Books by Gaël Saint-Cricq
Composers in the Middle Ages, 2024
The modern concept of the individual composer is central to accounts of Western music, and contin... more The modern concept of the individual composer is central to accounts of Western music, and continues to represent a critical field of research in musicology. However, this approach cannot be straightforwardly transposed to the Middle Ages, as it does not reflect the complex creative realities of medieval composition, and conflicts with the evidence from extant sources and documentation.
This collection, the first full-length study of the subject, questions and revises the concept of the composer for the medieval period through five thematic parts: 'Historiographical Critique', 'Ascriptions, Attributions, Signatures', 'Medieval Constructions of Authority and of the Authorial Persona', 'The Composing Workshop', and 'Composers as Communities'. Spanning a period from the seventh century to the early Renaissance, and taking in different cultural and geographical areas of Western Europe, the essays examine a range of repertoires and fields - plainchant, Latin devotional song, medieval motet, trouvère song, Ars nova, drama, and illuminated Gothic manuscripts - in diverse contexts, from clerical communities, to princely courts and lay workshops. Overall, the new perspectives here shed fresh light on the musical practices and repertoires of the Middle Ages.
Robert de Reims : Songs and Motets, Sep 25, 2020
Robert de Reims, also known as “La Chievre de Rains,” was among the earliest trouvères—poet-compo... more Robert de Reims, also known as “La Chievre de Rains,” was among the earliest trouvères—poet-composers who were contemporaries of the troubadours but who wrote in the dialects of northern France. This critical edition provides new translations into English and modern French of all the songs and motets ascribed to him, along with the original texts, the extant music, and a substantive introduction.
Active sometime between 1190 and 1220, Robert was an influential figure in the literary circles of Arras. Thirteen compositions set to music are here attributed to him, including nine chansons and four polyphonic motets that were broadly disseminated in the thirteenth century and beyond. Robert’s work is exceptional on a number of fronts. He lavished particular care on the phonic harmony of his words. Acoustic luxuriance and expertise in rhyming, grounded in the play of echoes and variation (often extending into the music), constitute the hallmark of his poetry. Moreover, he is the earliest trouvère known to have composed a parodic sotte chanson contre Amours (silly song against Love).
Located clearly at the nexus of monophonic song and polyphony, Robert’s corpus also poses the intriguing question of trouvère participation in the development of the polyphonic repertory. The case of Robert de Reims jostles and tempers the standard history of the chanson and motet.
Accessible and instructive, this trilingual critical edition of his complete works makes the oeuvre of this innovative and consequential trouvère available in one volume for the first time.
The collection of motets in manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds fr. 12615, ... more The collection of motets in manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds fr. 12615, known as the “Chansonnier de Noailles,” brings together ninety-one thirteenth-century motets in two to four parts, whose upper voices are all sung to vernacular texts. It is one of six diverse collections contained in the manuscript; it shares space with three different compilations of monophonic songs, a collection of songs and dits, various nonlyric texts, and several later additions, all gathered in a codex closely tied to the former northern province of Artois and in particular to the city of Arras. The motet collection is notable in several respects: with its ninety-one pieces it is the fourth-largest repository of thirteenth-century motets and the third-largest of motets in French; it is one of only two sizable sets of polyphonic motets preserved in provincial songbooks rather than Parisian collections, a fact that broadly affects the style of several groups of its motets; finally, it transmits an unusually high number of unica, due to the anthology’s inclusion in an Artesian chansonnier. Although the Chansonnier de Noailles has sparked the interest of bibliophiles and scholars since the first half of the eighteenth century, its faulty polyphonic notation has made editing the motets difficult; past editions have thus been incomplete and relied heavily upon concordant readings. This volume presents the music and texts (with translations into English) of the motets from the Chansonnier de Noailles, for the first time published in a single, coordinated, comprehensive critical edition.
