The Key of Ordering: Reading Musical Manuscripts of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries
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The Key of Ordering: Reading Musical Manuscripts of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries by Stefan Alexander Udell A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Music University of Toronto Ó Copyright by Stefan Alexander Udell 2019 The Key of Ordering: Reading Musical Manuscripts of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries Stefan Alexander Udell Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Music University of Toronto 2019 Abstract This is a study of a complex attitude toward manuscript production and an associated reading practice in musical manuscripts from thirteenth- and fourteenth-century France. The practice is based on the idea that music was not only defined as a sonic phenomenon received through hearing but it could also be received through the intellectual perception of the order of things. Some manuscripts were designed based on the idea of musica mundana, or the harmony of the spheres, and reading such books was seen as a way to exercise this type of hearing, which enacted the mystical ascent of the reader to beatific vision. The three manuscripts examined exhibit this practice in their ordering and content: Roman de la Poire (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 2186), Roman de Fauvel (Paris, BnF, MS fr. 146), and Guillaume de Machaut’s MS A (Paris, BnF, MS fr. 1584). After a methodological introduction, chapter two defines the manuscript production and reading practice using medieval metaphysics and a novel understanding of the medieval definition of musica as a basis. The three manuscripts’ diverse contents of poetry, music, and art were composed and ordered based on precise mathematical proportions and these proportions highlight content throughout the manuscripts. ii Chapter three examines the ordering scheme of the Roman de la Poire manuscript. It is designed based on an elaborate ordering scheme that is meant to lead the reader to understand the transcendent order of Love. Chapters four and five examine the ordering scheme of the Roman de Fauvel manuscript. The Complainte d’amor at the beginning of the manuscript contains a hidden map that reveals the ordering scheme of the whole manuscript. Chapters six and seven examine the ordering scheme of Guillaume de Machaut’s MS A. The Prologue is a cryptic puzZle that reveals a task for the reader to undertake and a map for him or her to navigate through the ordering of the manuscript. The conclusion suggests that this manuscript production and related reading practice is based on the idea of hylomorphism—that the form (ordering) and the matter (content) must be considered as one substance. iii Acknowledgments Foremost, I am indebted to John Haines, who supervised this dissertation. Through his patient guidance he challenged me to expand the scope of my research and steered me to a fuller grasp of my subject. I credit the scope and depth of my research to his guidance. Adam S. Cohen was on my dissertation committee and inspired me to improve as a scholar. His forceful recommendations were instrumental to the development of my methodology, and I am obliged to him for helping me to sharpen my methodology. Mary Ann Parker was also on my dissertation committee and her generous and encouraging spirit was a great help to me. Her high standards of clarity and relevance in academic writing were foundational to my dissertation. I attribute much of the clarity and academic quality in my writing to her guidance. I must also acknowledge the internal arm’s length reader Gregory Johnston and the external reader Anne Walters Robertson, who both offered significant advice. My research on this topic began in my master’s degree. I must acknowledge Karl Kügle for providing a solid introduction to medieval music and guiding me through the first stages of my study. It was under his rigorous and generous tutelage that I discovered the ordering scheme of Machaut’s manuscript A and began this research path. Lawrence Earp read my master’s thesis and gave me significant advice that determined much of the course I would take on this topic. He gave me his own unpublished notes on manuscript A and generously responded to any inquiries I had. EliZabeth Eva Leach was also generous in offering her own time and expertise in the early stages of my research. I have profited greatly from discussing my topic with colleagues and mentors, including Anthony Fredette, Domenic Leo, Ruxandra Marinescu, and Katherine Steiner. I also thank Kathryn Duys and Edward H. Roesner for assisting me on some questions and providing materials to aid in my research. I would not be able to undertake my studies without the generous support of the Ginny Medland Green Graduate Fellowship, the Arthur Plettner Graduate Fellowship, the David Y. Timbrell Award, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, and the University of Toronto Fellowship awards. I thank Timothy Neufeldt and the staff at the University of Toronto music library for their assistance in my research. I was able to make a research trip to France thanks to the Gerard iv Dunnhaupt Fellowship Award and the SGS Research Travel Grant. Last and very important, I was given the opportunity to examine all of the manuscripts in this dissertation by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, which truly established my research and afforded me with an intimate understanding of the material of my topic. I especially thank Charlotte Denoël for generously granting me the privilege and the time I needed to see these fragile and protected manuscripts and the kind and helpful staff in the Département des manuscrits at the site Richelieu for assisting me in this remarkable experience. v Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgments iv List of Figures viii List of Diagrams xi 1 Introduction 1 2 The Hidden Ordering Scheme 11 2.1 The Telos of the Manuscript Artifact ....................................................................................11 2.2 The Conventions of Poetry ...................................................................................................17 2.3 Music as the Mediator of the Ascent ....................................................................................23 2.4 Discors Concordia ................................................................................................................28 2.5 A Note on the Golden Section ..............................................................................................32 2.6 A Note on Music and Numbers ............................................................................................35 3 The Transcendent Order of Love in the Roman de la Poire 38 3.1 The Ordering Scheme ...........................................................................................................42 3.2 The Poetics of the Poire’s Ordering Scheme ........................................................................52 3.3 Music’s Role in the Hidden Ordering Scheme .....................................................................59 3.4 The “Right Way” Through the Poire ....................................................................................65 4 The Complainte d’Amor and the Fauvel Manuscript, fr. 146 87 4.1 The Fauvel Manuscript .........................................................................................................88 4.2 The Complainte d’amor ........................................................................................................93 5 The Ordering of the Fauvel Manuscript, fr. 146 107 5.1 The Ordering Scheme of the Whole ...................................................................................107 5.2 The Ordering Scheme of the Roman de Fauvel ..................................................................114 5.3 The Centre of the Manuscript .............................................................................................140 6 La Clef d’Ordenance: The Key to the Ordering of Guillaume de Machaut’s MS A 152 6.1 Ordenance in the Index and Prologue ................................................................................162 6.2 The Prologue and Informatio .............................................................................................164 6.3 The Signs of the Ascent ......................................................................................................167 7 The Ordering of Guillaume de Machaut’s MS A 186 7.1 The Ordering Scheme of the Whole Manuscript ................................................................188 vi 7.2 The Ordering Scheme of the Narrative Section ..................................................................202 7.3 The Ordering Scheme of the Music Section .......................................................................208 8 Conclusion 224 Bibliography 228 vii List of Figures 3.1 First folio, placement of enseignie in the central couplet in the layout (Poire, fol. 1r) ...........43 3.2 Historiated initial at the beginning the main narrative, Love presiding over the Lady and the Lover (Poire, fol. 15r, detail) ...................................................................................................55 3.3 Love depicted as a seraph and shooting the lovers in the heart (Poire, fol. 1v) .......................60 3.4 Love depicted as a seraph at the beginning of the main narrative (Poire, fol. 15r, detail) ......61 3.5 The nightingale in a tree between the lovers (Poire, fol. 79v, detail) ......................................62 3.6a Placement of the word enseigniee in the layout, first two Golden Section locations