Carol J. Williams is an adjunct research fellow of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Monash University and has an established academic career in both musicology and history. She is one of the collaborating editors and translators of the Ars Musice of Johannes de Grocheio (2011) and the Tractatus de tonis of Guy of Saint-Denis (2017). Co-authored articles include “Ancients and moderns in medieval music theory: From Guido of Arezzo to Jacobus” in Intellectual History Review (2017) with Constant Mews and, “New Light on Frater Nicolaus de Aversa: His Plainchant Treatise in LHD 244” in Musica Disciplina (2015) with Karen Cook. Her most recent work is a book chapter "The Emotional Landscape of Abelard’s Planctus David super Saul et Ionatha” In The Intellectual Dynamism of the High Middle Ages, edited by Clare Monagle, (2021). Carol is also a performing musician, singing and playing harp, vielle and rebec in the early music ensemble, Acord.
This paper explores the codicological features, contents and history of BL Harl. MS. 281, an anth... more This paper explores the codicological features, contents and history of BL Harl. MS. 281, an anthology of writings on music theory copied by a single hand in the early fourteenth century, well known inter alia for including one of only two copies of the Ars musice of Johannes de Grocheio. We argue that the anthology was commissioned by Guy of Saint-Denis, a monk of that abbey, and that this Guy was responsible for numerous corrections throughout the manuscript, in particular to his own treatise, the Tractatus de tonis, which closes the anthology. The opening treatise in the anthology, three books attributed to Guido of Arezzo, constitutes a carefully edited collection of writings, supplemented with a range of other texts, including the Dialogus de musica of Pseudo Odo, and writings about Guido of Arezzo that may have been specially compiled by Guy of Saint-Denis. We argue that the compilation provides a comprehensive manual of writings on music theory, all of which influence Guy in ...
This is an edition and translation of the 13th century music theorist and philosopher, Johannes d... more This is an edition and translation of the 13th century music theorist and philosopher, Johannes de Grocheio. While the sections of this work on vernacular music are very well known, there is much else of value in this fascinating product of the Parisian Aristotelian revolution. Edited and translated by Constant J. Mews, John N. Crossley, Catherine Jeffreys, Leigh McKinnon and Carol J. Williams. TEAMS Varia, Medieval Institute Publications, Kalamazoo, 2011.
The Intellectual Dynamism of the High Middle Ages, 2021
In Abelard’s Letter 16 addressed to ‘Héloise, sister to be revered in Christ and loved’, he refer... more In Abelard’s Letter 16 addressed to ‘Héloise, sister to be revered in Christ and loved’, he refers to a set of six planctus or laments written in the voices of a number of Old Testament characters The last of these, Planctus 6, in which David laments for Saul and Jonathan, is probably the most famous and is the only one for which a reliable, original music setting survives. The laments are all in the first person and provide a deeply personal reflection on the tragic events which inspired them; they are virtuosic in language and almost shockingly intense in emotional range. This study examines Planctus 6 considering the link between Abelard’s language and the expression of specific emotions and, wherever possible, examines how music serves to intensify that expression.
ABSTRACT Medieval discourse about both the theory and practice of music featured much debate abou... more ABSTRACT Medieval discourse about both the theory and practice of music featured much debate about the views of moderni and antiqui from when Guido of Arezzo devised a new way of recording pitch in the early eleventh century to the complaints of Jacobus in the early fourteenth century about new forms of measured music in the ars nova. There was also a shift from a Boethian notion that practical music was a manifestation of cosmic music, towards a more Aristotelian model, that privileged music as sensory experience. That this could have a profound effect on human emotion was articulated by Johannes de Grocheio writing about music c. 1270 and Guy of Saint-Denis soon after 1300 about plainchant. Jacobus, writing in the 1320s, was troubled by this shift in thinking about music not as reflections of transcendent realities, but as sounds of human invention that served to move the soul. He argued that musical patterns should reflect a transcendent harmony that was both cosmic and celestial.
an appendix of composer biographies. The proof-reading has generally been well done, though there... more an appendix of composer biographies. The proof-reading has generally been well done, though there are a few unfortunate lapses such as the misspelling of ‘modal’ as ‘model’ on the word’s first appearance (p. 16) or—that trap for the unwary, Praetorius’s Syntagma Musicum with the first word misspelt ‘Symtagma’ (p. 157). There also seems to be some confusion in the labelling of bars in the discussion of Palestrina’s Sicut lilium (p. 34) in the only section of the book with music examples. Endnotes to chapters are very skimpy, presumably in recognition of the fact that the general reader would be unlikely to bother with them. Sections in italics are added to some chapters with what seems to be optional extra material— excerpts from contemporary documents and discussion or translations of secular musical texts. There is no reference to these in the introduction, and their inclusion seems rather haphazard; more directed use could have been made of this technique to open up areas of controversy and to layer the discussion in a more open-ended way. In the preface to his Renaissance Music (New York and London, 1998) Allan W. Atlas quoted an undergraduate student who admitted preferring another textbook to his because it ‘told it like it is’; in contrast Atlas tended to raise questions and not necessarily to provide easy answers. Comparisons with Atlas are inevitable, though Ongaro’s book, which does try to ‘tell it like it is’, is much more limited in its scope. If his readers have their curiosity aroused and are thereby prepared to take on Atlas with his greater focus on the music of the period, then his job will have been well done. All the signs are that this should be so, and Giulio Ongaro is to be congratulated on his success in condensing a highly complex subject into such a readable synthesis. NOEL O’REGAN doi:10.1093/ml/gci071
The Musica speculativa of Jean des Murs played a key role in renewing interest in the teaching of... more The Musica speculativa of Jean des Murs played a key role in renewing interest in the teaching of Boethius in the fourteenth century. We argue that this treatise is much more than a summary of the Boethian De institutione musica in presenting its core teachings as fully consistent within an Aristotelian theory of knowledge. Two versions of its prologue (1323 and 1325 respectively) are examined together with their relationship to Jean’s Notitia artis musicae (1321) and the innovative significance of its mathematical-style presentation of the teaching of Boethius about proportions with its appeal to clear diagrams. We aim to guide the modern reader through the thought patterns and diagrams of Jean des Murs, demonstrating why the Musica speculativa was so widely studied in the later Middle Ages. The two different prologues are presented in English translation for the first time.
