The Cambridge History of Fifteenth-Century Music

Through forty-five essays by leading scholars, this Cambridge History brings fifteenth-century music to life for both specialists and general readers.

Anna Maria Busse Berger (Edited by), Jesse Rodin (Edited by)

9781108791885, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 January 2020

911 pages, 50 b/w illus. 20 tables 97 music examples
23 x 15.2 x 5.6 cm, 1.3 kg

Through forty-five creative and concise essays by an international team of authors, this Cambridge History brings the fifteenth century to life for both specialists and general readers. Combining the best qualities of survey texts and scholarly literature, the book offers authoritative overviews of central composers, genres, and musical institutions as well as new and provocative reassessments of the work concept, the boundaries between improvisation and composition, the practice of listening, humanism, musical borrowing, and other topics. Multidisciplinary studies of music and architecture, feasting, poetry, politics, liturgy, and religious devotion rub shoulders with studies of compositional techniques, musical notation, music manuscripts, and reception history. Generously illustrated with figures and examples, this volume paints a vibrant picture of musical life in a period characterized by extraordinary innovation and artistic achievement.

Introduction Anna Maria Busse Berger and Jesse Rodin
Part I. Historiography: (a) Listening: 1. Hearing Josquin hearing Busnoys Michael Long
2. Religion and the senses in fifteenth-century Europe Klaus Pietschmann
(b) Terms and Concepts: 3. The work concept Laurenz Lütteken
4. The L'homme armé tradition – and the limits of musical borrowing Jesse Rodin
(c) Composer Studies: 5. Guillaume Du Fay: evidence and interpretation Alejandro Enrique Planchart
6. Jean d'Ockeghem Lawrence F. Bernstein
7. Josquin and epistemology Jesse Rodin
Part II. Improvisation and Composition: 8. Oral composition in fifteenth-century music Anna Maria Busse Berger
9. Improvisation as concept and musical practice in the fifteenth century Philippe Canguilhem
10. How did Oswald von Wolkenstein make his contrafacta? Anna Maria Busse Berger
11. Making a motet: Josquin's Ave Maria…virgo serena John Milsom
12. The origins of pervasive imitation Julie E. Cumming and Peter Schubert
Part III. Humanism: 13. Humanism and music in Italy James Hankins
14. Fifteenth-century humanism and music outside Italy Reinhard Strohm
15. Poetic humanism and music in the fifteenth century Leofranc Holford-Strevens
16. Canterino and Improvvisatore: oral poetry and performance Blake Wilson
17. Liturgical Humanism: saints' offices from the Italian peninsula in the fifteenth century Alison K. Frazier
Part IV. Music and Other Arts: 18. Architecture and music in fifteenth-century Italy Deborah Howard
19. Music and feasts in the fifteenth century Anthony M. Cummings
20. French lyrics and songs for the New Year, c.1380–1420 Yolanda Plumley
Part V. Music in Churches, Courts, and Cities: 21. Musical institutions in the fifteenth century and their political contexts Klaus Pietschmann
22. Music and musicians at the Burgundian court in the fifteenth century David Fiala
23. The papal chapel in the late fifteenth century Richard Sherr
24. The beneficial system and fifteenth-century polyphony Pamela F. Starr
25. Professional women singers in the fifteenth century: a tale of two Annas Bonnie J. Blackburn
26. Savonarola and the boys of Florence: songs and politics Patrick Macey
Part VI. Religious Devotion and Liturgy: 27. Music and ritual M. Jennifer Bloxam
28. Marian devotion in the fifteenth century David J. Rothenberg
29. Affective literature and sacred themes in fifteenth-century music Anne Walters Robertson
Part VII. Theory and Practice: 30. Measuring measurable music in the fifteenth century Anne Stone
31. The transformative impulse Emily Zazulia
32. Transformations in music theory and music treatises Evan A. MacCarthy
Part VIII. Sources: 33. Polyphonic sources, c.1400–50 Margaret Bent
34. Polyphonic sources, c.1450–1500 Thomas Schmidt-Beste
Part IX. Genres: 35. The polyphonic mass in the fifteenth century Andrew Kirkman
36. The fifteenth-century motet Laurenz Lütteken
37. Fifteenth-century song Nicole Schwindt
38. Instrumental music in the fifteenth century Keith Polk
39. Sacred song in the fifteenth century: cantio, carol, lauda, Kirchenlied Reinhard Strohm
40. Plainsong in the age of polyphony Richard Sherr
Part X. Reception: 41. The most popular songs of the fifteenth century David Fallows
42. The nineteenth-century reception of fifteenth-century sacred music Andrew Kirkman
43. The modern reception of the music of Jean d'Ockeghem Lawrence F. Bernstein
44. Recordings of fifteenth-century music Honey Meconi
45. Solidarity with the long-departed: fifteenth-century echoes in twentieth-century music Richard Taruskin.

Subject Areas: Medieval & Renaissance music [c 1000 to c 1600 AVGC2], Western "classical" music [AVGC]