Royal Holloway-British Library Lectures in Musicology
MUSIC IN THE MAKING OF EUROPE 1000-1300
a series of five public lectures from December 2004 to May 2005, given by
CHRISTOPHER PAGE
sponsored by the Department of Music, Royal Holloway, University of London
supported by the British Library
Lecture 4, Tuesday 8 March, from 6 pm to 7 pm at the British Library
Conference Centre:
MUSIC AND COURTLINESS
The elite civilisation of Europe in the central and later Middle ages is
often spoken of as a 'courtly' one, where the 'courts' at issue include the
households of secular magnates, bishops and abbots. Men and women of exalted
station had always possessed courts in the West, since Roman imperial times,
but after approximately 1050 writings from Western Europe refer with
increasing frequency to a quality of 'courtliness', or curialitas. A music
theorist of c1100, whom we know only by the name 'Johannes', is the first
European writer to identify certain kinds of music as inherently 'courtly'
(curialis) and therefore appropriate to courtliness. Since his treatise is a
technical one, we can trace this courtliness in terms of actual musical
procedures. We can also place him, with some confidence, exactly where other
sources lead us to expect him, in the episcopal and indeed imperial milieux
of 'Germany'.
Admission is free, without ticket.
For further details and directions to the venue please visit
http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Music/Research/Distinguishedlectures.html.
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