The crisis of music in early modern Europe, 1470-1530

Author(s)
    • Wegman, Rob C.
Bibliographic Information

The crisis of music in early modern Europe, 1470-1530

Rob C. Wegman

Routledge, 2005

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-243) and index

Contents of Works
  • "They are not hofereyen!"
  • Polyphony and its enemies : before and after the 1470s
  • The defense of music
  • A special case : England
  • The crisis and its legacy
Description and Table of Contents

Description

In the final decades of the fifteenth century, the European musical world was shaken to its foundations by the onset of a veritable culture war. At a time when composers like Obrecht, Isaac, and Josquin were bringing the craft of composition to new heights of artistic excellence, critics began to insist that art polyphony was useless, wasteful, immoral, decadent, and effeminizing. They campaigned aggressively to popularize those criticisms, challenging old certainties about music, and threatening its position in contemporary church and society. Their most effective slogans became critical commonplaces, ideas that left their mark in the writings of figures as diverse as Leonardo, Erasmus, Savonarola, Castiglione, and others. Yet defenders of polyphony struck back with a vicious counter-offensive, and for several decades music would remain a topic of bitter controversy. When the crisis had finally passed, in the 1530s, nothing would ever be the same again. The Crisis of Music in Early Modern Europe tells the story of this cultural upheaval, drawing on a wide range of little-known texts and documents, and weaving them together in a narrative that takes the reader on an eventful musical journey through early-modern Europe.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 1. 'They are Not Hofereyen!' 2. Polyphony and Its Enemies: Before and After the 1470s 3. The Defense of Music 4. A Special Case: England 5. The Crisis and its Legacy Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Notes Bibliography Index

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