The Owl and the Nightingale: Musical Life and Ideas in France 1100-1300Music and literature enjoyed a renaissance in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. That period witnessed, among other things, the rise of the troubadours and trouveres, the elaboration of Notre Dame polyphony, and the emergence of Romance. Everywhere a new, secular spirit was coming into conflict with the older, more severe view of man and his music. It was the age of the debate between the owl and the nightingale, so called after a Middle English poem that pits the owl (the traditional asceticism of Christianity) against the nightingale (the new, more joyous and humane, social and intellectual trends of the times). Christopher Page, one of the most original music historians, examines this continuing struggle as it was fought by monks, preachers, commentators, and many others in the great and clamorous aviary of the Christian Church. Drawing upon an astonishing range of literary evidence, much of it from rare manuscripts, he enables us to see the musical life as well as the literature of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in a new light. Music and literature enjoyed a renaissance in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. That period witnessed, among other things, the rise of the troubadours and trouveres, the elaboration of Notre Dame polyphony, and the emergence of Romance. Everywhere a new, secular spirit was coming into conflict with the older, more severe view of man and his music. It was the age of the debate between the owl and the nightingale, so called after a Middle English poem that pits the owl (the traditional asceticism of Christianity) against the nightingale (the new, more joyous and humane, social and intellectual trends of the times). Christopher Page, one of the most original music historians, examines this continuing struggle as it was fought by monks, preachers, commentators, and many others in the great and clamorous aviary of the Christian Church. Drawing upon an astonishing range of literary evidence, much of it from rare manuscripts, he enables us to see the musical life as well as the literature of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in a new light. |
Contents
Minstrels and the clergy | 8 |
Minstrels and the knightly class | 42 |
rules and repertoire | 61 |
42 | 71 |
Jeunesse and the courtly song repertory | 100 |
The carole the pulpit and the schools | 110 |
the study and performance | 134 |
Plainchant and the Beyond | 155 |
Inventing the State | 171 |
A brief conspectus of some major types of sources | 187 |
134 | 237 |
208 | 252 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Abril issia Albertus Anonymous IV autem bacheler bien British Library Caesarius of Heisterbach carole chansons de geste chant chapter Chobham Church Cistercian clerical composed confessors contemporary context court courtly Dalfi Dame dance demons Devil Dialogus miraculorum enim entertainments epic estampie eutrapelia example exemplum feast festive girls Guillaume Peyraut histriones Ibid instrumentalists instruments joculatores Johannes de Grocheio jongleurs kind knight Latin lines liturgical manuscript Masters of organum medieval Middle Ages minstrels minstrelsy monastic monks motet musical minstrels musicians narrative Nightingale Old French organum Paris Parisian passage performance Peter the Chanter plainchant poem polyphony preached preachers puceles Quellenhandschriften quia quibus quod Raimon Vidal's reference repertoire reveal Robert of Courson Rohloff Roland romance secular music sermons sicut sing singers sources statutes stories Summa sunt theologians things thirteenth century Thomas Chobham translation treatise troubadours trouvère twelfth and thirteenth twelfth century urban vallet vernacular William words writings young