The Musica speculativa of Jean des Murs played a key role in renewing interest in the teaching of... more The Musica speculativa of Jean des Murs played a key role in renewing interest in the teaching of Boethius in the fourteenth century. We argue that this treatise is much more than a summary of the Boethian De institutione musica in presenting its core teachings as fully consistent within an Aristotelian theory of knowledge. Two versions of its prologue (1323 and 1325 respectively) are examined together with their relationship to Jean's Notitia artis musicae (1321) and the innovative significance of its mathematical-style presentation of the teaching of Boethius about proportions with its appeal to clear diagrams. We aim to guide the modern reader through the thought patterns and diagrams of Jean des Murs, demonstrating why the Musica speculativa was so widely studied in the later Middle Ages. The two different prologues are presented in English translation for the first time.
The Feeling Heart in Medieval and Early Modern Europe : Meaning, Embodiment, and Making, 2019
Williams, Carol J. "Two Views of the Feeling Heart in Troubadour Song." In The Feeling Heart in M... more Williams, Carol J. "Two Views of the Feeling Heart in Troubadour Song." In The Feeling Heart in Medieval and Early Modern Europe : Meaning, Embodiment, and Making, edited by Katie Barclay and Bronwyn Reddan. Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture, 59-78: Medieval Institute Publications 2019
The British Library manuscript Harl. 281 provides a carefully structured anthology of texts, copi... more The British Library manuscript Harl. 281 provides a carefully structured anthology of texts, copied by a single hand, about the theory of music as interpreted in Paris in the early fourteenth century. 2 The first of its two sections (ff. 5r-38v) opens with what is presented as three distinct books by Guido of Arezzo (d. after 1033): 3 the Micrologus, the Trocaicus (a synthesis of various Guidonian texts, primarily the Regule rythmice), and a third book on music in the form of a dialogue, in reality the anonymous Dialogus de musica once attributed to Odo and often linked to Odo's oeuvre. These three books are expanded by additional material and followed by a fourth text, the so-called Tonale Beati Bernardi, an anonymous tonary that provides a Cistercian interpretation of plainchant performance concerns. The second section of Harl. MS. 281 (ff. 39r-96v) contains three more recent texts, possibly intended to create a group of seven. The first of these is the Ars musice of Johannes de Grocheio (Jean of Grouchy), presented here (ff. 39r-52r) without identification of its eBLJ 2008, Article 6
ABSTRACT Medieval discourse about both the theory and practice of music featured much debate abou... more ABSTRACT Medieval discourse about both the theory and practice of music featured much debate about the views of moderni and antiqui from when Guido of Arezzo devised a new way of recording pitch in the early eleventh century to the complaints of Jacobus in the early fourteenth century about new forms of measured music in the ars nova. There was also a shift from a Boethian notion that practical music was a manifestation of cosmic music, towards a more Aristotelian model, that privileged music as sensory experience. That this could have a profound effect on human emotion was articulated by Johannes de Grocheio writing about music c. 1270 and Guy of Saint-Denis soon after 1300 about plainchant. Jacobus, writing in the 1320s, was troubled by this shift in thinking about music not as reflections of transcendent realities, but as sounds of human invention that served to move the soul. He argued that musical patterns should reflect a transcendent harmony that was both cosmic and celestial.
Proceedings of the 2015 WA Chapter MSA Symposium on Music Performance and Analysis, 2017
A tonary is a liturgical book in which the antiphons of the office and mass, as well as responsor... more A tonary is a liturgical book in which the antiphons of the office and mass, as well as responsories and other chants are classified according to the 8 psalm tones. This was essential before the development of precise pitch notation as it provided a guide for the memorisation of the psalmodic endings of each of the 8 tones, thus providing the link between the specific antiphons and psalms selected to celebrate the many feasts of the church. The earliest tonaries appeared in the 8th century and with diminishing frequency up to the 14th century, even though by then precise pitch notation was readily available. This demonstrated the continued requirement in the monasteries and convents to memorise chant. The examples that I examine in this paper all appear in the manuscript British Library, Harley 281 and are collected there right at the end of the popularity of the tonary, in the early 14th century. They are the 12th century Tonale Sancti Bernardi (a Cistercian tonary in dialogue form), the 13th century Tractatus de tonis of Petrus de Cruce (Amiens, secular use) and the early 14th century Tractatus de tonis of Guy of Saint-Denis (Paris, Benedictine monastic use). This final work is presented in two books; the first provides the analytical substructure of the working of the 8 tones and the second, puts these principles into practice with more than 400 examples of chant to be performed.
