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Imitating Christ in Ars Subtilior Picture Music: Intersections with Theological Symbolism and Visual Traditions

McNellis, Rachel

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Musicology.
Four works within the extant repertoire of the Ars Subtilior, which thrived during the later fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, are distinctive because they were notated on staves that form visual images: the anonymous En la maison Dedalus (a labyrinth), Jacobus Senleches’s La harpe de melodie (a harp), Baude Cordier’s Belle, bonne, sage (a heart), and Cordier’s Tout par compas (a set of concentric circles). Although the musical and stylistic aspects of these compositions have been widely discussed in musicological literature, the broader cultural significance of their remarkable visual forms remains unexamined. This dissertation addresses this gap in research by placing each composition within the context of closely related visual traditions. En la maison Dedalus mirrors circular labyrinths in manuscripts and cathedral architecture, both of which held Christological significances. La harpe de melodie recalls images of King David playing and tuning the harp, by which he was understood to reorder the microcosm or macrocosm. The notational characteristics of Belle, bonne, sage portray the medieval trope that the heart was a surface for inscription. And Tout par compas resembles the diagrammatic form of images of Christ in Majesty, depictions of God the Divine Architect, and cosmological diagrams. Analyzing the four pictorial compositions in the context of these visual traditions suggests that, for the informed viewer, the score would have evoked specific images and implied sacred levels of meaning for these ostensibly secular chansons. The act of composing, notating, and singing each of the works would likewise have been understood by the informed viewer to present the possibility for self-transformation and spiritual conversion. When placed within a broad context of their provenance, late-medieval practical and speculative music theory, relevant literary texts, and major trends in theological exegesis and cosmological thought, these chansons further exemplify the diverse ways in which music interacted with other disciplines during the middle ages. These four works show that the Ars Subtilior style did not solely result from a desire to experiment with increasingly complex rhythms and harmonies. Rather, it is also a reflection of a surrounding cultural milieu that promoted fluidity between various disciplines within in the seven liberal arts.
David Rothenberg (Advisor)
Georgia Cowart (Committee Member)
Ross Duffin (Committee Member)
Elina Gertsman (Committee Member)
261 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • McNellis, R. (2019). Imitating Christ in Ars Subtilior Picture Music: Intersections with Theological Symbolism and Visual Traditions [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1554293604378994

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • McNellis, Rachel. Imitating Christ in Ars Subtilior Picture Music: Intersections with Theological Symbolism and Visual Traditions. 2019. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1554293604378994.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • McNellis, Rachel. "Imitating Christ in Ars Subtilior Picture Music: Intersections with Theological Symbolism and Visual Traditions." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1554293604378994

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)