Date/Time
Date(s) - 10 Apr 2013
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Location
Columbia University Faculty House
Category(ies) No Categories
The next meeting of the University Seminar on Medieval Studies will take place on Wednesday, April 10, from 5:30-7:00pm in Room 2 of Faculty House. Mark Everist (University of Southampton) will speak on “´Cantum pulcriorem invenire´: Medieval Latin Poetry and Music.”
The long thirteenth century (c1170 to c1320) saw the emergence of three coherent repertories of polyphonic music: settings of liturgical chant called organum, motets that were originally derived from parts of organum and the conductus. Organum and the motet have been the subject of impressive levels of musicological study in the last 150 years whereas the conductus-despite its status as the first consistent repertory of newly-composed polyphony-has remained somewhat in the shadows. Although the repertory has been catalogued, little work, admittedly very distinguished, has been built on these bibliographical foundations. The conductus therefore stands at the centre of this project, merging Latin poetry and music in a single genre. Cantum pulcriorem invenire (the title quotes lines from the treatise Ars cantus mensurabilis that instruct would-be composers of conductus first of all `to find a more beautiful melody´) seeks to understand the Latin poetry and music of the conductus with a view to reinstating it alongside organum and motet, the position that it enjoyed in the eyes and words of all thirteenth-century theorists. This understanding is gained by an analysis of repertories and chronology, poetry and music, in conjunction with a review of the highly contested question of the genre´s rhythm and metre.
The talk will be followed by dinner at Faculty House. All those who wish to dine with the speaker after the talk must make reservations by contacting the rapporteur of the
seminar, Jeffrey Wayno, no later than one week before the talk ([email protected]). Dinner is a fixed buffet menu, which costs $25 per person, paid by check. Please make checks out to “Columbia University.”