Williams, Carol. "The Tonary as Analytic Guidebook for the Performance of Chant." In Proceedings of the 2015 WA Chapter MSA Symposium on Music Performance and Analysis, edited by Jonathan Paget, Victoria Rogers and Nicholas Bannan, 64-72. Perth: Musicological Society of Australia, 2017.
Williams, Carol J. "The Emotional Landscape of Abelard ’S Planctus David Super Saul Et Ionatha." In The Intellectual Dynamism of the High Middle Ages, edited by Clare Monagle, 99-128: Amsterdam University Press, 2021.
In Abelard's Letter 16 addressed to 'Héloise, sister to be revered in Christ and loved', he refer... more In Abelard's Letter 16 addressed to 'Héloise, sister to be revered in Christ and loved', he refers to a set of six planctus or laments written in the voices of a number of Old Testament characters The last of these, Planctus 6, in which David laments for Saul and Jonathan, is probably the most famous and is the only one for which a reliable, original music setting survives. The laments are all in the f irst person and provide a deeply personal reflection on the tragic events which inspired them; they are virtuosic in language and almost shockingly intense in emotional range. This study examines Planctus 6 considering the link between Abelard's language and the expression of specific emotions and, wherever possible, examines how music serves to intensify that expression.
This paper explores the codicological features, contents and history of BL Harl. MS. 281, an anth... more This paper explores the codicological features, contents and history of BL Harl. MS. 281, an anthology of writings on music theory copied by a single hand in the early fourteenth century, well known inter alia for including one of only two copies of the Ars musice of Johannes de Grocheio. We argue that the anthology was commissioned by Guy of Saint-Denis, a monk of that abbey, and that this Guy was responsible for numerous corrections throughout the manuscript, in particular to his own treatise, the Tractatus de tonis, which closes the anthology. The opening treatise in the anthology, three books attributed to Guido of Arezzo, constitutes a carefully edited collection of writings, supplemented with a range of other texts, including the Dialogus de musica of Pseudo Odo, and writings about Guido of Arezzo that may have been specially compiled by Guy of Saint-Denis. We argue that the compilation provides a comprehensive manual of writings on music theory, all of which influence Guy in ...
This is an edition and translation of the 13th century music theorist and philosopher, Johannes d... more This is an edition and translation of the 13th century music theorist and philosopher, Johannes de Grocheio. While the sections of this work on vernacular music are very well known, there is much else of value in this fascinating product of the Parisian Aristotelian revolution. Edited and translated by Constant J. Mews, John N. Crossley, Catherine Jeffreys, Leigh McKinnon and Carol J. Williams. TEAMS Varia, Medieval Institute Publications, Kalamazoo, 2011.
The Intellectual Dynamism of the High Middle Ages, 2021
In Abelard’s Letter 16 addressed to ‘Héloise, sister to be revered in Christ and loved’, he refer... more In Abelard’s Letter 16 addressed to ‘Héloise, sister to be revered in Christ and loved’, he refers to a set of six planctus or laments written in the voices of a number of Old Testament characters The last of these, Planctus 6, in which David laments for Saul and Jonathan, is probably the most famous and is the only one for which a reliable, original music setting survives. The laments are all in the first person and provide a deeply personal reflection on the tragic events which inspired them; they are virtuosic in language and almost shockingly intense in emotional range. This study examines Planctus 6 considering the link between Abelard’s language and the expression of specific emotions and, wherever possible, examines how music serves to intensify that expression.
ABSTRACT Medieval discourse about both the theory and practice of music featured much debate abou... more ABSTRACT Medieval discourse about both the theory and practice of music featured much debate about the views of moderni and antiqui from when Guido of Arezzo devised a new way of recording pitch in the early eleventh century to the complaints of Jacobus in the early fourteenth century about new forms of measured music in the ars nova. There was also a shift from a Boethian notion that practical music was a manifestation of cosmic music, towards a more Aristotelian model, that privileged music as sensory experience. That this could have a profound effect on human emotion was articulated by Johannes de Grocheio writing about music c. 1270 and Guy of Saint-Denis soon after 1300 about plainchant. Jacobus, writing in the 1320s, was troubled by this shift in thinking about music not as reflections of transcendent realities, but as sounds of human invention that served to move the soul. He argued that musical patterns should reflect a transcendent harmony that was both cosmic and celestial.
