Musical Palaeography
Code
722021025
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Ciências Musicais
Credits
10
Weekly hours
3 letivas + 1 tutorial
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
The learning aims of this course are:
a) To introduce the student to the central questions of Musical Paleography;
b) To provide practical acquaintance with the main notational systems found in Westwern music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and particularly: (1) chant notation usual in sources of Portuguese origin, namely Aquitanian and square notation; (2) styles of polyphonic mensural notation from the 15th century onwards, with an emphasis on important centres of manuscript production in northern Europe, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
c) To acquire technical tools for paleographical transcriptions of music;
d) Knowledge of general norms for the making of musical editions.
Prerequisites
None
Subject matter
The following topics will be covered: an introduction to the history of musical notation from the earliest sources; types of musical sources, and classification of vocal repertories; presentation of chant in liturgical sources; shapes and conventions for square and Aquitanian notation; presentation of vocal polyphony in late medieval and renaissance sources (including choir-book and part-book format); an introduction to the principles of white mensural notation used for vocal polyphonic music (note values, proportional time-signatures, coloration); calligraphy, conventions of script, and textual underlay; an introduction to the principles of musical transcription and editing. We will consider vocal music preserved in both manuscript and (from c. 1500 onwards) printed sources.
Bibliography
AAVV (2001). Notation. In S. Sadie (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan.
Apel, W. (1953; R/1961). The Notation of Polyphonic Music, 900-1600. Cambridge, Mass.: The Mediaeval Academy of America.
Caldwell, J. (1985; R/1995). Editing Early Music. Oxford: OUP.
Ferreira, M. P. (2012). Harmonias do Céu e da Terra. Lisboa-Guimarães: CESEM.
Rastall, R. (1983). The Notation of Western Music: An Introduction. London: J. M. Dent.
Rees, O. (1994). Newly identified holograph manuscripts from late-Renaissance Portugal. Early Music 22(2), 261-77.
Suñol, G. M. (1935). Introduction a la Paléographie Musicale Grégorienne. Tournai: Société de Saint Jean L´Évangéliste.
Teaching method
30% theoretical exposition and 70% practical work. Lectures and demonstrations by the teacher; practical work by the students, including recognition of notational uses, and transcription/retroversion of given musical illustrations. Close examination and interpretation of musical sources. The student will be guided through copious examples available in photographs, ppt presentations, facsimile editions, and in modern scores available in the FCSH; will learn how to read, transcribe and edit them. Discussion in class of key texts.
Evaluation method
Evaluation: 1. Participation (20%). The students will regularly be given short assignments to be discussed in class. 2. Short test halfway through the course, concerning chant notations (40%) 3. Final test, concerning short polyphonic examples, or preparation of a critical edition of a piece of music (40%).