Articles and Chapters by Gaël Saint-Cricq
Composers in the Middle Ages, 2024
In the influential Oxford Companion to Music, written by Percy Scholes in 1938 and republished a ... more In the influential Oxford Companion to Music, written by Percy Scholes in 1938 and republished a dozen times before being replaced only in 1983, fourteen plates comprising a series of portraits of 'great masters', from Bach to Elgar, via Schumann and Wagner, provide a guide to reading the hundreds of articles in the volume. 2 These portraits, specially designed for the book, are signed by the artist Oswald Barrett who, Scholes tells us in his preface, wanted to 'penetrate to the mind of the character represented and express his personality'. 3 The first of these portraits, the frontispiece of the opus, is that of Beethoven: in a tense, concentrated pose, the solitary composer stares into the distance with an unearthly, tormented, bluish gaze, illuminating a head that is slightly oversized in relation to the body. This oil portrait and the gallery of 'great masters' that it inaugurates perfectly encapsulate the canon of the 'great composer' as it culminated in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in which the history of music is embodied by exceptional individuals, and the creative act conceived as the culmination of the mental and psychological process of a remarkable and inspired personality. The article 'composition' in the same dictionary is a case in point. 4 Composition is described as the fruit of the composer's 'inspiration', itself defined as a 'thing given … a strong and definite mood, which possesses [the composers] and which they thereupon, under a feeling of compulsion, proceed to express in music', and to which composers give form through their 'inventiveness'. But it is the notion of originality that unquestionably prevails in the creative process of the composer outlined by the article; this is measured both by 'a strong expression of personality allied to a high degree of craftmanship' and by an 'actual novelty in melody, harmony, form, orchestration, etc.'. Many examples of innovations considered important in the history of 1 This text was translated from French by Mark Everist and benefited from revisions and rewarding comments by Yolanda Plumley. The editors are profoundly grateful for their very generous assistance and friendly support. They are also deeply thankful to Mary Channen Caldwell for her careful proofreading of the final version of this text.
Philomusica on-line, 2023
Although the Middle Ages was a period marked by a passion for summae, it also developed a taste f... more Although the Middle Ages was a period marked by a passion for summae, it also developed a taste for short forms. In the case of thirteenth-century music, the vernacular motet, with its syllabic style and single stanza, offers a sharp contrast with the prolix forms of the organum, the conductus and the chanson. This article focuses on one of the shortest works in the repertoire, the motet Hé! Monnier! /
(preti)osus. This piece is as remarkable for its brevity as for the clash of its two voices: a curious little scene in obscene language staging a miller and a woman is based on a tenor stemming from a response for the feast of Saint Denis. The article clarifies the functions of this short form by contextualising the dramatic motetus sketch within medieval and modern song and literature, then by untangling the mechanism that links this folkloric formula to the Saint Denis chant fragment.
Early Music History, 2019
This article presents a textbook case for the examination of generic interplay in the thirteenth ... more This article presents a textbook case for the examination of generic interplay in the thirteenth century, investigating four works that offer transgeneric reworkings relating polyphony to trouvère song. These works are found as anonymous motets and clausulae in polyphonic gatherings, but their upper voices are also copied as multi-strophic songs in songbooks, where they are attributed to the trouvère Robert de Reims. This case therefore touches on the issues of generic borders and mixing, on trouvère involvement in this generic interplay, and on the relationships between attribution and authorship in the Middle Ages. The investigation has important outcomes for the reconstruction of the genetic map of the motet, revealing works playing havoc with the vectors of transmission customarily established in the interplay of motet, chanson and clausula, and revealing early trouvère involvement in the repertoire as an essential key to the comprehension of cross-over activity between song and polyphony.
Musicologies nouvelles, 2019
Critical Companion to Medieval Motets, 2018
Early Music History, 2013
This article investigates a corpus of sixteen thirteenth-century motets whose formal structures a... more This article investigates a corpus of sixteen thirteenth-century motets whose formal structures are rigorously modelled on the AAB formal type of the trouvère chanson. This corpus bears witness that the first specimens of hybridization between polyphony and the high-style lyric chanson arose as early as the 1240s, well before the emergence of fourteenth-century polyphonic song. The analysis of the make-up of the AAB form of the motets first reveals that its elements completely match those of the pedes-cum-cauda formal type of trouvère chansons. The formal impact of song citations within the corpus is then explored, together with the different modalities according to which they are involved in the make-up of the AAB form. Finally, the analysis of the texture of the works brings to light the singularity of their fabric: remodelled by the structures of the trouvère chanson, it breaks with the traditional format of the motet and turns into the texture of a motet-chanson.
