Sung birds : music, nature, and poetry in the later Middle Ages / Elizabeth Eva Leach.

Author/creator Leach, Elizabeth Eva
Format Book
Publication InfoIthaca : Cornell University Press, 2007.
Descriptionxiii, 345 pages : illustrations, music ; 25 cm
Subjects
Music--500-1400. --History and criticism.
Birds--Songs and music. --History and criticism.
Nature in music.
Poetry, Medieval--History and criticism.

Contents Rational song -- Birdsong and human singing -- Birds sung -- Silent birds: the musical chase and Gace de la Buigne's Le Roman des Deduis -- Feminine birds and immoral song -- Bird debates replayed -- Appendix 1.1. Two principal voices in grammar and music -- Appendix 1.2. Four species and two principal voices in grammar and music superimposed -- Appendix 2. Aegidius and Pliny on the nightingale compared -- Appendix 3.1. The birdsong pieces and their sources -- Appendix 3.2. A note on the musical examples -- Appendix 4. Love of birds using musical authorities -- Appendix 5. Arnulf's borrowings from Aland of Lille, de planctu naturae.
Abstract Is birdsong music? The most frequent answer to this question in the Middle Ages was resoundingly no. In this book, the author traces postmedieval uses of birdsong within Western musical culture. She first explains why such melodious sound was not music for medieval thinkers and then goes on to consider the ontology of music, the significance of comparisons between singers and birds, and the relationship between art and nature as enacted by the musical performance of late-medieval poetry.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 315-333) and index.
LCCN 2006023269
ISBN0801444918 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN9780801444913 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN9780801444913