45841 - Musical Palaeography (1) (2nd cycle)

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 researches. 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 the different ancient musical writings (from IX to XV century) in they own historical development.

Course contents

From neumatic notation “in campo aperto” to the square notation.

Mensural notation: The “rhythmic modes”; Ars antiqua e Ars nova; proportional notation.

Readings/Bibliography

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

2) 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);

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

4) G. B. Baroffio, Le grafiemusicali 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) F. A Gallo, Trascrizione di Machaut, Ravenna, Longo, 1999;

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

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

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

9) 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.B.: Students of the old Laurea specialistica 51/S, with 5 CFU exam, are exempted from the study of the books n° 6, 7, 8 and 9.

One of the following books:

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

– 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.

 

Subsidiary readings:

– 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.

Teaching methods

Lectures with discussion of selected examples.

N.B.: A series of practical lessons with Dr. Gioia Filocamo and Dr. Gregorio Bevilacqua will give students the chance to try out the methods and techniques used in the transcription of short pieces of mensural music from XIII-XVI centuries.

Assessment methods

Oral examination

Teaching tools

Explanatory materials and documents' reproductions handed out in classroom.

Office hours

See the website of Cesarino Ruini