Reviews by Gaël Saint-Cricq
Revue de Musicologie, 2020
Nous inaugurons une série de comptes rendus consacrés aux publications et ressources numériques p... more Nous inaugurons une série de comptes rendus consacrés aux publications et ressources numériques par la recension de celles dévolues aux répertoires médiévaux. Elle nourrit l'ambition d'être un outil utile à la fois aux chercheurs, aux enseignants, aux étudiants, aux musiciens et aux amateurs de musique médiévale. Le dernier exercice du genre en langue française fut signé par Christelle Cazaux-Kowalski dans la revue en ligne Ménestrel en 2013-2015, et les ressources se sont considérablement accrues depuis lors dans le champ des études médiévales, plus spécifiquement dans le domaine du plain-chant. S'il existe désormais quelques publications et outils thématiques qui excèdent les catégories des répertoires ou des genres particuliers, la plus grande partie des ressources publiées s'y cantonne naturellement. C'est donc tout d'abord en épousant cette logique que nous les présentons, en commençant par le plain-chant, puis en abordant la chanson, la polyphonie, et enfin la théorie médiévale. Une dernière partie présente les ressources tournées vers la mise en ligne de sources, puis vers l'iconographie, la discographie et l'organologie. Cette recension prend également en compte quelques ressources non spécifiquement musicologiques, mais dont l'apport pour notre discipline est considérable, telles celles consacrées à la liturgie et la littérature médiévale.
Revue de Musicologie, 2019
Review of Catherine A. Bradley's Polyphony in Medieval Paris, Cambridge University Press, 2018
Conference Program by Gaël Saint-Cricq
Programme Rencontres de musicologie médiévale, Lyon, 13-15 janvier 2025
Rencontres de Musicologie Médiévale (18-19 janvier 2024), 2024
Rencontres de Musicologie Médiévale 2023 Programme, 2023
Mercredi janvier 11 13h30 I Accueil 14h-16h I Interprètes et instruments dans les images et les t... more Mercredi janvier 11 13h30 I Accueil 14h-16h I Interprètes et instruments dans les images et les textes I (mod. Océane Boudeau) Clément Frouin (Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3-CEMM) Une approche pratique des accords de vièles proposés par Jérôme de Moravie L'étude récente du chapitre 28 du Tractatus de Musica de Jérôme de Moravie dans le cadre de nos recherches doctorales nous a permis d'approcher de façon plus approfondie les trois accords différents pour la vièle à archet proposés par l'auteur. La traduction du traité nous a permis de mieux saisir les nuances subtiles des indications mentionnées. Les diverses études déjà réalisées sur ces accords semblent ne pas avoir soulevé toutes les possibilités qu'ils peuvent offrir. C'est le cas notamment du troisième accord, qui, s'il semble poser problème de prime abord, peut être abordé de différentes manières dans l'exécution. En effet, l'étude croisée des différents accords nous a permis de conclure que ce dernier, loin de n'offrir que cinq notes à l'exécutant (Werner Bachmann 1964, Christopher Page 1989), permet d'avoir, selon la manière de l'exploiter, une à deux octaves. Après un rapide regard historiographique, et une mise en contexte au sein des théories musicales d'alors, nous proposerons à travers cette communication une relecture performative avec exemples musicaux de ces accords, en nous attardant particulièrement sur le troisième. Olivier Féraud (LabEx Archimede) Mui ben cantar sabía e mui mellor vïolar : la vièle dans les miniatures des Cantigas de Santa Maria « Il savait bien chanter, et encore mieux vièler ». Cette citation, issue du texte de la cantiga 8 dite du « jongleur de Notre-Dame », donne un exemple représentatif de l'importance de la vièle dans les pratiques votives des jongleurs de l'Occident méridional du XIII e siècle. Parmi les nombreux instruments de musique qu'elle représente de façon minutieuse, l'iconographie musicale liée au corpus des Cantigas de Santa Maria met en valeur la vièle à archet. Cela peut se comprendre par la place centrale qu'elle occupait, à la fois dans le milieu professionnel des jongleurs et, surtout, dans la pratique chantée de la poésie savante du contexte méridional. Autour de la présentation d'une restitution de vièle issue des miniatures des Cantigas de Santa Maria, cette communication propose d'observer les différentes occurrences iconographiques de la vièle dans ce corpus iconographique, afin d'en apprécier la finesse de ses représentations et de définir quels enseignements il est possible d'en tirer. Afin de mieux comprendre cet instrument dans ce contexte, nous prêteront attention autant à son organologie, qu'aux postures et aux contextes de jeu. Cette communication fait écho à celle de Marie-Virginie Cambriels, centrée sur la cantiga 8 dite du « jongleur de Notre-Dame », lors de laquelle la vièle sera jouée.
