Malcolm Boyd
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195307719
- eISBN:
- 9780199850785
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307719.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
In this book, biographical chapters alternate with commentary on the works of Bach, to demonstrate how the circumstances of Bach's life helped to shape the music he wrote during various periods. The ...
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In this book, biographical chapters alternate with commentary on the works of Bach, to demonstrate how the circumstances of Bach's life helped to shape the music he wrote during various periods. The book follows Bach as he travels from Arnstadt and Muhlhausen to Weimar, Cothen, and finally Leipzig. These journeys alternating with insightful discussions of the great composer's organ and orchestral compositions. As well as presenting a rounded picture of Bach, his music, and his posthumous reputation and influence, this book considers the sometimes controversial topics of “parody” and arrangement, number symbolism, and the style and meaning of Bach's late works. Recent theories on the constitution of Bach's performing forces at Leipzig are also present. The text and the appendixes (which include a chronology, personalia, bibliography, and a complete catalogue of Bach's works) are revised in this edition to take account of more recent research undertaken by Bach scholars, including the gold mine of new information uncovered in the former USSR.Less
In this book, biographical chapters alternate with commentary on the works of Bach, to demonstrate how the circumstances of Bach's life helped to shape the music he wrote during various periods. The book follows Bach as he travels from Arnstadt and Muhlhausen to Weimar, Cothen, and finally Leipzig. These journeys alternating with insightful discussions of the great composer's organ and orchestral compositions. As well as presenting a rounded picture of Bach, his music, and his posthumous reputation and influence, this book considers the sometimes controversial topics of “parody” and arrangement, number symbolism, and the style and meaning of Bach's late works. Recent theories on the constitution of Bach's performing forces at Leipzig are also present. The text and the appendixes (which include a chronology, personalia, bibliography, and a complete catalogue of Bach's works) are revised in this edition to take account of more recent research undertaken by Bach scholars, including the gold mine of new information uncovered in the former USSR.
Emily Zazulia
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- March 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780197551912
- eISBN:
- 9780197551943
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197551912.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Guillaume Du Fay’s Nuper rosarum flores (1436) has been subject to symbolic interpretation ever since Charles Warren suggested that the structure of the motet reflects the architectural proportions ...
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Guillaume Du Fay’s Nuper rosarum flores (1436) has been subject to symbolic interpretation ever since Charles Warren suggested that the structure of the motet reflects the architectural proportions of the cathedral of Florence. More recent analyses have accepted the premise that the motet’s form has extramusical meaning, in particular that mensural and architectural proportions can be directly analogized. The extent and specificity of the extramusical associations Nuper rosarum flores enjoys—an occasion, a place, and a secure attribution—are rare in the fifteenth century. This fact alone makes the motet appear to be exceptional. But reading Nuper rosarum flores alongside the norms of genre and notation and against the grain of the work’s modern historiography suggests that it is not all that special—or at least that it is no more special than Du Fay’s other ceremonial motets. The interpretive history of Nuper rosarum flores exemplifies what I call “false exceptionalism,” which relates to a more general problem in music studies—the alluring but often elusive relationship between musical form and social meaning.Less
Guillaume Du Fay’s Nuper rosarum flores (1436) has been subject to symbolic interpretation ever since Charles Warren suggested that the structure of the motet reflects the architectural proportions of the cathedral of Florence. More recent analyses have accepted the premise that the motet’s form has extramusical meaning, in particular that mensural and architectural proportions can be directly analogized. The extent and specificity of the extramusical associations Nuper rosarum flores enjoys—an occasion, a place, and a secure attribution—are rare in the fifteenth century. This fact alone makes the motet appear to be exceptional. But reading Nuper rosarum flores alongside the norms of genre and notation and against the grain of the work’s modern historiography suggests that it is not all that special—or at least that it is no more special than Du Fay’s other ceremonial motets. The interpretive history of Nuper rosarum flores exemplifies what I call “false exceptionalism,” which relates to a more general problem in music studies—the alluring but often elusive relationship between musical form and social meaning.
Alastair Fowler
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- July 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198856979
- eISBN:
- 9780191890093
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198856979.003.0018
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter investigates the analogy between architecture and literature, exploring the metaphors of the analogy and focusing on British examples. Renaissance architectural theory drew analogies ...
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This chapter investigates the analogy between architecture and literature, exploring the metaphors of the analogy and focusing on British examples. Renaissance architectural theory drew analogies with music, painting, or poetry, and developed these in progressively greater detail. The Horatian doctrine ut pictura poesis was restated in terms of architecture. The chapter then looks at shared number symbolisms. Numbers shared gave the ut architectura poesis doctrine a demonstrable basis. The chapter also considers the symmetry, analogies, and allegory in Renaissance poetry. It explores Renaissance shape poems, as well as the metaphor of the Renaissance frontispiece, which often resembled architectural (especially theatrical) façades. Finally, it examines the importance of Solomon’s Temple in the temple–poem metaphor.Less
This chapter investigates the analogy between architecture and literature, exploring the metaphors of the analogy and focusing on British examples. Renaissance architectural theory drew analogies with music, painting, or poetry, and developed these in progressively greater detail. The Horatian doctrine ut pictura poesis was restated in terms of architecture. The chapter then looks at shared number symbolisms. Numbers shared gave the ut architectura poesis doctrine a demonstrable basis. The chapter also considers the symmetry, analogies, and allegory in Renaissance poetry. It explores Renaissance shape poems, as well as the metaphor of the Renaissance frontispiece, which often resembled architectural (especially theatrical) façades. Finally, it examines the importance of Solomon’s Temple in the temple–poem metaphor.
