Musicology: "Royalty, Celebration, and Attribution in a Fourteenth-Century French Motet"

Feb
15
2013

Speaker: Anne Robertson, University of Chicago
Host Department: musicol
Date: 02/15/2013
Time: 5:00PM
Location: 506 Burton Memorial Tower
Description:
The tumultuous period in France surrounding the fall of the Capetian dynasty and the rise of the Valois line in 1328 is documented in French literature, music, and art. One musical witness to this fascinating time is the motet Servant regem / O Philippe [Ludovice] / Rex regum, preserved in the Roman de Fauvel. Heretofore unrecognized features of this piece place the motet squarely in the category of royal entrance motet. The tenor has a particularly interesting story to tell, too; its melody reveals that the composer hails from northeastern France and strongly suggests that this person is Philippe de Vitry.

College of Literature, Science, and the Arts