Antiquity and the Middle Ages: From Ancient Greece to the 15th century

346 Pages·1990·33.57 MB·English

by  James McKinnon (eds.)

Man & Music
ANTIQUITY
AND THE
MIDDLE AGES
Man & Music
ANTIQUITY
AND THE
MIDDLE AGES
From Ancient Greece to the 15th century
EDITED BYJ AMES McKINNON
M
Copyright© 1990 Granada Group and The Macmillan Press Ltd
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
of this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied
or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance
with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended).
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
First published in the United Kingdom 1990 by
The Macmillan Press Limited
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Associated companies in Auckland, Delhi, Dublin, Gaborone,
Hamburg, Harare, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur,
Lagos, Manzini, Melbourne, Mexico City, Nairobi, New York,
Singapore and Tokyo.
ISBN 978-0-333-53004-7 ISBN 978-1-349-21157-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-21157-9
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Man and music.-(A social history)
Vol. 1, Ancient and medieval.
1. Music to 1985
I. McKinnon, Jim II. Series
780'.9
Typeset by Glyn Davies, Cambridge
Contents
Illustration Acknowledgments VI
Abbreviations Vll
Preface IX
I Early Western Civilisation
james McKinnon I
II Public Music as 'Fine Art' in Archaic Greece
Andrew Barker 45
III Christian Antiquity
James McKinnon 68
IV The Emergence of Gregorian Chant in the Carolingian Era
James McKinnon 88
v
Plain chant Transfigured: Innovation and Reformation
through the Ages
David Hiley 120
VI The Polyphonic Music of the Medieval Monastery,
Cathedral and University
Marion S. Gushee 143
VII Medieval England, 950-1450
Peter M. Lefferts 170
VIII Court and City in France, 1100-1300
Christopher Page 197
IX Ars Antiqua-Ars Nova-Ars Subtilior
Daniel Leech-Wilkinson 218
X Trecento Italy
Michael Long 241
XI The Close of the Middle Ages
Reinhard Strohm 269
Chronology 312
Index 330
Illustration
Acknowledgments
The publishers would like to thank the following institutions and individuals who have
kindly provided material for use in this book.
Mansell Collection, London/Alinari, Florence: I, 3, 23, 25, 75, 81; Rheinisches Landes
museum, Trier: 2; Musee Condee, Chantilly (65/1284, ff.71v, lv, 158r)/Giraudon,
Paris: 5, II, 12; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris: 6 (lat.!, f.215v), 13 (fonds.fr.l2574,
f.l81 v), 29, 33 (lat.ll41, f.3r), 43 (lat. 7211, f.9v), 57 (Ancien Gaignieres 2896, fr.22297,
no.31), 64 (fr.l46, f.34r), 66 (fr.l586, f.30v), 67 (fr.9221, f.l6r), 68 (fr.1584, f.D), 70
(fr.159, f.277v), 71 (fr.616, f.l3r), 78 (Chantilly 1047, f.llv), 84 (fr.l2476, f.98r); photo
Ann Miinchow, Aachen: 7; photo james Austin, Cambridge: 8, 9; Courtauld Institute
of Art, London: 10, 55; Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, West Berlin: 14
(Kupferstichkabinett, 78.D.5, f.59r), 21 (Antikenmuseum); Archaeological Museum,
Heraklion/Deutsches Archiiologisches lnstitut, Athens: 15; Trustees of the British
Museum, London: 16, 19; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Uohn Michael Rodocanachi
Fund): 17; Museo Nazionale (Villa Giulia), Rome/Mansell Collection, London/
Alinari, Florence: 18; Antikenmuseum, Basle (Sammlung Ludwig): 20; National
Archaeological Museum, Athens: 22; photo Antonello Perissinotto, Padua: 24;
Staatsbibliothek, Bamberg: 26 (Msc.class.5, f.9v), 37 (Msc.lit.6, f. 7r); Biblioteca
Apostolica Vaticana, Rome (Reg.lat.316, f.4r): 27; Stiftsbibliothek, St Gall (359, f.27r):
28; Oxford Illustrators: 30, 41, 56, 59, 62, 69; photo Josephine Powell, Rome: 31;
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: 32; Gabinetto Comunale delle Stampe, Rome: 34;
Musee du Louvre/Reunion des Musees Nationaux, Paris: 35; Bodleian Library,
