- Portsmouth, NH
Peter Urquhart
University of New Hampshire, Music, Faculty Member
- I was an associate professor of music at Univ. of New Hampshire, director of Capella Alamire, and am a scholar of Fra... moreI was an associate professor of music at Univ. of New Hampshire, director of Capella Alamire, and am a scholar of Franco-Flemish music, canon, and musica ficta c. 1500. I also have interests in solmization, pitch organization, other performance practice issues, shape-note repertory, music by Charles Ives, and other 20th c. composers.edit
- Teachers were Richard Sherr, Joseph Maneri (& Co.), Joseph Flummerfelt, Lewis Lockwood, among others.edit
My 2021 book "Sound and Sense in Franco-Flemish Music of the Renaissance: Sharps, Flats, and the Problem of ‘Musica ficta’" is accompanied by a website of sound examples with scores. The urls are included in this pdf of excerpts, and will... more
My 2021 book "Sound and Sense in Franco-Flemish Music of the Renaissance: Sharps, Flats, and the Problem of ‘Musica ficta’" is accompanied by a website of sound examples with scores. The urls are included in this pdf of excerpts, and will provide an idea of the issues that the book addresses.
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Only the table of contents, abstract, and index are provided here. See UMI for the full dissertation.
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The article began as a talk aiming to describe the issue of musica ficta in ten minutes. Three positions are portrayed through problematic examples. With difficult passages from Franco-Flemish repe...
Research Interests: Art and Musica Ficta
Creating a new edition of the Missa Tempore paschali forces one to confront the extensive parallelisms found in the collected works edition and to consider a set of questions that are comparable to those raised by musica ficta in... more
Creating a new edition of the Missa Tempore paschali forces one to confront the extensive parallelisms found in the collected works edition and to consider a set of questions that are comparable to those raised by musica ficta in Gombert’s music: is an aggressive editorial stance justifiable when stylistic norms are exceeded, or might the composer have intended these unusual patterns? Answers emerge from the dense eight-voice Credo and twelve-voice Agnus dei II that both maintain our preconceptions about the style, and challenge them deeply. A new source for the Agnus dei II enriches our understanding of the editorial issues, the connection with Brumel's “Earthquake” mass, and our appreciation of the mass as a whole.
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Despite decades of work on the subject of editorial accidentals for Renaissance music, many familiar problems remain unresolved. Karol Berger's recent book, Musica ficta (1987), has provided a sense of closure by bringing... more
Despite decades of work on the subject of editorial accidentals for Renaissance music, many familiar problems remain unresolved. Karol Berger's recent book, Musica ficta (1987), has provided a sense of closure by bringing together all the available theoretical evidence ...
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The 16th-century motet Absalon, fili mi has long been scrutinized by modern scholars. The current effort to reassign its authorship to Pierre de la Rue, fueled largely by an interest in removing it from Josquin's canon, relies... more
The 16th-century motet Absalon, fili mi has long been scrutinized by modern scholars. The current effort to reassign its authorship to Pierre de la Rue, fueled largely by an interest in removing it from Josquin's canon, relies paradoxically upon aspects of the work that were celebrated as evidence of Josquin's genius by earlier scholars. These aspects, however, depend solely on our acceptance of a peculiar reading in an early manuscript version of the piece, a version that is indeed radical and unprecedented in its notation but is also internally inconsistent and marked by signs of scribal intervention. The author speculates on a mechanism by which such a flawed version of the motet could have arisen. If correct, this mechanism points to an original notated version of the motet that was clefless, while the much celebrated "incomparable modulation" of the end turns out to be neither a modulation nor incomparable. In themselves, these observations do not support either side of the authorship debate; however, they do suggest that some of the arguments levied against Josquin's authorship have little meaning if the pitch level and signatures present in the early manuscript source resulted from scribal decisions and not the composer's thought.
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Critical appreciation of Ockeghem's works, although continuous since his time, has varied widely in content through the intervening five centuries. Works that had been singled out for praise and study in the 16th century-the... more
Critical appreciation of Ockeghem's works, although continuous since his time, has varied widely in content through the intervening five centuries. Works that had been singled out for praise and study in the 16th century-the canon Prenez sur moy, the Missae Prolationum ...