an appendix of composer biographies. The proof-reading has generally been well done, though there... more an appendix of composer biographies. The proof-reading has generally been well done, though there are a few unfortunate lapses such as the misspelling of ‘modal’ as ‘model’ on the word’s first appearance (p. 16) or—that trap for the unwary, Praetorius’s Syntagma Musicum with the first word misspelt ‘Symtagma’ (p. 157). There also seems to be some confusion in the labelling of bars in the discussion of Palestrina’s Sicut lilium (p. 34) in the only section of the book with music examples. Endnotes to chapters are very skimpy, presumably in recognition of the fact that the general reader would be unlikely to bother with them. Sections in italics are added to some chapters with what seems to be optional extra material— excerpts from contemporary documents and discussion or translations of secular musical texts. There is no reference to these in the introduction, and their inclusion seems rather haphazard; more directed use could have been made of this technique to open up areas of controversy and to layer the discussion in a more open-ended way. In the preface to his Renaissance Music (New York and London, 1998) Allan W. Atlas quoted an undergraduate student who admitted preferring another textbook to his because it ‘told it like it is’; in contrast Atlas tended to raise questions and not necessarily to provide easy answers. Comparisons with Atlas are inevitable, though Ongaro’s book, which does try to ‘tell it like it is’, is much more limited in its scope. If his readers have their curiosity aroused and are thereby prepared to take on Atlas with his greater focus on the music of the period, then his job will have been well done. All the signs are that this should be so, and Giulio Ongaro is to be congratulated on his success in condensing a highly complex subject into such a readable synthesis. NOEL O’REGAN doi:10.1093/ml/gci071
The Musica speculativa of Jean des Murs played a key role in renewing interest in the teaching of... more The Musica speculativa of Jean des Murs played a key role in renewing interest in the teaching of Boethius in the fourteenth century. We argue that this treatise is much more than a summary of the Boethian De institutione musica in presenting its core teachings as fully consistent within an Aristotelian theory of knowledge. Two versions of its prologue (1323 and 1325 respectively) are examined together with their relationship to Jean’s Notitia artis musicae (1321) and the innovative significance of its mathematical-style presentation of the teaching of Boethius about proportions with its appeal to clear diagrams. We aim to guide the modern reader through the thought patterns and diagrams of Jean des Murs, demonstrating why the Musica speculativa was so widely studied in the later Middle Ages. The two different prologues are presented in English translation for the first time.
The Musica speculativa of Jean des Murs played a key role in renewing interest in the teaching of... more The Musica speculativa of Jean des Murs played a key role in renewing interest in the teaching of Boethius in the fourteenth century. We argue that this treatise is much more than a summary of the Boethian De institutione musica in presenting its core teachings as fully consistent within an Aristotelian theory of knowledge. Two versions of its prologue (1323 and 1325 respectively) are examined together with their relationship to Jean's Notitia artis musicae (1321) and the innovative significance of its mathematical-style presentation of the teaching of Boethius about proportions with its appeal to clear diagrams. We aim to guide the modern reader through the thought patterns and diagrams of Jean des Murs, demonstrating why the Musica speculativa was so widely studied in the later Middle Ages. The two different prologues are presented in English translation for the first time.
The Feeling Heart in Medieval and Early Modern Europe : Meaning, Embodiment, and Making, 2019
Williams, Carol J. "Two Views of the Feeling Heart in Troubadour Song." In The Feeling Heart in M... more Williams, Carol J. "Two Views of the Feeling Heart in Troubadour Song." In The Feeling Heart in Medieval and Early Modern Europe : Meaning, Embodiment, and Making, edited by Katie Barclay and Bronwyn Reddan. Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture, 59-78: Medieval Institute Publications 2019
The British Library manuscript Harl. 281 provides a carefully structured anthology of texts, copi... more The British Library manuscript Harl. 281 provides a carefully structured anthology of texts, copied by a single hand, about the theory of music as interpreted in Paris in the early fourteenth century. 2 The first of its two sections (ff. 5r-38v) opens with what is presented as three distinct books by Guido of Arezzo (d. after 1033): 3 the Micrologus, the Trocaicus (a synthesis of various Guidonian texts, primarily the Regule rythmice), and a third book on music in the form of a dialogue, in reality the anonymous Dialogus de musica once attributed to Odo and often linked to Odo's oeuvre. These three books are expanded by additional material and followed by a fourth text, the so-called Tonale Beati Bernardi, an anonymous tonary that provides a Cistercian interpretation of plainchant performance concerns. The second section of Harl. MS. 281 (ff. 39r-96v) contains three more recent texts, possibly intended to create a group of seven. The first of these is the Ars musice of Johannes de Grocheio (Jean of Grouchy), presented here (ff. 39r-52r) without identification of its eBLJ 2008, Article 6
ABSTRACT Medieval discourse about both the theory and practice of music featured much debate abou... more ABSTRACT Medieval discourse about both the theory and practice of music featured much debate about the views of moderni and antiqui from when Guido of Arezzo devised a new way of recording pitch in the early eleventh century to the complaints of Jacobus in the early fourteenth century about new forms of measured music in the ars nova. There was also a shift from a Boethian notion that practical music was a manifestation of cosmic music, towards a more Aristotelian model, that privileged music as sensory experience. That this could have a profound effect on human emotion was articulated by Johannes de Grocheio writing about music c. 1270 and Guy of Saint-Denis soon after 1300 about plainchant. Jacobus, writing in the 1320s, was troubled by this shift in thinking about music not as reflections of transcendent realities, but as sounds of human invention that served to move the soul. He argued that musical patterns should reflect a transcendent harmony that was both cosmic and celestial.
