The mimetic basis of pure music in Machaut's Refrain Songs: Part 2, musical abstraction

The dualistic relationship of words and music in Machaut’s refrain songs (proposed in Part 1 of this article) enables abstraction of the music from the poetic model that inspired it. This situation is at its most extreme in certain rondeaux, representatives of a genre for which a special function in...

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Main Author: Maw, D
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2020
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author Maw, D
author_facet Maw, D
author_sort Maw, D
collection OXFORD
description The dualistic relationship of words and music in Machaut’s refrain songs (proposed in Part 1 of this article) enables abstraction of the music from the poetic model that inspired it. This situation is at its most extreme in certain rondeaux, representatives of a genre for which a special function in Machaut’s output is argued. Studies of specific groups of songs (B9-R4 and B35-R13-R21) illustrate the gradual development and detachment of material in related compositions. Through these accounts, it can be seen that the relationship of words and music proceeds on the same fundamental basis in the seemingly melismatic rondeaux as in the syllabic virelais, despite the apparently closer connection found in these latter. The technical unity at work in Machaut’s song composition is constitutive of an aesthetic position. The abstracted musical text is an aspect of the multi-faceted voice of Machaut’s lyric œuvre and tends to subsume the poetry it sets creating an aesthetic of pure music.
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spelling oxford-uuid:a9c15884-6eee-4b4e-b9b5-4d0f3d9d25862022-03-27T03:10:35ZThe mimetic basis of pure music in Machaut's Refrain Songs: Part 2, musical abstractionJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:a9c15884-6eee-4b4e-b9b5-4d0f3d9d2586EnglishSymplectic ElementsCambridge University Press2020Maw, DThe dualistic relationship of words and music in Machaut’s refrain songs (proposed in Part 1 of this article) enables abstraction of the music from the poetic model that inspired it. This situation is at its most extreme in certain rondeaux, representatives of a genre for which a special function in Machaut’s output is argued. Studies of specific groups of songs (B9-R4 and B35-R13-R21) illustrate the gradual development and detachment of material in related compositions. Through these accounts, it can be seen that the relationship of words and music proceeds on the same fundamental basis in the seemingly melismatic rondeaux as in the syllabic virelais, despite the apparently closer connection found in these latter. The technical unity at work in Machaut’s song composition is constitutive of an aesthetic position. The abstracted musical text is an aspect of the multi-faceted voice of Machaut’s lyric œuvre and tends to subsume the poetry it sets creating an aesthetic of pure music.
spellingShingle Maw, D
The mimetic basis of pure music in Machaut's Refrain Songs: Part 2, musical abstraction
title The mimetic basis of pure music in Machaut's Refrain Songs: Part 2, musical abstraction
title_full The mimetic basis of pure music in Machaut's Refrain Songs: Part 2, musical abstraction
title_fullStr The mimetic basis of pure music in Machaut's Refrain Songs: Part 2, musical abstraction
title_full_unstemmed The mimetic basis of pure music in Machaut's Refrain Songs: Part 2, musical abstraction
title_short The mimetic basis of pure music in Machaut's Refrain Songs: Part 2, musical abstraction
title_sort mimetic basis of pure music in machaut s refrain songs part 2 musical abstraction
work_keys_str_mv AT mawd themimeticbasisofpuremusicinmachautsrefrainsongspart2musicalabstraction
AT mawd mimeticbasisofpuremusicinmachautsrefrainsongspart2musicalabstraction