Overview

First full comprehensive guide to one of the most important genres of music in the Middle Ages. 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 devotedexclusively 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.

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9781783276080

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Reviews

[A]n ideal textbook for an in-depth study of the motet, a true companion guiding students and scholars chapter by chapter through the study of the music, texts, sources, interpretive methodologies, analytical techniques, musical and social contexts, and the thought and aesthetics of the era. SPECULUM [Jennifer Thomas] This impressive volume features scholarly experts critically engaging with the evolution of the Medieval motet . . . [and tackles] questions of genre, origins, composition, chant, notation, function, manuscript culture, language, style, the influence of important composers and collections, and more. . . . A Critical Companion to Medieval Motets is an excellent introduction to fascinating topics in early musicology, thoroughly investigating the Motet from angles that will intrigue anyone interested in Medieval music. EARLY MUSIC AMERICA [Samantha Bassler] [H]ighly admirable. . . . [T]his volume stands as a central guide to future work on the medieval motet -- indeed, medieval musicology as a whole will need to account for arguments made throughout its pages. RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY [Mary Channen Caldwell] A welcome addition to the literature on music of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. BRIO An important re-evaluation of the motet as a sophisticated and multi-layered cultural phenomenon with a complex history, an art form enjoyed not only as music, but also appreciated in written form as a mark of education and as a status symbol. This book is surely a must-have for any university with a music library, and for all serious scholars of medieval music. THE CONSORT [A] very detailed and welcome scholarly resource on the most important polyphonic genre of the 13th and 14th centuries. --B. L. Eden, Valparaiso University

Author Information

JARED C. HARTT is Associate Professor of Music Theory at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. JARED C. HARTT is Associate Professor of Music Theory at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. ELIZABETH EVA LEACH is Professor of Music at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy. Her work focuses on song in the medieval West in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Gaël Saint-Cricq is Professor of Musicology at the Université Lumière Lyon 2, France. MATTHEW P. THOMSON is a Fitzjames Research Fellow at Merton College, University of Oxford. His research focuses on music of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, including polyphonic motets, monophonic song, and the role of music in literature. MARGARET BENT is an Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

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