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Books by Gaël Saint-Cricq
This collection, the first full-length study of the subject, questions and revises the concept of the composer for the medieval period through five thematic parts: 'Historiographical Critique', 'Ascriptions, Attributions, Signatures', 'Medieval Constructions of Authority and of the Authorial Persona', 'The Composing Workshop', and 'Composers as Communities'. Spanning a period from the seventh century to the early Renaissance, and taking in different cultural and geographical areas of Western Europe, the essays examine a range of repertoires and fields - plainchant, Latin devotional song, medieval motet, trouvère song, Ars nova, drama, and illuminated Gothic manuscripts - in diverse contexts, from clerical communities, to princely courts and lay workshops. Overall, the new perspectives here shed fresh light on the musical practices and repertoires of the Middle Ages.
Active sometime between 1190 and 1220, Robert was an influential figure in the literary circles of Arras. Thirteen compositions set to music are here attributed to him, including nine chansons and four polyphonic motets that were broadly disseminated in the thirteenth century and beyond. Robert’s work is exceptional on a number of fronts. He lavished particular care on the phonic harmony of his words. Acoustic luxuriance and expertise in rhyming, grounded in the play of echoes and variation (often extending into the music), constitute the hallmark of his poetry. Moreover, he is the earliest trouvère known to have composed a parodic sotte chanson contre Amours (silly song against Love).
Located clearly at the nexus of monophonic song and polyphony, Robert’s corpus also poses the intriguing question of trouvère participation in the development of the polyphonic repertory. The case of Robert de Reims jostles and tempers the standard history of the chanson and motet.
Accessible and instructive, this trilingual critical edition of his complete works makes the oeuvre of this innovative and consequential trouvère available in one volume for the first time.
Articles and Chapters by Gaël Saint-Cricq
(preti)osus. This piece is as remarkable for its brevity as for the clash of its two voices: a curious little scene in obscene language staging a miller and a woman is based on a tenor stemming from a response for the feast of Saint Denis. The article clarifies the functions of this short form by contextualising the dramatic motetus sketch within medieval and modern song and literature, then by untangling the mechanism that links this folkloric formula to the Saint Denis chant fragment.
Reviews by Gaël Saint-Cricq
Conference Program by Gaël Saint-Cricq
This collection, the first full-length study of the subject, questions and revises the concept of the composer for the medieval period through five thematic parts: 'Historiographical Critique', 'Ascriptions, Attributions, Signatures', 'Medieval Constructions of Authority and of the Authorial Persona', 'The Composing Workshop', and 'Composers as Communities'. Spanning a period from the seventh century to the early Renaissance, and taking in different cultural and geographical areas of Western Europe, the essays examine a range of repertoires and fields - plainchant, Latin devotional song, medieval motet, trouvère song, Ars nova, drama, and illuminated Gothic manuscripts - in diverse contexts, from clerical communities, to princely courts and lay workshops. Overall, the new perspectives here shed fresh light on the musical practices and repertoires of the Middle Ages.
Active sometime between 1190 and 1220, Robert was an influential figure in the literary circles of Arras. Thirteen compositions set to music are here attributed to him, including nine chansons and four polyphonic motets that were broadly disseminated in the thirteenth century and beyond. Robert’s work is exceptional on a number of fronts. He lavished particular care on the phonic harmony of his words. Acoustic luxuriance and expertise in rhyming, grounded in the play of echoes and variation (often extending into the music), constitute the hallmark of his poetry. Moreover, he is the earliest trouvère known to have composed a parodic sotte chanson contre Amours (silly song against Love).
Located clearly at the nexus of monophonic song and polyphony, Robert’s corpus also poses the intriguing question of trouvère participation in the development of the polyphonic repertory. The case of Robert de Reims jostles and tempers the standard history of the chanson and motet.
Accessible and instructive, this trilingual critical edition of his complete works makes the oeuvre of this innovative and consequential trouvère available in one volume for the first time.
(preti)osus. This piece is as remarkable for its brevity as for the clash of its two voices: a curious little scene in obscene language staging a miller and a woman is based on a tenor stemming from a response for the feast of Saint Denis. The article clarifies the functions of this short form by contextualising the dramatic motetus sketch within medieval and modern song and literature, then by untangling the mechanism that links this folkloric formula to the Saint Denis chant fragment.