Le 29 juin 2017
de 14h30 à 15h00
Le Patio (université de Strasbourg)
22 rue René Descartes, 67000 Strasbourg
salle 3208
Pré-acte / Acte
Auteur : Christophe Guillotel-Nothmann
Edward Lowinsky’s Tonality and Atonality in 16th century music (1962) brought new insights into repertoires that, although anterior to harmonic tonality, do not seem to refer to the octoechos modes. Lowinsky’s teleological approach is open to criticism because it focuses on isolated tonal features without concern for their role in a larger system and without considering the intrinsic characteristics of these works. Thus, although the pretonal corpora, and especially the secular repertoire of the late Middle Ages, have continued to attract attention, they still raise unanswered questions about their tonal organization and relationships to modality.
This paper studies the tonal organization in a corpus of about 80 secular polyphonic works of the ars subtilior. It aims at identifying the musical features by which tonal coherence is reached and how these features evolve within the corpus with respect to musico-poetic forms, stylistic tendencies and composers’ habits. A reading grid that takes into account the exploitation of the diatonic system, vocal ambitus, melodic formulas, contrapuntal writing and cadential points will help to examine the evolution of each parameter. It will also bring to light properties of the underlying system established in synchrony through the interaction of these various criteria.
My talk will examine what these features tell us about the work’s internal structures. The study will also show how these criteria relate to what we think to know about modality and tonality of that time.