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C37 Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 81 (1974) C37--C39 O Elsevier Sequoia SA, Lausanne - Printed in The Netherlands Preliminary communication THE MECHANISM OF 3-HYDRIDE ELIMINATION FROM TRANSITION METAL ALKYLS (d8): KINETIC DEUTERIUM... more
C37 Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 81 (1974) C37--C39 O Elsevier Sequoia SA, Lausanne - Printed in The Netherlands Preliminary communication THE MECHANISM OF 3-HYDRIDE ELIMINATION FROM TRANSITION METAL ALKYLS (d8): KINETIC DEUTERIUM ...
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In this bold and engaging book, adorned with a portrait of the composer, Rob Wegman has created what appears to be a solid and reliable'life and works' for Jacob Obrecht, the sort of book that was common some 30 years ago. It is... more
In this bold and engaging book, adorned with a portrait of the composer, Rob Wegman has created what appears to be a solid and reliable'life and works' for Jacob Obrecht, the sort of book that was common some 30 years ago. It is striking that this old-fashioned format, in ...
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Submitted to the Journal of the Alamire Foundation The basis of the article was a talk that aimed to describe the issue of musica ficta in ten minutes. The author avoids use of the term "musica ficta" when possible, because of the... more
Submitted to the Journal of the Alamire Foundation
The basis of the article was a talk that aimed to describe the issue of musica ficta in ten minutes. The author avoids use of the term "musica ficta" when possible, because of the mismatch between the old and the modern meanings. The modern meaning can result in very different performances of 15th and 16th c. works following opposing interpretations. There are essentially three—a linear view, a vertical or harmonic view, and the most common one—the viewpoint that "this is too treacherous an area to be sure of anything, and maybe it didn't matter." The author does not present his own viewpoint, other than to indicate that the relativism of the last one requires disproving one of the other two, too large a job for ten minutes.
The basis of the article was a talk that aimed to describe the issue of musica ficta in ten minutes. The author avoids use of the term "musica ficta" when possible, because of the mismatch between the old and the modern meanings. The modern meaning can result in very different performances of 15th and 16th c. works following opposing interpretations. There are essentially three—a linear view, a vertical or harmonic view, and the most common one—the viewpoint that "this is too treacherous an area to be sure of anything, and maybe it didn't matter." The author does not present his own viewpoint, other than to indicate that the relativism of the last one requires disproving one of the other two, too large a job for ten minutes.
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The 2014 publication of the secular music by Mouton, edited by Thomas MacCracken, brought up some old questions for this author, and a few new discoveries, collected together here under three headings. The first is an explanation of the... more
The 2014 publication of the secular music by Mouton, edited by Thomas MacCracken, brought up some old questions for this author, and a few new discoveries, collected together here under three headings. The first is an explanation of the 4-ex-1 canon En venant de Lyon, which is related to Ockeghem's Prenez sur moy, described by Glarean as a "katholikon," which became a contrapuntal and pedagogical model for later composers. Issues of musica ficta arise, of course. The second topic centers on the five-voice chanson Du bon du coeur, and the mass composed upon it, probably by Noel Bauldeweyn; a puzzling new identification is presented. Lastly, the 4-ex-2 canon Qui ne regrettroit le gentil Févin and some related canons are considered, together with eight-voice elaborations of the four-voice models. Issues of musica ficta arise again, but answers are suggested by the constraints imposed by the operation of the canons, and by the thickness of the resulting textures.
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Creating a new edition of the Missa Tempore paschali forces one to confront the extensive parallelisms found in the collected works edition, and to consider a set of questions that are comparable to those raised by musica ficta in... more
Creating a new edition of the Missa Tempore paschali forces one to confront the extensive parallelisms found in the collected works edition, and to consider a set of questions that are comparable to those raised by musica ficta in Gombert’s music: is an aggressive editorial stance justifiable when stylistic norms are exceeded, or might the composer have intended these unusual patterns? Answers emerge from the dense eight-voice Credo and twelve-voice Agnus dei II that both maintain our preconceptions about the style, and challenge them deeply. A new source for the Agnus dei II enriches our understanding of the editorial issues, the connection with Brumel's "Earthquake" mass, and our appreciation of the mass as a whole.
