Download Roman de Fauvel

February 24, 2014
Roman de Fauvel
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We now are in the 14th century
o In great turmoil
o Great Schism
 3 popes decide they want the be pope, set themselves up in different cities
 Avignon, France is one on the places
 A lot of turmoil in the Catholic Church, and the music reflects that political situation
o Remember in the 13th century we were undergoing changes in notation
 Why is this important?
 Because changes in notation can be heard in the music
o Know we are talking about france still, because this is where the dissenting happens
Roman de Fauvel
o Roman means book,
 It is the “Book of Fauvel”
 Combines music, stories and images
 All 3 are woven together
 Quite unique for this time period, and kind of unique for manuscripts in general
 Fauvel is often portrayed as a horse or donkey
 Roman de Fauvel is one copy
o 169 pieces of music
 77miniatures (pictures)
o Philip deVitri
 Most prominent composer in the Roman
o Ars Nova
 Main artistic idea we are dealing with in the 14th century
 Large part the musical asthetic of the 14th century
 Called Ars Nova “new craft”
 2 musical theories that deals with this name
o One by Phillip Devitri
 “The new art of musical theory”
o Sidenote: Dolce stil novo
 “sweet new style”
 What is going on at the end of the 14th century in Italy
o Ars nova is used in opposition to Ars antiqua
 Ars antiqua is what we have been studying
 The Notre Dame school of thought
 Old stuff, “ancient art”
 The musical style of the 12th and 13th centuries, including the music of Notre Dame,
Perotin and Leoning
 Ars nova: the musical style of the 14th century, music of Philip Devitri
o Notation
 We begin to have the capability for grouping of twos
 The ars antiqua is all based on groupings of threes only
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14th century, comosers develop notation that allows for grouping of twos
 12th and 13th centuries are all triple meteres
 14th you begin to hear pronounced groupings of twos
o This is how you tell the difference
 Noema
 One word of chant that appears in the tenor
 Because we are still taking little pieces of Gregorian chant and making music
from it
 How the notaion works
 3 rhythmic levels of activity
 Mode, Tempus (time), prolation
o Mode = long
 Can be perfect (grouping of 3)
 Or imperfect (grouping of 2)
o Tempus= brev
o Prolation= semibreve
 Both tempus and prolation can be imperfect or perfect like the
mode as well
 Also now have mensuration (time) signatures
o Look at wordpress to see diagram
o Perfect time and perfect prolation
 Dot in middle circle notes the existence or absence of prolation
 Amounts to 9/8 time
o Imperfect time and perfect prolation
 6/8 time
o No dot inside of circle, means imperfect prolation
 Just circle= ¾ time
o Imperfect time and imperfect prolation
 2/4 time
o Note that we are moving down to smaller values in the notation
o Just really need to remember that in 14th century notation you have the
possibility of duple
Motets as a genre had a very uncomfortable place among church elders
o Typically the pope in rome hated motets
 Because sacred music was mixed with secular
 Created problems for men in charge in rome
 The presence of sacred text combined with sometimes racy or political satire
created a lot of problems
 Pope John VI would excommunicate those who performed ars nova
 Pope Clement VI loved ars nova
Roman de Fauvel
o Fauvel is a donkey that becomes master of his house by an “odd turn of fortunes wheel”
o An odd combination of politics and religion
o From the schismatic papacy of Avignon
o The name Fauvel comes from the cardinal sins:
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Flattery, greed, lust, pride, envy, cowardice
NOT the deadly sins
Name also means “false veil” or “deceit”
 Directly in the name: Faux-veil
o One of the picture depicts the fountain of youth
o Note that in the manuscript we still get the musical line that is not scored up
 Still separated individually by part
 What does it mean for a manuscript to not be scored up
o They were not reading scores in the 14th century
 Almost never
o Comprehended music just by listening to it
Philip Devitri
o Composer most revered in the Fauvel
o Roman de Fauvel does have other music but
Isorhythmic Motet
o Isorhythm comprises 2 things
 Rhythm and pitch
 There are a series of pitches and a series of rhythms
o It is a cyclical thing
o Based on cyclical repetitions, allegorical for the turning of fortune’s wheel
 Pitch series is called the “color” meaning repetition
 The idea of isorhythm pertains only to the tenor
o Set up repeating patterns of rhythm and pitch
 Makes interesting music when the patterns are different length
and do not match up
o Provides a strong structure for music
o Color can have an open or a closed ending
 Similar to the open (ends of dominant) and closed (ends on tonic)
endings that we are used to in modern music