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Although medieval English music has been relatively neglected in comparison with repertoire from France and Italy, there are few classical musicians today who have not listened to the thirteenth-century song ‘Sumer is icumen in’, or read of the achievements and fame of fifteenth-century composer John Dunstaple. Similarly, the identification of a distinctively English musical style (sometimes understood as the contenance angloise) has been made on numerous occasions by writers exploring the extent to which English ideas influenced polyphonic composition abroad. Angel song: Medieval English music in history examines the ways in which the standard narratives of English musical history have been crafted, from the Middle Ages to the present. Colton challenges the way in which the concept of a canon of English music has been built around a handful of pieces, composers and practices, each of which offers opportunities for a reappraisal of English musical and devotional cultures between 1250 and 1460.
The papers included in this volume were presented, in much shorter form, at a conference entitled 'Sources of Identity: Makers, Owners and Users of Music Sources Before 1600' held at the University of Sheffield in 2013. The stated aim of the event was to leave aside the traditionally dominant view of early music sources as a means of access to medieval and Renaissance repertoires, focussing instead on the people who commissioned, made, owned and used music books, and on their reasons for so doing. In the terms proposed by a recent study of art patronage in the period, what was the 'payoff' enjoyed by individuals and groups who created and deployed such objects?
Although medieval English music has been relatively neglected in comparison with repertoire from France and Italy, there are few classical musicians today who have not listened to the thirteenth-century song ‘Sumer is icumen in’, or read of the achievements and fame of fifteenth-century composer John Dunstaple. Similarly, the identification of a distinctively English musical style (sometimes understood as the contenance angloise) has been made on numerous occasions by writers exploring the extent to which English ideas influenced polyphonic composition abroad. Angel song: Medieval English music in history examines the ways in which the standard narratives of English musical history have been crafted, from the Middle Ages to the present. Colton challenges the way in which the concept of a canon of English music has been built around a handful of pieces, composers and practices, each of which offers opportunities for a reappraisal of English musical and devotional cultures between 1250 and 1460.
Drawing on the expertise of a wide range of professionals, Inside the Contemporary Conservatoire: Critical Perspectives from the Royal College of Music, London presents fresh perspectives on the work of music conservatoires today through an in-depth case study of the Royal College of Music (RCM), London. Problematising the role and purpose of conservatoires in the context of changing cultural and societal conditions, the contributors reframe the conservatoire as a vehicle for positive change in the performing arts and society at large. Organised into three main sections, the volume covers conservatoire identities and values, teaching and learning music at a conservatoire, and reflections on ...
Devotional Interaction in Medieval England and its Afterlives examines the interaction between medieval English worshippers and the material objects of their devotion. The volume also addresses the afterlives of objects and buildings in their temporal journeys from the Middle Ages to the present day. Written by the participants of a National Endowment for the Humanities-funded seminar held in York, U.K., in 2014, the chapters incorporate site-specific research with the insights of scholars of visual art, literature, music, liturgy, ritual, and church history. Interdisciplinarity is a central feature of this volume, which celebrates interactivity as a working method between its authors as much as a subject of inquiry. Contributors are Lisa Colton, Elizabeth Dachowski, Angie Estes, Gregory Erickson, Jennifer M. Feltman, Elisa A. Foster Laura D. Gelfand, Louise Hampson, Kerilyn Harkaway-Krieger, Kathleen E. Kennedy, Heather S. Mitchell-Buck, Julia Perratore, Steven Rozenski, Carolyn Twomey, and Laura J. Whatley.
From music written in praise of Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and English saints to the selection of Gospel readings by the Dominicans, this book introduces readers to the richness of medieval liturgical culture from across Britain and Ireland. Each of its three main sections opens with a chapter that offers a contextual frame for its key themes. With contributions from leading experts in pre-Reformation music and its sources, the book's focus on Insular liturgy – rather than that of only one part of Britain or Ireland – allows readers to learn about the devotional, political and creative networks at play in shaping liturgical practices: personal, secular, monastic, lay, and professional. The opening part includes broader discussions of Uses, including that of Salisbury, and case studies explore Insular witnesses to devotional activities in honour of both local cults and widely known figures, including St Columba, St Margaret, St Katherine, and the Magi.
He’s the target and she’s in the crosshairs
From its origins in the thirteenth century, the Latin-texted motet in England and France became the most significant and diverse polyphonic genre of the fourteenth, a body of music important both for its texts and its variety of musical structures. However, although the motet in England plays a vital role in the music-historical narrative of the first decades of the 1300s, it has too often been overlooked in modern scholarship, due largely to its preservation in numerous but almost entirely fragmentary sources.0In 2017, substantial new fragments of medieval polyphony came to light. They originated at the Benedictine monastery of Abbotsbury, a major institution located high above Chesil Beach...
This book traces the development of music in the late 20th and early 21st centuries with regards to the work of six women composers: Sofia Gubaidulina, Joan Tower, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Libby Larsen, Chen Yi, and Judith Weir. The study integrates cultural contexts with the composers’ biographies, their diverse compositional styles, and provides in-depth analyses of their musical works. The Kaleidoscope of Women’s Sounds in Music of the Late 20th and Early 21st Centuries offers a more detailed guide to not only these composers, but also their musical characters and styles, than previous studies on women’s music. It discusses several aspects of these women’s compositional perspectives and their personal experiences as they developed their music careers. The book also places emphasis on how these composers incorporated diverse musical styles and the idioms of others into the development of their own distinctly personal styles. The analytical approach adopted in this book is supplemented with illustrations of musical examples in order to provide a more complete understanding of the work of these composers.
This book focuses on researching the chime stone, a percussion instrument carved from stone that originated in ancient China. In antiquity, people regarded the chime stone as an important musical instrument because its presence indicated the wealth and status of the tomb owners. In the late Neolithic Age, people discovered the differences between each type of stone and their sound qualities. Chime stone manufacture focused on the timbre of the natural stone, as opposed to both materials and sounding based selection in later periods, which formed a part of making a perfect and delicate chime stone. In the earlier period the chime stone was only a musical instrument for producing rhythmic soun...