My primary research interests are related to the transmission of polyphony in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, work which includes but is not limited to source study and codicology, print culture, and issues of style.
If you lack institutional access for any paywalled articles of interest, please contact me! Supervisors: Antonio Chemotti
Handout for paper delivered at MedRen 2020, containing detailed description of contents and colla... more Handout for paper delivered at MedRen 2020, containing detailed description of contents and collation of Cambrai Ms. 18. (includes revisions following the conference)
The multifarious transmission of Gaspar van Weerbeke's Missa O Venus bant both north and south of... more The multifarious transmission of Gaspar van Weerbeke's Missa O Venus bant both north and south of the Alps allows for a case study of how mass music was copied - and how cyclic completeness was prioritized - in these two regions. Some implications of this transmission for our understanding of the genre of the cyclic mass are explored.
Recent panoramic assessments of l’homme armé’s origins have largely coalesced around a narrative ... more Recent panoramic assessments of l’homme armé’s origins have largely coalesced around a narrative variously tying it to the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece. Contrary to this narrative, however, are the circumstances and music of the six earliest masses, most (if not all) of which arose outside the Burgundian orbit. By studying the known biographical details of the early l’homme armé composers and their respective compositional approaches to the cantus firmus, this paper will demonstrate that the origin of l’homme armé mass composition more accurately resembles a cantus firmus mass complex of regional origin and organic growth than it does a monolithic tradition with a shared institutional instigator. Only later does Burgundy evince any interest in l’homme armé masses, perhaps at the magnificent festivities of the 1468 wedding of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York in Bruges, an association that may in part explain the tradition’s propagation but can only be applied retrospectively to its beginnings.
The origins of the L’homme armé mass tradition have fascinated musicologists since the early twen... more The origins of the L’homme armé mass tradition have fascinated musicologists since the early twentieth century. After identifying an epistemologically rigorous ‘early L’homme armé’, this paper interrogates two aspects of the tradition’s origins as they have been sketched in recent literature. First, I argue that attempts to connect L’homme armé with the ceremonial of the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece cannot be sustained in light of recent findings on related manuscripts and documents, especially Sean Gallagher’s exposition on the Missa L’homme armé of Johannes Regis. Second, I revisit the compositional question of ‘strict’ and ‘free’ cantus firmi, demonstrating how a heretofore unexplored aspect of Regis’s cantus firmus challenges this familiar distinction—within the L’homme armé tradition and beyond.
The “Roman period” of Josquin des Prez resulted in a small but impressive body of work, and the M... more The “Roman period” of Josquin des Prez resulted in a small but impressive body of work, and the Missa La sol fa re mi has been received as one of the most substantial and finest members of this corpus. Closer inspection of the transmission of this mass, however, suggests that despite its copying at the Sistine Chapel before 1500, there is reason to situate it instead among the problematic and derivative copies of Josquin’s music made at the papal chapel after his departure. I argue that rather than originating from the composer’s tenure in Rome, the Missa La sol fa re mi entered the papal chapel repertoire as part of an influx of music by composers associated with the French royal court surrounding the Italian campaign of King Charles VIII in 1494–95. Decoupling the Missa La sol fa re mi from Josquin’s tenure at the papal chapel raises new possibilities surrounding his works-chronology, biography, and milieu.
The “Roman period” of Josquin des Prez resulted in a small but impressive body of work, and the M... more The “Roman period” of Josquin des Prez resulted in a small but impressive body of work, and the Missa La sol fa re mi has been received as one of the most substantial and finest members of this corpus. Closer inspection of the transmission of this mass, however, suggests that despite its copying at the Sistine Chapel before 1500, there is reason to situate it instead among the problematic and derivative copies of Josquin’s music made at the papal chapel after his departure. I argue that rather than originating from the composer’s tenure in Rome, the Missa La sol fa re mi entered the papal chapel repertoire as part of an influx of music by composers associated with the French royal court surrounding the Italian campaign of King Charles VIII in 1494–95. Decoupling the Missa La sol fa re mi from Josquin’s tenure at the papal chapel raises new possibilities surrounding his works-chronology, biography, and milieu.