Proceedings of the 2015 WA Chapter MSA Symposium on Music Performance and Analysis, 2017
A tonary is a liturgical book in which the antiphons of the office and mass, as well as responsor... more A tonary is a liturgical book in which the antiphons of the office and mass, as well as responsories and other chants are classified according to the 8 psalm tones. This was essential before the development of precise pitch notation as it provided a guide for the memorisation of the psalmodic endings of each of the 8 tones, thus providing the link between the specific antiphons and psalms selected to celebrate the many feasts of the church. The earliest tonaries appeared in the 8th century and with diminishing frequency up to the 14th century, even though by then precise pitch notation was readily available. This demonstrated the continued requirement in the monasteries and convents to memorise chant. The examples that I examine in this paper all appear in the manuscript British Library, Harley 281 and are collected there right at the end of the popularity of the tonary, in the early 14th century. They are the 12th century Tonale Sancti Bernardi (a Cistercian tonary in dialogue form), the 13th century Tractatus de tonis of Petrus de Cruce (Amiens, secular use) and the early 14th century Tractatus de tonis of Guy of Saint-Denis (Paris, Benedictine monastic use). This final work is presented in two books; the first provides the analytical substructure of the working of the 8 tones and the second, puts these principles into practice with more than 400 examples of chant to be performed.
Williams, Carol. "The Tonary as Analytic Guidebook for the Performance of Chant." In Proceedings of the 2015 WA Chapter MSA Symposium on Music Performance and Analysis, edited by Jonathan Paget, Victoria Rogers and Nicholas Bannan, 64-72. Perth: Musicological Society of Australia, 2017.
Williams, Carol J. "The Emotional Landscape of Abelard ’S Planctus David Super Saul Et Ionatha." In The Intellectual Dynamism of the High Middle Ages, edited by Clare Monagle, 99-128: Amsterdam University Press, 2021.
In Abelard's Letter 16 addressed to 'Héloise, sister to be revered in Christ and loved', he refer... more In Abelard's Letter 16 addressed to 'Héloise, sister to be revered in Christ and loved', he refers to a set of six planctus or laments written in the voices of a number of Old Testament characters The last of these, Planctus 6, in which David laments for Saul and Jonathan, is probably the most famous and is the only one for which a reliable, original music setting survives. The laments are all in the f irst person and provide a deeply personal reflection on the tragic events which inspired them; they are virtuosic in language and almost shockingly intense in emotional range. This study examines Planctus 6 considering the link between Abelard's language and the expression of specific emotions and, wherever possible, examines how music serves to intensify that expression.
The alignment between grammar and music can be seen in antiquity in the earliest crafting of the ... more The alignment between grammar and music can be seen in antiquity in the earliest crafting of the seven liberal arts. The music pedagogue Guido of Arezzo (c. 990 – after 1033) unfolds the analogy between the parts of language and the elements of music in chapter fifteen “On grateful melodic lines and composing them” of his music theory handbook, the Micrologus. He establishes the musical equivalents of letters, syllables, feet and lines as well as interpreting the elements of punctuation, the comma, the colon, the punctus and so on with the process of degrees of cadential closure in melody. Guido’s aim is to impress on his readers the necessity of letting ‘the effect of the song express what is going on in the text.’ These ideas were to be given further polish and direction by John Cotton (of Afflighem) (fl. 1100) in his De musica, where he explains that both language and music are only expressive in their manipulation of time; tempus is common to both. It is John who makes clear the temporal relationship of one syllable to the next, understood through the quantitative measure of long and short syllables. This revivification of the analogy between grammar and music leads in one direction to Jerome of Moray’s (d. after 1271) instructions on writing chant for newly established feasts. The other direction, focussed on tempus rather than expressivity, was to provide the basis for the rapidly shifting discourse on musica mensurabilis, and the revolutionary sounds of 13th century Parisian polyphony.
Guido of Arezzo, John of Affligem and Jerome of Moray on Grammar and Music, 2022
The alignment between grammar and music can be seen in antiquity in the earliest crafting of the ... more The alignment between grammar and music can be seen in antiquity in the earliest crafting of the seven liberal arts. The music pedagogue Guido of Arezzo (c. 990 – after 1033) unfolds the analogy between the parts of language and the elements of music in chapter fifteen “On grateful melodic lines and composing them” of his music theory handbook, the Micrologus. He establishes the musical equivalents of letters, syllables, feet and lines as well as interpreting the elements of punctuation, the comma, the colon, the punctus and so on with the process of degrees of cadential closure in melody. Guido’s aim is to impress on his readers the necessity of letting ‘the effect of the song express what is going on in the text.’ These ideas were to be given further polish and direction by John Cotton (of Afflighem) (fl. 1100) in his De musica, where he explains that both language and music are only expressive in their manipulation of time; tempus is common to both. It is John who makes clear the temporal relationship of one syllable to the next, understood through the quantitative measure of long and short syllables. This revivification of the analogy between grammar and music leads in one direction to Jerome of Moray’s (d. after 1271) instructions on writing chant for newly established feasts. The other direction, focussed on tempus rather than expressivity, was to provide the basis for the rapidly shifting discourse on musica mensurabilis, and the revolutionary sounds of 13th century Parisian polyphony.
