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- Title
Two 13th-century hockets on Manere recovered.
- Authors
Wolinski, Mary; Haggh, Barbara
- Abstract
In his musical treatise of 1279, Anonymous of St Emmeram describes the polyphonic technique of hocketing, created by the rapid alternation of tones and rests. Among his examples of hockets are passages from two hitherto unknown compositions on the tenor Manere, one in the first rhythmic mode and the other in the second. This article presents the discovery that complete versions of these pieces are preserved in a fl flyleaf that had been pasted into Ms.447 of the Bibliothèque Municipale in Dijon. These preserved pieces are actually two different rhythmical arrangements of a single composition. One is in the 174 early music February 2010 fifth rhythmic mode and the other is in the second. A comparison of them leads to the conclusion that the fifth mode version preceded the second-mode one. In addition, rhythmic errors in the fifth -mode version suggest that an even earlier model existed along the lines of Anonymous’s first -mode example. Ms.447, into which the flyleaf had been pasted, was confiscated by 18th-century revolutionaries from Cîteaux, south of Dijon. Its probable scribe is identified as Brother Berno, a Cistercian monk, not necessarily at Cîteaux. He may have been working in Paris, since one of the texts he copied is the ‘Canones super tabulas Parisienses’. Similarly, Anonymous of St Emmeram was probably connected with the University of Paris. That the hockets appear on the flyleaf of a book associated with Cistercians and possibly with Paris suggests that the ‘College’ of St Bernard in Paris could have been a home to the flyleaf. The dissemination of Cistercian learning and its association with polyphonic music and theory in the 13th century provide a context for these hockets that is worth further investigation.
- Subjects
FRANCE; MUSIC theory -- History; MEDIEVAL music; POLYPHONIC chansons -- History &; criticism; COUNTERPOINT; CISTERCIAN illumination of books &; manuscripts; FRENCH manuscripts; MIDDLE Ages; MUSIC history
- Publication
Early Music, 2010, Vol 38, Issue 1, p43
- ISSN
0306-1078
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/em/caq007