Overview

A unique capacity of measured polyphony is to give precisely fixed places not only to musical notes, but also to individual words in relation to them and each other. The Motet in the Late Middle Ages offers innovative approaches to the equal partnership of music and texts in motets of the fourteenth century and beyond, showcasing the imaginative opportunities afforded by this literal kind of intertextuality, and yielding a very different narrative from the common complaint that different simultaneous texts make motets incomprehensible. As leading musicologist Margaret Bent asserts, they simply require a different approach to preparation and listening.In this book, Bent examines the words and music of motets from many different angles: foundational verbal quotations and pre-existent chant excerpts and their contexts, citations both of words and music from other compositions, function, dating, structure, theory, and number symbolism. Individual studies of these original creations tease out a range of strategies, ingenuity, playfulness, striking juxtapositions, and even subversion. Half of the thirty-two chapters consist of new material; the other half are substantially revised and updated versions of previously published articles and chapters, organized into seven Parts. With new analyses of text and music together, new datings, new attributions, and new hypotheses about origins and interrelationships, Bent uncovers little-explored dimensions, provides a window into the craft and thought processes of medieval composers, and opens up many directions for future work.

Full Product Details

Author:   Margaret Bent (Emeritus Fellow, Emeritus Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford University)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 18.50cm , Height: 8.10cm , Length: 24.10cm
Weight:   1.497kg
ISBN:  

9780190063771

ISBN 10:   0190063777
Pages:   776
Publication Date:   01 February 2024
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations List of Tables List of Music Examples List of Sound Clips List of Abbreviations Introduction PART I. COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES 1. Theoretical and Terminological Issues 2. What is Isorhythm? PART II. THE MARIGNY MOTETS, BEYOND FAUVEL, AND VITRY 3. Fauvel and Marigny: Which Came First? 4. Tribum que non abhorruit/Quoniam secta latronum/Merito hec patimur and its 'Quotations'; and Garrit gallus/In nova Appendix: Commentary to Tribum/Quoniam; Commentary to Garrit/In nova 5. Aman novi/Heu Fortuna/Heu me 6. Floret/Florens: Intended for Fauvel? 7. Related Manuscripts, Related Motets; Vitry 8. Vos quid admiramini/Gratissima virginis species/Gaude gloriosa PART III. MACHAUT 9. Words and Music in Machaut's Motet 9 10. Deception, Exegesis and Sounding Number in Machaut's Motet 15 11. The 'Harmony' of the Machaut Mass 12. Machaut's Motet 10 and its Interconnections 13. Machaut's Motet 18: Bone pastor Guillerme/Bone pastor, qui pastores/Bone pastor 14. Text-Music Relationships in Machaut's Motets 4 and 8 PART IV. MUSICORUM COLLEGIUM: THE MUSICIAN MOTETS 15. Apollinis eclipsatur, its Progeny and their Sources 16. Apollinis eclipsatur/Zodiacum signis/In omnem terram and Later Versions with Added Parts Appendix: Commentaries to Web Transcriptions for the Pieces with Multiple Sources 17. Musicalis sciencia/Sciencie laudabili; the Musicians Named in Apollinis and Musicalis 18. Musicorum collegio/In templo Dei/Auete 19. Alma polis religio/Axe poli cum artica and its Named Musicians Appendix: Variants to Ex. 19.1, Alma polis religio/Axe poli cum artica 20. Sub arturo plebs/Fons citharizancium/In omnem terram and its Musicians Appendix: Variants in Sub Arturo plebs 21. Fragmentary Motets and Other Possibly Linked Compositions PART V. ENGLISH MOTETS C. 1400-1420 22. The Yoxford Manuscript and the Motet O amicus/Precursoris 23. The Yoxford Credo Appendix: Notes to Credo Transcription 24. Mayshuet and the Deo gratias Motets in the Old Hall Manuscript 25. Old Hall, the Agincourt Motets, and Dunstaple PART VI. ITALIAN MOTETS 26. The Fourteenth-Century Italian Motet 27. The Motet Collection of San Lorenzo 2211 (SL2211) and the Composer Hubertus de Salinis 28. The Motets of Johannes Ciconia 29. Ciconia, Prosdocimus, and the Workings of Musical Grammar as Exemplified in O felix templum and O Padua PART VII. MUSIC FOR POPES AND THE COURTS OF BURGUNDY AND CYPRUS 30. Early Papal Motets Appendix: Music for Popes Clement VI to Eugene IV 31. Trémoïlle Revisited Appendix: Transcription of Incipits as Listed in the Trém Index 32. Some Aspects of the Motets in the Cyprus Manuscript Appendix: The Cyprus Motets Bibliography Index of Manuscripts Index of Compositions General Index