There was a discussion about the expression of emotion in music going on in the most scholarly ha... more There was a discussion about the expression of emotion in music going on in the most scholarly halls of Paris in the second half of the 13 th century. Foremost amongst the scholars was Aquinas with his passions of the soul, which were later refined and specifically directed to musical expression by Peter of Auvergne. Grocheio was involved in the discussion too with his application of Neo-Platonic and Aristotelian understandings about the power of music to the music of the people of Paris. There was also Guy of St Denis who with a cantor's understanding of the inner working of mode and an encyclopedic grasp of chant in the performance of liturgy constructed a theory which explained the mechanics of music expressivity. The approach of this Benedictine monk stands in strong contrast to the work of the contemporary Dominican, Jerome of Moravia. All this in the hothouse laboratory of rhythmic and notational experimentation in polyphony that was to culminate in the Ars Nova of the early fourteenth century. The interconnecting lines of influence between these theorists and scholars weave through the streets of Paris and establish a powerful emotional community.
Dates for Gui of St Denis are uncertain but this Benedictine music theorist flourished in the lat... more Dates for Gui of St Denis are uncertain but this Benedictine music theorist flourished in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.
The Socratic dialogue between magister and discipulo is a common discourse type in medieval music... more The Socratic dialogue between magister and discipulo is a common discourse type in medieval music theory. An example of this is the Pseudo-Odo Dialogus (11 th century), often attributed to Guido of Arezzo (c.990-c. 1035) as it is in its transmission in the British Library's manuscript Harley 281. Guy of St Denis (fl. late 13 th-early 14 th centuries), the compiler of this anthology of theory texts, doubtless founded his decision to include this work in order to complete his presentation of all the known works of the 11 th century theorist. The original prologue 1 to the Dialogus concludes with a commendation of the dialogue form as a pedagogic device, an idea which Guy develops in a replacement prologue unique to this manuscript and apparently of his own devising. 2 Guy is clearly an advocate of the scholastic dialogue style as we see several different manifestations of it both in his own work, the Tractatus de tonis, and in his presentation of the works of Guido of Arezzo. Firstly, Guy establishes a kind of dialogue, reaching back more than two centuries, with Guido by assuming
As cantor of the abbey church of St Denis, just north of Paris, Guy of Saint-Denis (fl. late 13 t... more As cantor of the abbey church of St Denis, just north of Paris, Guy of Saint-Denis (fl. late 13 th to early 14 th centuries), would have been responsible for teaching the boys to take part in the daily exercise of the Opus Dei. Foundational texts to assist in this purpose were the pedagogic works of Guido of Arezzo; in particular the Regulae rhythmicae directed to the small boys, the pueri, and the Micrologus, a brief handbook covering the fundamentals of music theory, pitched at the iuvenes. These works, along with several others, either by Guido of Arezzo, or attributed to him, opened a music theory anthology probably compiled by Guy himself. The scholar monks studying at the University of Paris, through the College of Saint Denis would also have been under Guy's educational care, and perhaps as a way of making the pedagogic works more relevant to these young men, he designed new prologues and other ancillary texts around them. These unique texts are presented in the voice of Guido of Arezzo and are
Though it is often thought that the music of the Middle Ages lacks sentiment and does not purport... more Though it is often thought that the music of the Middle Ages lacks sentiment and does not purport to express the sentiment of its text, the Tractatus de tonis of 13 th century Parisian music theorist, Guy de St Denis would seem to provide an alternative view. Theorists and composers of the medieval era were concerned about matching text and music appropriately and illuminating the meaning of the text where possible, but whether that is "expressive of sentiment" and thus "emotional" is problematic. The principal obstacle to our understanding of the "expressivity" of medieval music is our own aesthetic where we concur that a certain sound has a particular affect. That we cannot easily do this for medieval music is because we do not understand the underlying medieval aesthetic. Guy's descriptions of the "affect" of the modes may help us lift the lid on this fundamental aesthetic.
Romanice scribere = "to write in a Romance language" From Latin Romanicus = "of the Roman style",... more Romanice scribere = "to write in a Romance language" From Latin Romanicus = "of the Roman style", From Romanus = "Roman" Romance synonym for social behaviours leading to sexual behaviour.
Anglo Saxon interest in the Roman liturgy picks up sharply from the late seventh century when in ... more Anglo Saxon interest in the Roman liturgy picks up sharply from the late seventh century when in 674 the soldier turned abbot Benedict Biscop built a monastery of stone ‘after the Roman fashion’ at Wearmouth. The house was dedicated to Saint Peter and in 681 Benedict established a second house at nearby Jarrow dedicated to Saint Paul. These twin houses were among the most exposed stations of the Catholic faith in the north. Benedict repeatedly overcame the great distance that separated his monastic foundation from the papal city undertaking six pilgrimages to assemble a library at Wearmouth-Jarrow with few parallels in the West. Benedict also wanted to learn and teach the ‘yearly cursus of chanting together with its ordo of rite, chanting and reading aloud.’ To accomplish this he returned from his fifth pilgrimage with John, an archicantator of Saint Peter’s basilica and abbot of Saint Martin’s, one of four monasteries serving the basilica in the services of the Hours but also at Mass. This is the earliest securely documented case in the early Middle Ages of one centre lending a singer to another. The practice was essential for the transmission of chant which could not be written down and was stored in the memory of one and passed on to the ears of the many to be imprinted on their memories by consistent repetition. Though the founding of the Schola Cantorum of Rome is still uncertain, and it is not clear whether John was trained there, its mission was certainly to operate as a kind of living library of singers who, like John, could be borrowed to faithfully pass on the chant as it was sung in Rome. This paper examines the role of the Schola Cantorum in bridging the interruption of the transmission of chant in the Anglo Saxon church.