Research Interests:
Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 62 (2012), pp. 3-27. Josquin's Missa Ad fugam has long been ignored, maligned, and most recently declared spurious in favor of bestowing its title on the Sine nomine... more
Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 62 (2012), pp. 3-27.
Josquin's Missa Ad fugam has long been ignored, maligned, and most recently declared spurious in favor of bestowing its title on the Sine nomine mass, in line with the title Antico published in 1516. However, a review of the Ad fugam mass as transmitted in VatS 49 shows its canonic procedures are entirely typical of the composer, and explored in his earliest canonic chansons. Josquin's concentration on exact canon at the 5th probably influenced De Orto in his canonic mass. A new canonic relationship is discovered in De Orto's Agnus dei II section, and a direct relationship found between Josquin's Ad fugam and L'ami baudechon masses. Numerous aspects of the Ad fugam mass as transmitted in VatS 49 suggest that Petrucci's later attribution is justifiable on so many grounds that it should not be suppressed.
Josquin's Missa Ad fugam has long been ignored, maligned, and most recently declared spurious in favor of bestowing its title on the Sine nomine mass, in line with the title Antico published in 1516. However, a review of the Ad fugam mass as transmitted in VatS 49 shows its canonic procedures are entirely typical of the composer, and explored in his earliest canonic chansons. Josquin's concentration on exact canon at the 5th probably influenced De Orto in his canonic mass. A new canonic relationship is discovered in De Orto's Agnus dei II section, and a direct relationship found between Josquin's Ad fugam and L'ami baudechon masses. Numerous aspects of the Ad fugam mass as transmitted in VatS 49 suggest that Petrucci's later attribution is justifiable on so many grounds that it should not be suppressed.
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The authors determined that the contratenor 'voice' was in fact performed instrumentally in the 15th c. three-voice chanson, through arguments based on the linear, harmonic, and notational evidence.
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The 16th-century motet Absalon, fili mi has long been scrutinized by modern scholars. The effort to reassign its authorship to Pierre de la Rue, fueled largely by an interest in removing it from Josquin's canon, relies paradoxically upon... more
The 16th-century motet Absalon, fili mi has long been scrutinized by modern scholars. The effort to reassign its authorship to Pierre de la Rue, fueled largely by an interest in removing it from Josquin's canon, relies paradoxically upon aspects of the work that were celebrated as evidence of Josquin's genius by earlier scholars. These aspects, however, depend solely on our acceptance of a peculiar reading in an early manuscript version of the piece, a version that is indeed radical and unprecedented in its notation but is also internally inconsistent and marked by signs of scribal intervention. The author speculates on a mechanism by which such a flawed version of the motet could have arisen. If correct, this mechanism points to an original notated version of the motet that was clefless, while the much celebrated "incomparable modulation" of the end turns out to be neither a modulation nor incomparable. In themselves, these observations do not support either side of the authorship debate; however, they do suggest that some of the arguments levied against Josquin's authorship have little meaning if the pitch level and signatures present in the early manuscript source resulted from scribal decisions and not the composer's thought.
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Contrapuntal passages in Franco-Flemish music around 1500 that suggest the use of forbidden intervals such as augmented unisons, diminished octaves and fifths, are not uncommon. These intervals are forbidden primarily by our... more
Contrapuntal passages in Franco-Flemish music around 1500 that suggest the use of forbidden intervals such as augmented unisons, diminished octaves and fifths, are not uncommon. These intervals are forbidden primarily by our preconceptions of how this music should sound, and secondarily by the application of a rule of counterpoint, mi contra fa, which is widely thought to be a performer's rule, a "rule of Musica ficta". This paper concentrates on the type of evidence that suggests that such forbidden intervals were actually heard during the 15th and 16th centuries. There is manuscript evidence implying that the harmonic result of Franco-flemish polyphony, false consonances in particular, sometimes stimulated revisions from those listeners with a pen in hand, whether they were singers, scribes, or editors in a fuller sense. Linear situations would stimulate the addition of accidentals by performers, harmonic events might cause their erasure, and the transmission of polyphonic notation often caused the regularization of complex signature configurations and therefore the loss of information, which would in turn cause performers to respond with accidental additions or erasures. The results of this investigation not only tell us something about what musicians would hear and respond to in the course of their singing, but also provide a sense of the relationship between the written and sounding expressions of music.
