Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century

1553 Pages·2010·52.85 MB·English

by  Richard Taruskin

Praise for Richard Taruskin’s The Oxford History of Western Music
“There is not a page without insight, and not a chapter that does not
fundamentally change the reader’s perspective on its subject matter…. It is a
visionary addition to our understanding of our culture.”–Roger Scruton, Times
Literary Supplement
“Readable, provocative, endlessly challenging and informative, his narrative
account of more than a millennium’s worth of musical activity represents a
virtuoso display of the historian’s craft.”—Joshua Kosman, San Francisco
Chronicle
“The most important publishing event in classical music since The New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.”—The New York Times
“Expresses the magnificence and melancholy of its age…. Singular in every
possible way.”—Paul Griffiths, The Nation
“If you want to know how brilliant Richard Taruskin’s Oxford History of
Western Music is, just open the first of its five long volumes and start reading
right from page one. I found myself on the edge of my seat, as Mr. Taruskin
begins his journey of a thousand years.”—Greg Sandow, The Wall Street
Journal
“Erudite, engaging, and suffused throughout with a mixture of brilliance and
delirium…a highly personal (and often delightfully prickly) take on musical
history from an original and eccentric mind—a mind to which anybody
interested in the art of music should be exposed.”—Tim Page, The Washington
Post
“[Taruskin’s] analyses are generally both cogent and entertaining, written in
a rambunctious style that conveys technical information with great lucidity.”—
Charles Rosen, The New York Review of Books
“Taruskin has created a corpus of scholarship of breathtaking scope and
crushing weight.”–Lingua Franca
“[Taruskin is]…one of the most fluent writers on music in modern
scholarship.”–The Musical Times
“Entertaining. Provocative.”–The New York Times Book Review
“Taruskin’s magnum opus is a must-read, and in its way, a real page-turner
of detective non-fiction. It’s a cinch to become the most discussed music title of
the year, if not of the decade.”—Robert Everett-Green, The Globe & Mail
“It’s a must-read for people who love or are curious about what we call
western classical music…. Suddenly there is a coherent, irresistible narrative,
full of delightful, sometimes disturbing surprises that leave you thinking for
days. Suddenly, music history lives and breathes.”—Tamara Bernstein, CBC
Online
“Erudite, biased and persuasive; an irresistible survey of a millennium of
music. Its ideas, a brillliant distillation of contemporary cultural attitudes, will
likely percolate across music studies and other cultural histories.”—Pierre Ruhe,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“He is an elegant storyteller whose gifts of explication lead the reader to new
levels of understanding, if not always agreement…his history is destined to
remain intriguing and influential for years to come.”—Don Rosenberg,
Cleveland Plain Dealer
“It isn’t likely that anyone, anytime soon, will challenge or replace this huge
effort of Taruskin’s…it is a staggering accomplishment.”—Alan Rich, LA
Weekly
“The book is nothing short of spectacular…stellar, worthwhile reading.—
Daniel Felsenfeld, New Music Box
“One of the liveliest and most remakable books about music…. It will give
real pleasures and revelations to any music lover, amateur or professional.”—
Raphael Mostel, The Forward
“It is difficult to arrive at a final opinion of so vast and multifarious a work
other than to say that few people in the field could have encompassed it with the
thoroughness and knowledge of Richard Taruskin.”—Patrick J. Smith, The New
Criterion
“Musicians, students, historians, and other readers wishing a detailed
narrative about the career, patronage, musical influences, reception, and creative
production of western composers, as well as the development of musical styles,
will find this a fascinating and satisfying resource.”—Reference & Research
Library Book News
“Richard Taruskin, the most authoritative controversialist in modern
musicology, has written an Oxford History of Western Music to rival Gibbon’s
Decline and Fall in ambition, literary distinction and sheer bulk. “—David
Gutman, The Independent
“There’s no doubt…that The Oxford History of Western Music is an
important model of music historiography for some years to come.”—Rob
Haskins, American Record Guide
“There’s no place else to look for such a comprehensive, entertaining
overview of this immense subject.”—John W. Freeman, Opera News
“It’s likely to be remembered as the magnum opus of the most stimulating
and insightful English-languge writer on music at work today.”—Claude
Bustard, Richmond Times-Dispatch
“A towering achievement.”—Melinda Bargreen, The Seattle Times
“Taruskin has suceeded in writing a stimulating overview of Western
society, setting a standard that will not be surpassed for a very long time.”—
Timothy J. McGee, Library Journal starred review
“Wickedly brilliant.”—BBC Music Magazine
MUSIC FROM THE EARLIEST NOTATIONS
TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
THE OXFORD HISTORY OF
WESTERN MUSIC
The Oxford History of Western Music is a continuous narrative, in five
volumes (originally
issued with a sixth containing indices and other back matter), covering
the history of
literate music making in Europe and (eventually) North America from
inception, with
the introduction of music notation in the ninth century CE, to the dawn
of the third
millennium. This book, corresponding to Volume 1 of the whole, has
been lightly
revised for the sake of greater accuracy and self-sufficiency. The
indices and back
matter have been divided among the several volumes in this edition.
The Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century The Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Centuries The Nineteenth Century
The Early Twentieth Century The Late Twentieth Century
MUSIC FROM THE EARLIEST
NOTATIONS TO THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURY
Richard Taruskin
THE OXFORD HISTORY OF WESTERN MUSIC
Oxford New York
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Copyright © 2005, 2010 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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http://www.oup.com/us
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Taruskin, Richard.
[Oxford history of western music. 1, Earliest notations to the sixteenth century]
Music from the earliest notations to the sixteenth century/by Richard Taruskin.
p. cm.—(The Oxford history of western music; v. 1)
Originally published as: Oxford history of western music.
Vol. 1, Earliest notations to the sixteenth century. Oxford; New York: Oxford
University Press, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-538481-9 (alk. paper)
1. Music—500-1400—History and criticism. 2. Music—15th century—History
and criticism.
3. Music—16th century–History and criticism. I. Title.
ML172. T37 2009
780.9′02–dc22
2008045165
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
To my mother, Beatrice Filler Taruskin,
My first music teacher
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Curtain Goes Up
“Gregorian” Chant, the First Literate Repertory, and How It Got That Way
Literacy
The Romans and the Franks
The Carolingian Renaissance
The chant comes north
The legend of St. Gregory
The origins of Gregorian chant
Monastic psalmody
The development of the liturgy
The Mass and its music
Neumes
Persistence of oral tradition
Psalmody in practice: The Office
Psalmody in practice: The Mass
Evidence of “oral composition”
Why we will never know how it all began
Beginnings, as far as we know them
Chapter 2 New Styles and Forms
Frankish Additions to the Original Chant Repertory
Longissimae melodiae