Handout for paper delivered at MedRen 2020, containing detailed description of contents and colla... more Handout for paper delivered at MedRen 2020, containing detailed description of contents and collation of Cambrai Ms. 18. (includes revisions following the conference)
The multifarious transmission of Gaspar van Weerbeke's Missa O Venus bant both north and south of... more The multifarious transmission of Gaspar van Weerbeke's Missa O Venus bant both north and south of the Alps allows for a case study of how mass music was copied - and how cyclic completeness was prioritized - in these two regions. Some implications of this transmission for our understanding of the genre of the cyclic mass are explored.
Recent panoramic assessments of l’homme armé’s origins have largely coalesced around a narrative ... more Recent panoramic assessments of l’homme armé’s origins have largely coalesced around a narrative variously tying it to the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece. Contrary to this narrative, however, are the circumstances and music of the six earliest masses, most (if not all) of which arose outside the Burgundian orbit. By studying the known biographical details of the early l’homme armé composers and their respective compositional approaches to the cantus firmus, this paper will demonstrate that the origin of l’homme armé mass composition more accurately resembles a cantus firmus mass complex of regional origin and organic growth than it does a monolithic tradition with a shared institutional instigator. Only later does Burgundy evince any interest in l’homme armé masses, perhaps at the magnificent festivities of the 1468 wedding of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York in Bruges, an association that may in part explain the tradition’s propagation but can only be applied retrospectively to its beginnings.
The origins of the L’homme armé mass tradition have fascinated musicologists since the early twen... more The origins of the L’homme armé mass tradition have fascinated musicologists since the early twentieth century. After identifying an epistemologically rigorous ‘early L’homme armé’, this paper interrogates two aspects of the tradition’s origins as they have been sketched in recent literature. First, I argue that attempts to connect L’homme armé with the ceremonial of the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece cannot be sustained in light of recent findings on related manuscripts and documents, especially Sean Gallagher’s exposition on the Missa L’homme armé of Johannes Regis. Second, I revisit the compositional question of ‘strict’ and ‘free’ cantus firmi, demonstrating how a heretofore unexplored aspect of Regis’s cantus firmus challenges this familiar distinction—within the L’homme armé tradition and beyond.
The “Roman period” of Josquin des Prez resulted in a small but impressive body of work, and the M... more The “Roman period” of Josquin des Prez resulted in a small but impressive body of work, and the Missa La sol fa re mi has been received as one of the most substantial and finest members of this corpus. Closer inspection of the transmission of this mass, however, suggests that despite its copying at the Sistine Chapel before 1500, there is reason to situate it instead among the problematic and derivative copies of Josquin’s music made at the papal chapel after his departure. I argue that rather than originating from the composer’s tenure in Rome, the Missa La sol fa re mi entered the papal chapel repertoire as part of an influx of music by composers associated with the French royal court surrounding the Italian campaign of King Charles VIII in 1494–95. Decoupling the Missa La sol fa re mi from Josquin’s tenure at the papal chapel raises new possibilities surrounding his works-chronology, biography, and milieu.
The “Roman period” of Josquin des Prez resulted in a small but impressive body of work, and the M... more The “Roman period” of Josquin des Prez resulted in a small but impressive body of work, and the Missa La sol fa re mi has been received as one of the most substantial and finest members of this corpus. Closer inspection of the transmission of this mass, however, suggests that despite its copying at the Sistine Chapel before 1500, there is reason to situate it instead among the problematic and derivative copies of Josquin’s music made at the papal chapel after his departure. I argue that rather than originating from the composer’s tenure in Rome, the Missa La sol fa re mi entered the papal chapel repertoire as part of an influx of music by composers associated with the French royal court surrounding the Italian campaign of King Charles VIII in 1494–95. Decoupling the Missa La sol fa re mi from Josquin’s tenure at the papal chapel raises new possibilities surrounding his works-chronology, biography, and milieu.
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