Osbern of Canterbury (d. 1094), musician and theorist. Osbern (d. 1094?), Benedictine monk, hagio... more Osbern of Canterbury (d. 1094), musician and theorist. Osbern (d. 1094?), Benedictine monk, hagiographer, and musician, was precentor of Christ Church, Canterbury. The earliest information concerning him comes from his Miracula S. Dunstani, where he describes how as a child oblate at the Saxon cathedral of Christchurch, Canterbury he was witness to two of the saint's miracles. As a young monk Osbern seems to have come into conflict with Archbishop Lanfranc who in 1076, as disciplinary action, sent him to Bec to study with Anselm, one of the towering figures of the Anglo-Norman world. For whatever reason there was a tradition of exchange of monks between Bec and Canterbury-Lanfranc would send Canterbury monks to Bec to study and Anselm would send Bec monks to Canterbury perhaps to teach the English or perhaps also to learn from them. Time at Bec would have suited Osbern well since students of the Bec school enjoyed a reputation for skill in musical composition and learning. At Bec the study of music as a liberal art went with a high standard of musical performance. One of Anselm's letters on Osbern's behalf, written to Lanfranc, provides a surprisingly intimate picture of the monk. He was possessed of a quick mind and a tenacious memory, one who had 'grown venerably fat' under Anselm's tutelage 1. He also suffered from a recurrent and debilitating illness which manifested itself in a variety of symptoms, making Osbern perhaps especially dependent upon the aid of the saints. In 1080 Osbern returned to Canterbury, perhaps with Anselm during the latter's first visit to Christ Church. Osbern was a renowned musician as confirmed by William of Malmesbury who described Osbern as 'taking the prize' in music. 2. while none of his musical compositions have been identified, the two little treatises which we have are attributed to Osbern on relatively secure grounds.
SLIDE 1 SLIDE 2 This paper is about the conflict between the ancients and the moderns expressed i... more SLIDE 1 SLIDE 2 This paper is about the conflict between the ancients and the moderns expressed in the music and theory of two musical styles dubbed Ars Antiqua and Ars Nova in the early 14 th century. I would like to see this against the contextualising and contemporaneous political, social and ecclesiastical conflicts between the French royal court and the country and between the church and the state and reflect on the possible causative connections between them. Are these potential connections best understood as contributing to the history of emotions? I'd like to suggest that the string of crises on the socio political front in France in the first quarter of the 14 th century both produced and accelerated the cultural change which was expressed in music and music theory as the rise of the Ars nova over the Ars antiqua. The premise is that conflict is most often the result of strong opposing emotions and almost always provokes them as well. So first, what is the conflict between the ancients and moderns in early 14 th century Paris? SLIDE 3 This was a conflict between the supporters of the old style of polyphony developed in the 13 th century and dubbed the ars antiqua, and those who vaunted the glories of the new style of polyphony or multi part music that emerged at the beginning of the 14 th century and quite self-consciously called itself ars nova. The degree to which this was conceived of as a conflict at the time is something we will never know, and to a large degree this is a conflict that could only be constructed with a considerable dose of historical hindsight. For example, the most vociferous voice in support of ars antiqua was the music theorist, Jacobus writing sometime in the first quarter of the 14 th century, reflecting nostalgically perhaps on the music that resounded in the scholarly halls and worship spaces when he was a student in Paris in the second half of the 13 th century. 1 This conflict concerned the technical process of temporal division, or how one note value related to the next higher or lower. In ars antiqua that division was inevitably triple and called perfect, so that one perfect longa was worth three of the next lower value, the brevis; 1 L = 3 B; and one perfect brevis was worth three of the next lower value, the semibrevis; 1 B = 3 SB. On the other hand, if the longa or brevis was imperfect there would be two component parts of the next lower value but by a wonderful sleight of hand it would still be triple since those parts would be valued durationally as 2+1. The ars nova practitioners and theorists both, established binary division, consistently called imperfect, on an equal footing with ternary or perfect division. This meant that the imperfect longa was worth two breves; 1 L = 2 B; and one imperfect brevis was worth two semibreves; 1 B = 2 SB; and by introducing a new lower value, the minima, they were able to establish duple division throughout the system; thus 1 SB = 2 M. Now this might not sound like a big deal but for centuries theorists 1 I know I'm being particularly vague about dates here, but very few of them are known for certain and musicologists of this period even have trouble lining events up in chronological order. But that, for now, is a digression.
