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MCNELLIS, FINAL SUBMISSION, DISSERTATION.pdf (84.71 MB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
Imitating Christ in Ars Subtilior Picture Music: Intersections with Theological Symbolism and Visual Traditions
Author Info
McNellis, Rachel
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1554293604378994
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Musicology.
Abstract
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.
Committee
David Rothenberg (Advisor)
Georgia Cowart (Committee Member)
Ross Duffin (Committee Member)
Elina Gertsman (Committee Member)
Pages
261 p.
Subject Headings
Music
Keywords
music
;
ars subtilior
;
medieval music
;
music theory
;
music notation
;
medieval art
;
visual culture
;
interdisciplinary
Recommended Citations
Refworks
EndNote
RIS
Mendeley
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)
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Document number:
case1554293604378994
Download Count:
170
Copyright Info
© 2019, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.