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Thomas Brothers' book focuses on the analysis of late medieval chansons that use chromaticism in provocative ways, covering the period of the trouveres through the mid-fifteenth century. Thomas Brothers examines the way in which... more
Thomas Brothers' book focuses on the analysis of late medieval chansons that use chromaticism in provocative ways, covering the period of the trouveres through the mid-fifteenth century. Thomas Brothers examines the way in which accidentals function as an expressive tool.
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A Review of Rob C. Wegman's _Born for the Muses: The Life and Masses of Jacob Obrecht_ (Oxford, Clarendon, 1994)
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Was this ever published? I have no copy, except my final draft.
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Review of Karol Berger, _Musica Ficta: Theories of Accidental Inflections in Vocal Polyphony from Marchetto da Padova to Gioseffo Zarlino_ (Cambridge, 1987)
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Given the manner in which recordings are distributed these days, liner notes are rarely seen. This CD recording contains information in the notes that does not appear elsewhere, and may be pertinent to performers and scholars of music of... more
Given the manner in which recordings are distributed these days, liner notes are rarely seen. This CD recording contains information in the notes that does not appear elsewhere, and may be pertinent to performers and scholars of music of this period.
Research Interests:
Given the manner in which recordings are distributed these days, liner notes are rarely seen. This CD recording contains information in the notes that does not appear elsewhere, and may be pertinent to performers and scholars of music of... more
Given the manner in which recordings are distributed these days, liner notes are rarely seen. This CD recording contains information in the notes that does not appear elsewhere, and may be pertinent to performers and scholars of music of this period.
Research Interests:
As far as I know, this was never published. See my 2021 book.
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The 16th-century motet Absalon, fili mi has long been scrutinized by modern scholars. The current effort to reassign its authorship to Pierre de la Rue, fueled largely by an interest in removing it from Josquin's canon, relies... more
The 16th-century motet Absalon, fili mi has long been scrutinized by modern scholars. The current effort to reassign its authorship to Pierre de la Rue, fueled largely by an interest in removing it from Josquin's canon, relies paradoxically upon aspects of the work that were celebrated as evidence of Josquin's genius by earlier scholars. These aspects, however, depend solely on our acceptance of a peculiar reading in an early manuscript version of the piece, a version that is indeed radical and unprecedented in its notation but is also internally inconsistent and marked by signs of scribal intervention. The author speculates on a mechanism by which such a flawed version of the motet could have arisen. If correct, this mechanism points to an original notated version of the motet that was clefless, while the much celebrated "incomparable modulation" of the end turns out to be neither a modulation nor incomparable. In themselves, these observations do not support either side of the authorship debate; however, they do suggest that some of the arguments levied against Josquin's authorship have little meaning if the pitch level and signatures present in the early manuscript source resulted from scribal decisions and not the composer's thought.
Research Interests:
C37 Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 81 (1974) C37--C39 O Elsevier Sequoia SA, Lausanne - Printed in The Netherlands Preliminary communication THE MECHANISM OF 3-HYDRIDE ELIMINATION FROM TRANSITION METAL ALKYLS (d8): KINETIC DEUTERIUM... more
C37 Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 81 (1974) C37--C39 O Elsevier Sequoia SA, Lausanne - Printed in The Netherlands Preliminary communication THE MECHANISM OF 3-HYDRIDE ELIMINATION FROM TRANSITION METAL ALKYLS (d8): KINETIC DEUTERIUM ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Despite decades of work on the subject of editorial accidentals for Renaissance music, many familiar problems remain unresolved. Karol Berger's recent book, Musica ficta (1987), has provided a sense of closure by bringing... more
Despite decades of work on the subject of editorial accidentals for Renaissance music, many familiar problems remain unresolved. Karol Berger's recent book, Musica ficta (1987), has provided a sense of closure by bringing together all the available theoretical evidence ...