Oxford: 36 (lat.liturg.f.5, ff.3v, 4v), 80 (Douce 195, f.l50v); British Library, London: 38
(Cotton Caligula A.XIV, ff.3v-4r), 39 (Egerton 2615, f.50v), 42 (Additional 36881,
ff.l3v-14r), 52 (Egerton 1151, f.47r), 53 (Egerton 3307, f.72v), 54 (Cotton
Domit.A.XVII, f.l22v), 72 (Additionall2228, f.222v), 82 (Harley 4425, f.l2v); Musee
Nicephore Niepce, Challon-sur-Saone/photo Com bier: 40; Herzog August Bibliothek,
Wolfenbiittel (Cod.Gud.lat.8.334); Bibliotheque Municipale, Chartres: 45; Verlag
Peter Lang AG, Berne, from Paleographie Musicale, lstser., xvii (1958): 46; Bildarchiv
Foto Marburg: 47; Bibliotheque Interuniversitaire, Montpellier (H.I96, f.350r): 48;
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York: 49 (M.521r), 61 (M.638, f.l7r); President and
Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxf~rd (CCC.489, f.9iv): 50; Governing Body,
Christ Church, Oxford (92, f.43r): 51; photo Jean Dieuzaide, Toulouse: 58; photo
Christian Fourcade, Aix-en-Provence: 63; Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris: 65;
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence (87, ff.25v, 121 v): 73, 77; Landesbibliothek,
Fulda (D.23, f.302r): 74; Rosgarten Museum, Konstanz: 79; Musee de Versailles/
Reunion des Musees Nationaux: 83; Universitiitsbibliothek, lnnsbruck (8.1432): 85;
National Szechenyi Library, Budapest ( cod.lat.424, f.41r); 86; National Gallery ofA rt,
Washington, DC (Samuel H. Kress Collection): 87.
vi
Abbreviations
AcM Acta musicologica
AMw Archivfor Musikwissenschaft
AMP Antiquitates musicae in Polonia
AnnM Annates musicologiques
CMM Corpus mensurabilis musicae
cs
E. de Coussemaker: Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series
(Paris, l864-76/Rl963)
CSM Corpus scriptorum de music~
DTO Denkmaler der Tonkunst in Osterreich
EDM Das Erbe deutscher Musik
EECM Early English Church Music
EM Early Music
EMH Early Music History
Grove 6 The New Grove Dictionary ofM usic and Musicians
JAMS Journal oft he American Musicological Society
JM Journal ofM usicology
JMT Journal ofM usic Theory
JP MMS Journal oft he Plainsong and Medieval Music Society
J RME Journal ofR esearch in Music Education
K}b Kirchenmusikalisches}ahrbuch
MB Musica britannica
MD Musica disciplina
Mf Die Musikforschung
ML Music and Letters
MMA Miscellanea musicologica
MQ Musical Quarterly
MSD Musicological Studies and Documents, ed. A. Carapetyan
(Rome, 1951-)
NOHM The New Oxford History ofM usic, ed. E. Wellesz,J. A. Westrup
and G. Abraham (London, 1954-)
NRMI Nuova rivista musicale italiana
PalMus Paleographic musicale (Solesmes, 1889-)
PMFC Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century
P RMA Proceedings oft he Royal Musical Association
RIM Rivista italiana di musicologia
RISM Repertoire international des sources musicales
RMS Renaissance Manuscript Studies
SMM Summa musicae medii aevi
TVNM Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse muziekgeschiedenis
Vll
Preface
The Man and Music series of books- eight in number, chronologically
organized-were originally conceived in conjunction with the television
programmes of the same name, of which the first was shown by
Channel 4 in 1986 and distributed worldwide by Granada Television
International. These programmes were designed to examine the
development of music in particular places during particular periods in
the history ofWestern civilization.
The books have the same objective. Each is designed to cover a
segment ofWestern musical history; the breaks between them are plan
ned to correspond with significant historical junctures. Since historical
junctures, or indeed junctures in stylistic change, rarely happen with
the neat simultaneity that the historian's or the editor's orderly mind
might wish for, most volumes have 'ragged' ends and beginnings: for
example, the Renaissance volume terminates, in Italy, in the 15 70s and
80s, but continues well into the 17th century in parts of northern
Europe.
