The Montpellier Codex: The Final Fascicle. Contents, Contexts, Chronologies (Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music, 16)

"The Montpellier Codex (Bibliothèque interuniversitaire, Section Médecine, H.196) occupies a central place in scholarship on medieval music. This small book, packed with gorgeous gold leaf illuminations, historiated initials, and exquisite music calligraphy, is one of the most famous of all surviving music manuscripts, fundamental to understandings of the development of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century polyphonic composition. At some point in its history an eighth section (fascicle) of 48 folios was appended to the codex : when and why this happened has long perplexed scholars. The forty-three works contained in the manuscript's final section represent a collection of musical compositions, assembled at a complex moment of historical change, straddling the historiographical juncture between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This book provides the first in-depth exploration of the contents and contexts of the Montpellier Codex's final fascicle. It explores the manuscript's production, dating, function, and notation, offering close-readings of individual works, which illuminate compositionally progressive features of the repertoire as well as its interactions with existing musical and poetic traditions, from a variety of perspectives : thirteenth- and fourteenth-century music, art history, and manuscript culture."--Page 4 de la couverture The final section of the Montpellier Codex analysed in full for the first time, with major implications for late-medieval music.The Montpellier Codex (Bibliothèque interuniversitaire, Section Médecine, H.196) occupies a central place in scholarship on medieval music. This small book, packed with gorgeous gold leaf illuminations, historiated initials, and exquisite music calligraphy, is one of the most famous of all surviving music manuscripts, fundamental to understandings of the development of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century polyphonic composition. At some point in its historyan eighth section (fascicle) of 48 folios was appended to the codex: when and why this happened has long perplexed scholars. The forty-three works contained in the manuscript's final section represent a collection of musical compositions, assembled at a complex moment of historical change, straddling the historiographical juncture between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This book provides the first in-depth exploration of the contents and contexts of the Montpellier Codex's final fascicle. It explores the manuscript's production, dating, function, and notation, offering close-readings of individual works, which illuminate compositionally progressive features of therepertoire as well as its interactions with existing musical and poetic traditions, from a variety of perspectives: thirteenth- and fourteenth-century music, art history, and manuscript culture. CATHERINE A. BRADLEY isan Associate Professor at the University of Oslo; KAREN DESMOND is Assistant Professor of Music at Brandeis University. Contributors: Rebecca A. Baltzer, Edward Breen, Sean Curran, Rachel Davies, Margaret Dobby, Mark Everist, Solomon Guhl-Miller, Anna Kathryn Grau, Oliver Huck, Anne Ibos-Augé, Eva M. Maschke, David Maw, Dolores Pesce, Alison Stones, Mary Wolinski The final section of the Montpellier Codex analysed in full for the first time, with major implications for late-medieval music. The Montpellier Codex (Bibliothque interuniversitaire, Section Mdecine, H.196) occupies a central place in scholarship on medieval music. This small book, packed with gorgeous gold leaf illuminations, historiated initials, and exquisite music calligraphy, is one of the most famous of all surviving music manuscripts, fundamental to understandings of the development of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century polyphonic composition. At some point in its historyan eighth section (fascicle) of 48 folios was appended to the when and why this happened has long perplexed scholars. The forty-three works contained in the manuscript's final section represent a collection of musical compositions, assembled at a complex moment of historical change, straddling the historiographical juncture between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This book provides the first in-depth exploration of the contents and contexts of the Montpellier Codex's final fascicle. It explores the manuscript's production, dating, function, and notation, offering close-readings of individual works, which illuminate compositionally progressive features of therepertoire as well as its interactions with existing musical and poetic traditions, from a variety of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century music, art history, and manuscript culture. CATHERINE A. BRADLEY isan Associate Professor at the University of Oslo; KAREN DESMOND is Assistant Professor of Music at Brandeis University. Rebecca A. Baltzer, Edward Breen, Sean Curran, Rachel Davies, Margaret Dobby, Mark Everist, Solomon Guhl-Miller, Anna Kathryn Grau, Oliver Huck, Anne Ibos-Aug, Eva M. Maschke, David Maw, Dolores Pesce, Alison Stones, Mary Wolinski Frontcover 1 Contents 6 Figures 8 Musical examples 10 Tables 12 Acknowledgements 13 List of manuscript sigla 14 Abbreviations 16 Table of fascicle 8 contents 17 Introduction 20 I The Material Object 30 1. Montpellier 8: Anatomy of ... 32 2. A Palaeographical Analysis of the Verbal Text in Montpellier 8: Problems, Implications, Opportunities 51 3. The Style and Iconography of Montpellier folio 350r 85 4. The Decoration of Montpellier 8: Its Place in the Continuum of Parisian Manuscript Illumination 97 5. Double Motet Layouts in the Montpellier Codex and Contemporaneous Libri motetorum 109 6. Deus in adiutorium Revisited: Sources and Contexts 119 7. Thematic Clusters and Compilational Strategies in Montpellier 8 140 II Innovation and Tradition 156 8. Texture, Rhythm, and Stylistic Groupings in Montpellier 8 Motets 158 9. Je le temoin en mon chant: The Art of Diminution in the Petronian Triplum 180 10. How Rhythmically Innovative is Montpellier 8? 203 11. Re-Presentation in the Ars antiqua: From Chant to Polyphony 216 12. ... Que ne dit ‘cief bien seans’: Quoting Motets in Montpellier 8 230 III Analytical Case Studies 250 13. Montpellier 8 PORTARE Motets and Tonal Exploration 252 14. Repetitions, Rhythmical Evolution, and Rhetoric in the Montpellier Codex 273 15. Shedding Light on Mo 8,304: Alma virgo virginum/Benedicta es, Maria 288 16. A Performance and Reception History of On parole/A Paris/FRESE NOUVELE 302 Bibliography 318 Contributors 332 General index 334 Index of compositions, alphabetical 256 Index of compositions in Mo, manuscript order 350 "The Montpellier Codex (Bibliothèque interuniversitaire, Section Médecine, H.196) occupies a central place in scholarship on medieval music. This small book, packed with gorgeous gold leaf illuminations, historiated initials, and exquisite music calligraphy, is one of the most famous of all surviving music manuscripts, fundamental to understandings of the development of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century polyphonic composition. At some point in its history an eighth section (fascicle) of 48 folios was appended to the codex : when and why this happened has long perplexed scholars. The forty-three works contained in the manuscript's final section represent a collection of musical compositions, assembled at a complex moment of historical change, straddling the historiographical juncture between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This book provides the first in-depth exploration of the contents and contexts of the Montpellier Codex's final fascicle. It explores the manuscript's production, dating, function, and notation, offering close-readings of individual works, which illuminate compositionally progressive features of the repertoire as well as its interactions with existing musical and poetic traditions, from a variety of perspectives : thirteenth- and fourteenth-century music, art history, and manuscript culture."--Page 4 de la couverture Essays exploring the contents and contexts of the Montpellier codex's fascicle 8, including the manuscript's production, dating, function, and notation, as well as close readings of individual works which illuminate compositionally progressive features and interactions with existing musical and poetic traditions. The included essays provide a variety of perspectives on thirteenth- and fourteenth-century music, art history, and manuscript culture