The Layout of the Early Motet
Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: As the only genre to be found in sources from c. 1250 to c. 1430, the motet is the perfect subject for a study of layouts of music in medieval manuscripts. The variety of sources in which medieval polyphonic music can be found ranges from manuscripts with occasional musical notation over sources with music to music sources. The formats and layouts of these manuscripts differ significantly. The different layouts of the motets do not occur in chronological order, there is neither a Notre-Dame layout nor an Ars antiqua or an Ars nova layout. The presentation of the voices one after another is found from the very beginning of the transmission of motets until the late fourteenth century, with the earliest motets as well as in some Machaut manuscripts. The presentation of the upper parts in two columns of equal width with the tenor on a continuous stave at the bottom, which emerges with the liber motetorum, is still found in the second half of the fourteenth century. The only coincidence between repertoire layers and distinct layouts is found for the more particular layouts of fascicles seven and eight of Mo.
Author: Oliver Huck
Language: English
Subfield: Music
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2321603093