28515 - Music Paleography (LM)

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to give students an understanding of the aims, methods and problems of palaeography and its main uses in the field of philology and historical research. It also examines its methodological characteristics and the specific problems relating to musical palaeography. Students are encouraged to learn the terminology used in this discipline and to be able to recognize and interpret different kinds of ancient musical writings as it developed from the 9th to the 15th century.

Course contents

From neumatic notation “in campo aperto” to square notation.
Mensural notation: “rhythmic modes”; Ars antiqua e Ars nova; proportional notation.

Readings/Bibliography

1) D. Hiley, Notation, in Id., Western Plainchant. A Handbook, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993, pp. 340-441;

2) K. Levy, On the Origin of Neumes, «Early Music History», 7, 1987, pp. 59-90;

3) Neumatic notations, ed. by S. Corbin, M. Velimirovic, M. Helffer, in The New Grove Dictionanry of Music ad Musicians, vol. 13, London, Macmillan, 1980, pp. 128-154;

4) G. B. Baroffio, Le grafie musicali nei manoscritti liturgici del secolo XII nell'Italia settentrionale. Avvio di una ricerca, in Cantus Planus. Papers Read at the Fourth Meeting Pécs, Hungary, 3-8 September 1990, Budapest, Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Institute for Musicology, 1992, pp. 1-16;

5) G. Baroffio, Nota Romana: l'espansione delle notazioni italiane e l'area d'influsso dei Canossa, in in Matilde e il tesoro dei Canossa tra castelli, monasteri e città, a cura di A. Calzona, Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana, 2008, p. 165-175

6) C. Ruini, Il codice Angelica 123. Musica e politica tra i secoli XI e XII, in Bologna e il secolo XI. Storia, cultura, economia, istituzioni, diritto, a cura di Giovanni Feo e Francesca Roversi Monaco, Bologna, Bononia University Press, 2011, pp.239-252.

7) W. Apel, La notazione della musica polifonica, dal X al XVII secolo, Firenze, Sansoni, 1984;*

* instead of this book may be chosen one of the two following:

– C Parrish, The notation of medieval music, New York, Norton, 1957;

– M.-N. Colette, M. Popin, Ph. Vendrix, Histoire de la notation du Moyen Âge à la Renaissance, Paris, Minerve, 2003.

8) I. Godt, Reading Ligatures from their Ground State, «Early Music», 4/1, 1981, pp. 44-45;

9) F. R. Rossi, De musica mensurabili. Manuale di notazione rinascimentale, Lucca, Libreria Musicale Italiana, 2013;

10) F. A. Gallo, Die Notationslehre im 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts, in Geschichte der Musiktheorie, vol. 5: Die mittelalterliche Lehre von der Mehrstimmigkeit, a cura di F. Zaminer, Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1984, pp. 257-356 (it is available an Italian translation by Cesarino Ruini);

 

One of the following books:

– F. A Gallo, Trascrizione di Machaut, Ravenna, Longo, 1999;

– A. M. Busse Berger, Mensuration and Proportion Signs: Origins and Evolution, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993;

 

Subsidiary readings:

– M. Huglo, Les noms des neumes et leur origine, «Études grégoriennes», 1, 1954, pp. 53-67

– Notation, III: History of Western notation, a cura di D. Hiley e Th. B. Payne, in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition, vol. 18, London, Macmillan, 2001, pp. 84-129;

– Notazione, I: Notazione omofonica; II, Notazione polifonica sino al 1600, a cura di H. Mayer Brown, in Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti: Il lessico, vol. 3, Torino, UTET, 1984, pp. 338-348;

– E. Cardine, Semiologia gregoriana, Roma, Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra, 1968;

– M. Gozzi, La cosiddetta “Longanotation”: nuove prospettive sulla notazione italiana del Trecento, «Musica Disciplina», XLIX, 1995, pp. 121-149;

– M. Everist, Le fonti della musica polifonica, ca. 1170-1330, in Il libro di musica, a cura di C. Fiore, Palermo, L'Epos, 2004, pp. 43-64;

– J. Stinson, I manoscritti musicali del Trecento, in Il libro di musica, a cura di C. Fiore, Palermo, L'Epos, 2004, pp. 65-87;

– J. Herlinger, Music Theory of the Fourteenth and Early Fifteenth Centuries, in Music as Concept and Practice in the Late Middle Ages, a cura di by R. Strohm and B. J. Blackburn, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 244-300.

– M. Huglo, Bilan de 50 années de recherches (1939-1989) sur les notations musicales de 850 à 1300, «Acta Musicologica», LXII, 1990, pp. 224-259.

– N. Albarosa, Latino medievale e canto gregoriano: accentazione delle parole, «Studi Gregoriani», XXIII, 2007, pp. 21-30.

– C. Ruini, “Nota Romana in Aemilia". Documenti sulla diffusione della notazione dell'Italia centrale nella diocesi di Reggio Emilia, in Papers Read at the 15th Meeting of the IMS Study Group CANTUS PLANUS, Dobogókő/Hungary. 2009. Aug. 23-29, a cura di B. Hagg-Huglo e D. Lacoste, Lions Bay, BC (Canada), The Institute of Mediaeval Music, 2013, pp. 543-556.

Teaching methods

Lectures with discussion of selected examples.
N.B.: A series of practical lessons will give students the chance to try out the methods and techniques used in the transcription of short pieces of mensural music from the 13th to the 16th centuries.

Assessment methods

Oral examination: During the oral examination the student will be asked to comment on the texts and material studied during the course and his/her methodological and critical skills will be assessed. Particular importance will be given to the student's critical and analytical abilities in relation to the main issues and problems associated with the discipline. A mechanical and/or mnemonic knowledge of the subject, a limited analytical ability and/or a correct but not always appropriate choice of language will lead to a fairly good evaluation;  an acceptable knowledge of the exam syllabus though there may be gaps in the student's understanding of the subject and/or inappropriate language will lead to a pass mark. Gaps in the student's understanding of the subject, inappropriate language and lack of familiarity with the bibliography presented during the course will inevitably lead to a negative assessment.

Teaching tools

Explanatory materials and documents' reproductions handed out in classroom.

Links to further information

http://intranet.unibo.it/ricevimentodocenti

Office hours

See the website of Cesarino Ruini