Motets constitute the most important polyphonic genre of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Moreover, these compositions are intrinsically involved in the early development of polyphony. This volume - the first to be devoted exclusively to medieval motets - aims to provide a comprehensive guide to them, from a number of different disciplines and perspectives. It addresses crucial matters such as how the motet developed; the rich interplay of musical, poetic, and intertextual modes of meaning specific to the genre; and the changing social and historical circumstances surrounding motets in medieval France, England, and Italy. It also seeks to question many traditional assumptions and received opinions in the area. The first part of the book considers core concepts in motet scholarship: issues of genre, relationships between the motet and other musico-poetic forms, tenor organization, isorhythm, notational development, social functions, and manuscript layout. This is followed by a series of individual case studies which look in detail at a variety of specific pieces, compositional techniques, collections, and subgenres.
Author(s): Jared C. Hartt (ed.)
Series: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music, 17
Publisher: The Boydell Press
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 420
City: Woodbridge
List of Figures ix
List of Music Examples x
List of Tables xiii
List of Contributors xiv
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xvi
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction: Approaching Medieval Motets / Jared C. Hartt 1
1. The Genre(s) of Medieval Motets / Elizabeth Eva Leach 15
2. Origins and Interactions: Clausula, Motet, Conductus / Catherine A. Bradley 43
3. Tracing the Tenor in Medieval Motets / Alice V. Clark 61
4. Isorhythm / Lawrence Earp 77
5. Notations / Karen Desmond 103
6. Thirteenth-Century Motet Functions: Views through the Lens of the 'Portare' Motet Family / Dolores Pesce 131
7. A Prism of its Time: Social Functions of the Motet in Fourteenth-Century France / Jacques Boogaart 155
8. Motets, Manuscript Culture, Mise-en-page / John Haines and Stefan Udell 175
9. Clerics, Courtiers, and the Vernacular Two-Voice Motet: The Case of 'Fines amouretes'/'Fiat' and the 'Roman de la poire' / Jennifer Saltzstein 193
10. When Words Converge and Meanings Diverge: Counterexamples to Polytextuality in the Thirteenth-Century Motet / Suzannah Clark 205
11. Motets in Chansonniers and the Other Culture of the French Thirteenth-Century Motet / Gaël Saint-Cricq 225
12. Building a Motet around Quoted Material: Textual and Musical Structure in Motets Based on Monophonic Songs / Matthew P. Thomson 243
13. The Duet Motet in England: Genre, Tonal Coherence, Reconstruction / Jared C. Hartt 261
14. 'Materia' Matters: Reconstructing 'Colla'/'Bona' / Anna Zayaruznaya 287
15. Machaut’s Motet 10 and its Interconnections / Margaret Bent 301
16. A Motet Conceived in Troubled Times: Machaut’s Motet 22 / Sarah Fuller 321
17. A Motet Ahead of its Time? The Curious Case of 'Portio nature'/'Ida capillorum' / Emily Zazulia 341
Bibliography of Works Cited 355
Select Glossary 373
Index of Cited Motets 377
General Index 383