These books do not, however make up a history of music in the tradi
tional sense. The reader will not find technical, stylistic discussion in
them; anyone wanting to trace the detailed development of the texture
of the madrigal or the rise and fall of sonata form should look elsewhere.
Rather, it is the intention in these volumes to show in what context, and
as a result of what forces-social, cultural, intellectual-the madrigal or
sonata form came into being and took its particular shape. The inten
tion is to view musical history not a series of developments in some
hermetic world of its own but rather as a series of responses to social,
economic and political circumstances and to religious and intellectual
stimuli. We want to explain not simply what happened, but why it
happened, and why it happened when and where it did.
We have chosen to follow what might be called a geographical, or
perhaps a topographical, approach: to focus, in each chapter, on a
particular place and to examine its music in the light of its particular
situation. Thus, in most of these volumes, the chapters-once past the
introductory one, contributed by the volume editor-are each devoted
to a city or a region. This system has inevitably needed some modifica-
IX
tion when dealing with very early or very recent times, for reasons
(opposite ones, of course) to do with communication and cultural
spread.
These books do not attempt to treat musical history comprehen
sively. Their editors have chosen for discussion the musical centres that
they see as the most significant and the most interesting; many lesser
ones inevitably escape individual discussion, though the patterns of
their musical life may be discernible by analogy with others or may be
separately referred to in the opening, editorial chapter. We hope, how
ever, that a new kind of picture of musical history may begin to emerge
from these volumes, and that this picture may be more accessible to the
general reader, responsive to music but untrained in its techniques,
than others arising from more traditional approaches. In spite of the
large number of lovers of music, musical histories have never enjoyed
the appeal to a broad, intelligent general readership in the way that
histories of art, architecture or literature have done: these books repre
sent an attempt to reach such a readership and explain music in terms
that may quicken their interest.
*
The television programmes and books were initially planned in close
collaboration with Sir Denis Forman, then Chairman of Granada
Television International. The approach was worked out in rp.ore detail
with several of the volume editors, among whom I am particularly
grateful to lain Fenlon for the time he has generously given to discus
sion of the problems raised by this approach to musical history, and
also to Alexander Ringer and James McKinnon for their valuable
advice and support. Discussion with Bamber Gascoigne and Tony
Cash, in the course of the making of the initial television programmes,
also proved of value. I am grateful to Celia Thomson for drafting the
chronologies that appear in each volume and to Elisabeth Agate for her
invaluable work as picture editor in bringing the volumes to visual life.
London, 1990 STAN LEY SADIE
X
Chapter I
Early Western Civilization
JAMES McKINNON
THE HEBRAIC AND HELLENIC HERITAGE, 750BCTOAD410
If pressed to date the beginnings of Western civilization, one could do
worse than to suggest 750 BC; very close to that year the shepherd Amos
ofTekoa, first of the recorded Old Testament prophets, denounced the
ruling classes of Israel with inspired eloquence. He proclaimed a new
ideal ofs ocial justice and a new conception of God; the latter was not yet
the pure monotheism of Deutero-lsaiah, but already it portrayed a
Jehovah who exercised power beyond national boundaries and who
was more concerned with righteousness than tribal honour. These are
clearly themes of the most basic importance to the ethical and religious
thinking of the West; what relevance they or any other aspect of Amos's
teaching might have to music will be considered later, after we turn to
Greece in search of some figure to share with Amos the role ofWestern
civilization's honorary founder.
If the capacity for abstract thought is the most singular Hellenic
contribution to Western civilization, then we need look no further than
Thales, the 'father of philosophy', who flourished in the prosperous
Ionian city ofMiletus during the earlier part of the sixth century BC. He
held that the primary stuff of all things was water, a dubious notion to
be sure, and one that his younger fellow-citizen Anaximander pointedly
refuted. 'It is neither water nor any other ofthe so-called elements', he
maintained, 'but a nature different from them and infinite, from which
arise all the heavens and the worlds.' But what Thales and Anaximan
der had in common was more important than their differences. They
were the first to grapple with the most basic of all philosophical ques
tions, that of the One and the Many; they sought generalized laws or
principles to explain in a rational way the confusing diversity of nature
and ofhuman experience. The relevance of this to music is more direct
and obvious than that of the ideas of the Hebrew prophets; the Greek
penchant for abstract thought gave rise eventually to music theory, a
discipline that exerts a profound influence upon Western music, at
times positive and at times negative. It was at its most negative,