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Farina - Dissertation Final Draft.pdf (3.42 MB)

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Temporal Organization in the Masses of Johannes Ockeghem

Farina, Andrew J.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406027046

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Music.
How was mensural music temporally organized and is the composed structure indicative of individual style? This dissertation aims to begin addressing this question by exploring the temporal organization of the masses by Johannes Ockeghem. A metrical analysis of mensural music poses difficulties on account of the divergent properties of meter and mensural structures. On the one hand, meter manifests in both the notational and phenomenal dimensions. It can be seen in notational practice with bar lines and time signatures; it can also be assessed aurally based on context. Mensuration, on the other hand, is a strictly notational construct. Cadence positions, voice entrances, and other musical events may indicate a mensuration but cannot alter it in the way that meter can be perceived to have changed. Thus, interpreting mensuration as congruent to meter creates false and anachronistic biases. I submit that while mensural music fails to be organized by meter, there are organizational characteristics inherent in the music that are observable and analyzable. These structures in turn can be reflective of compositional practice. This dissertation offers an analytical model as an alternative means of assessing this temporal organization in mensural music and applies the model to Ockeghem’s masses. I demonstrate how the temporal organization is an active yet emergent attribute of music of this time period and suggest what implications this has for better understanding Ockeghem’s style. The analytical model considers how musical events interact with and are positioned within the mensural hierarchy. The results of the analysis may not be necessarily congruent with the governing mensural structure. Analysis begins with a temporal profile, which tallies the musical events as they occur at various mensural positions. This method is derived from a modified approach to Graeme Boone’s pulse framework. Although Boone’s original model focused on sounding pitches, this model considers all musical events, such as notes, rests, and rest groupings. These are tallied to find the total possible number of musical events in a given mensural position. Next, there is a graphical representation of the event-percentage, which is how often a musical event occurs at a given position. The temporal profiles reveal internal privileging or biasing toward certain mensural positions or organizational structures. Trends emerge toward more archetypical structures, indicating potential aspects of compositional practice. At the same time, each individual movement in Ockeghem’s masses possesses a unique temporal profile and wide variations can exist within the same mass. I contend that both the commonalities and the differences lead to a better understanding of how Ockeghem conceived of temporal organization. The result is a challenge to the idea of sameness as a marker of style.
David Clampitt (Advisor)
Graeme Boone (Committee Member)
Anna Gawboy (Committee Member)
179 p.
Music
Johannes Ockeghem; mensural music; mensuration; Renaissance music; music theory; rhythm

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Farina, A. J. (2014). Temporal Organization in the Masses of Johannes Ockeghem [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406027046

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Farina, Andrew. Temporal Organization in the Masses of Johannes Ockeghem. 2014. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406027046.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Farina, Andrew. "Temporal Organization in the Masses of Johannes Ockeghem." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406027046

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1406027046
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.
Release 3.2.12