Reviews

Bent's research on the motet has been fundamental to the fields of musicology and medieval studies, and it is a joy to see that work gathered into a single publication. The book is chronologically wide-ranging, covering the development of the genre from the fourteenth through the mid-fifteenth centuries, and geographically diverse, encompassing the motet in France and the Low Countries, England, Italy, with forays into eastern Europe and the Mediterranean regionDLan astonishing achievement. * Anne Walters Robertson, Claire Dux Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Music, University of Chicago * This extraordinary collection of essays by the reigning medieval musicologist of our time presents the fruits of Margaret Bent's intense engagement with different facets of late medieval motets over the course of more than fifty years. Almost half of the thirty-two chapters are new, and earlier essays are recast, taking measure of new scholarly work and then pushing it farther. One finds surprising discoveries at every turn. * Lawrence Earp, Emeritus Professor of Musicology, University of Wisconsin-Madison * In this impressive collection of essays, Margaret Bent assembles a lifetime of path-breaking research and engages with the rich scholarship it has engendered. Throughout, Bent thoughtfully reflects on her own contributions, and adds much previously unpublished material. As a study of the fourteenth- and early fifteenth-century motet in England, Italy, and France, it is a magisterial tour de force that will help map the field for decades to come. * Jessie Ann Owens, Distinguished Professor of Music Emeritus, University of California Davis * In this monumental study of the late medieval motet, Margaret Bent has brought together studies of a range of individual motets, English, French, and Italian, seeking through close reading to tease out the range of strategies employed to serve the uniqueness of these technically advanced, prestigious, compositions. These 32 essaysDLall now updated or offered for the first timeDLrest on a lifetime's study of compositional craft. Their richness cannot be overestimated. * Susan Rankin, Professor of Medieval Music, University of Cambridge *

Bent's research on the motet has been fundamental to the fields of musicology and medieval studies, and it is a joy to see that work gathered into a single publication. The book is chronologically wide-ranging, covering the development of the genre from the fourteenth through the mid-fifteenth centuries, and geographically diverse, encompassing the motet in France and the Low Countries, England, Italy, with forays into eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region—an astonishing achievement. * Anne Walters Robertson, Claire Dux Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Music, University of Chicago * This extraordinary collection of essays by the reigning medieval musicologist of our time presents the fruits of Margaret Bent's intense engagement with different facets of late medieval motets over the course of more than fifty years. Almost half of the thirty-two chapters are new, and earlier essays are recast, taking measure of new scholarly work and then pushing it farther. One finds surprising discoveries at every turn. * Lawrence Earp, Emeritus Professor of Musicology, University of Wisconsin-Madison * In this impressive collection of essays, Margaret Bent assembles a lifetime of path-breaking research and engages with the rich scholarship it has engendered. Throughout, Bent thoughtfully reflects on her own contributions, and adds much previously unpublished material. As a study of the fourteenth- and early fifteenth-century motet in England, Italy, and France, it is a magisterial tour de force that will help map the field for decades to come. * Jessie Ann Owens, Distinguished Professor of Music Emeritus, University of California Davis * In this monumental study of the late medieval motet, Margaret Bent has brought together studies of a range of individual motets, English, French, and Italian, seeking through close reading to tease out the range of strategies employed to serve the uniqueness of these technically advanced, prestigious, compositions. These 32 essays—all now updated or offered for the first time—rest on a lifetime's study of compositional craft. Their richness cannot be overestimated. * Susan Rankin, Professor of Medieval Music, University of Cambridge *

Bent's research on the motet has been fundamental to the fields of musicology and medieval studies, and it is a joy to see that work gathered into a single publication. The book is chronologically wide-ranging, covering the development of the genre from the fourteenth through the mid-fifteenth centuries, and geographically diverse, encompassing the motet in France and the Low Countries, England, Italy, with forays into eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region-an astonishing achievement. * Anne Walters Robertson, Claire Dux Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Music, University of Chicago * This extraordinary collection of essays by the reigning medieval musicologist of our time presents the fruits of Margaret Bent's intense engagement with different facets of late medieval motets over the course of more than fifty years. Almost half of the thirty-two chapters are new, and earlier essays are recast, taking measure of new scholarly work and then pushing it farther. One finds surprising discoveries at every turn. * Lawrence Earp, Emeritus Professor of Musicology, University of Wisconsin-Madison * In this impressive collection of essays, Margaret Bent assembles a lifetime of path-breaking research and engages with the rich scholarship it has engendered. Throughout, Bent thoughtfully reflects on her own contributions, and adds much previously unpublished material. As a study of the fourteenth- and early fifteenth-century motet in England, Italy, and France, it is a magisterial tour de force that will help map the field for decades to come. * Jessie Ann Owens, Distinguished Professor of Music Emeritus, University of California Davis * In this monumental study of the late medieval motet, Margaret Bent has brought together studies of a range of individual motets, English, French, and Italian, seeking through close reading to tease out the range of strategies employed to serve the uniqueness of these technically advanced, prestigious, compositions. These 32 essays-all now updated or offered for the first time-rest on a lifetime's study of compositional craft. Their richness cannot be overestimated. * Susan Rankin, Professor of Medieval Music, University of Cambridge *

Author Information

Margaret Bent is an emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and a Fellow of several international societies and academies. Between 1975 and 1992 she taught at Brandeis and Princeton universities and served as President of the American Musicological Society. Her numerous publications range over English and continental music, repertories, notation, and theory of the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. Her editorial publications include critical editions of Dunstaple, Ciconia, English masses, and a Rossini opera. Her many honours include the C.B.E. and three honorary degrees. In 2018, she received the inaugural Adler prize of the International Musicological Society.

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