Political factionalism in Rome and the increasing pressure exerted by the French King Philip IV, ... more Political factionalism in Rome and the increasing pressure exerted by the French King Philip IV, prompted Pope Clement V to move the papal capital to Avignon in 1309 where he remained until his death in 1314. After a two year period of botched elections, eventually Pope John XXII settled in the chair for a period of time unusual in this century, between 1316 and 1334. The popes who followed were not so long-lived: Benedict XII (1334-1342); Clement VI (1342-1352); Innocent VI (1352-1362); Urban V (1362-70) and finally Gregory XI (1370-1377) after which the papacy moved back to Rome. The papal court at Avignon was luxuriously brilliant with religious services being particularly opulent and graced densely with polyphonic settings of the liturgy trying out the very latest methods of composition. Manuscript evidence, particularly from the Ivrea and Apt codices supports this and also reflects the burgeoning growth in the evolution of the secular courtly song. This developing style has been called Ars subtilior and seen as an outgrowth of the earlier Parisian Ars nova. Jewish music also flourished under the Avignon popes since Clement V protected the Jews from the expulsion orders of King Philip and the musical tradition of the synagogue was preserved there. Although the Avignon papacy was overwhelmingly French, with all seven of the popes and 111 of the 134 cardinals newly created at this time being French, it warmly welcomed cultural immigration from elsewhere in Europe, particularly North Italy. This paper presents a discussion focussing on Ars subtilior as the product of cultural exchange of music theorists, composers and performers between the North and South of France, tempered by the influx of fresh ideas about the making and performing of music from Italy.
Adam de la Halle (c.1245-c.1290) wrote what is often construed as the earliest opera, Le jeu de R... more Adam de la Halle (c.1245-c.1290) wrote what is often construed as the earliest opera, Le jeu de Robin et Marion, by transposing the lyric genre, the pastourelle, into theatre. The work falls into two parts, the first (lines 1-396), patterned on the classic pastourelle, and the second (lines 397-780), on the pastourelle-bergerie. The classic pastourelle involves a chevalier out riding on a fine spring morning when he discovers a beautiful shepherdess who inspires an erotic impulse in him. The seduction attempt follows, and to avoid the plot-spoiler I will leave undisclosed which of the possible outcomes Adam de Halle chose for Marion. The pastourelle-bergerie is again in the voice of the chevalier who is once more out riding on a beautiful spring day when he observes shepherds and shepherdesses engaged in dances, songs, games and disputes. This paper considers what emotions such a scenario might evoke and interrogates the text to discover which emotions can be found and to learn how they are expressed.
At its most fundamental, the performed relation of words and music is song. Since earliest times ... more At its most fundamental, the performed relation of words and music is song. Since earliest times philosophers, theorists and creative artists have understood the words to bear the message, the cognitive element, and music to add the melodic, emotive element. It is the balance between these two elements which has given rise to considerable, often vitriolic, debate from Aristotle to Pope John XXII. In this paper I will examine song in the abstract as it is discussed by Aristotle (De Anima, Poetics) and Augustine (Confessions) as well as Boethius (De institutione musica) to provide a solid (if tortured) foundation of the link between the cognitive and emotive in the composing and hearing of song. Then song, but more specifically sounding chant, will be considered as it was discussed by the 11th century theorist Guido of Arezzo, the 13th century Thomas Aquinas and the early 14th century Guy of Saint-Denis. Over this long stretch of time from Aristotle to Guy of Saint Denis, the consistent defence for the necessary relation of the cognitive and emotive elements in song uses the distinction between man and the beasts. Being moved by sounding music is a trait shared with animals, but human listening differs in being more receptive to music's effects and able to deploy reason to judge their goodness.
The tenth Gordon Athol Anderson memorial lecture delivered at the University of New England-Armid... more The tenth Gordon Athol Anderson memorial lecture delivered at the University of New England-Armidale, on 13 October, 1992. ISBN: 1863890483
Constant J. Mews, Carol J. Williams, John N. Crossley, and Catherine Jeffreys, eds. Guy of Saint-... more Constant J. Mews, Carol J. Williams, John N. Crossley, and Catherine Jeffreys, eds. Guy of Saint-Denis, Tractatus De Tonis: Kalamazoo : Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 2017
Constant J. Mews, John N. Crossley, Catherine Jeffreys, Leigh McKinnon, and Carol J. Williams, ed... more Constant J. Mews, John N. Crossley, Catherine Jeffreys, Leigh McKinnon, and Carol J. Williams, eds. Johannes De Grocheio: Ars Musice. Kalamazoo, Mich.: Kalamazoo, Mich. : Medieval Institute Publications, 2011.
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Williams, Carol. "The Tonary as Analytic Guidebook for the Performance of Chant." In Proceedings of the 2015 WA Chapter MSA Symposium on Music Performance and Analysis, edited by Jonathan Paget, Victoria Rogers and Nicholas Bannan, 64-72. Perth: Musicological Society of Australia, 2017.
Williams, Carol. "The Tonary as Analytic Guidebook for the Performance of Chant." In Proceedings of the 2015 WA Chapter MSA Symposium on Music Performance and Analysis, edited by Jonathan Paget, Victoria Rogers and Nicholas Bannan, 64-72. Perth: Musicological Society of Australia, 2017.
ISBN: 1863890483