Companion to Medieval and Renaissance Music
by Tess Knighton
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The Companion to Medieval and Renaissance Music is a fascinating new survey of the music and culture of Europe from the beginning of the Christian era to 1600. With almost 50 essays on the social, historical, theoretical, and performance contexts of the music and musicians of the period, prepared by 45 contributors, including such internationally known scholars and performers as Reinhold Strohm, Christopher Page, Margaret Bent, Bruno Turner, Thomas Binkley, and Paul Hillier, the Companion show more offers fresh perspectives on the musical styles, research sources, and performance practices of the medieval and Renaissance eras. The book is divided into six parts. Part I, "The Music of the Past and the Modern Ear," examines the quality of medieval and Renaissance compositions, the English a cappella heresy, medieval recording history, medieval performance practices, and fundamental questions of authenticity. Part II, "Aspects of Music and Society," discusses mainstream and provincial music and the dissemination of ideas in the Middle Ages, the critical role of endowments in the flourishing of sacred polyphony, women's history and early music, and the medieval conception of the "true musician." Part III, "Questions of Form and Style," covers vocal and instrumental genres, and techniques of composition; it includes striking essays on chant, monophonic song, early Western polyphony, mass polyphony, Polyphonic song, keyboard music of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the medieval fiddle, and Renaissance wind ensembles. Part IV, "Using the Evidence," explores medieval music iconography, music in Italian Renaissance painting, archival research, and the challenge of orally transmitted music. Part V, "Pre-Performance Decisions," examines the medieval modal system; the role of the editor; and Renaissance pitch, underlay, and pronunciation. Part VI, "Performance Techniques," discusses such performance problems as vernacular pronunciation, tuning, tempo, reconstructing lost voices, and instrumental accompaniment. The Companion also features an extensive glossary, a chronology, end-of-chapter bibliographies, and 50 illustrations. show lessTags
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