(Stand: 25. Juli 2007) ANDERSON, Michael Alan ... - Universität Wien

MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE MUSIC CONFERENCE 2007 – WIEN, 7.-11. AUGUST ABSTRACTS
SMITH, Anne (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis)
The Rhetoric of Counterpoint
Donnerstag/Thursday, 9.8., 10.15 Uhr, MuWi, HS 1
As part of the humanist movement the antique sources on rhetoric were rediscovered and
became part of the gentleperson’s basic education. There is always a double thrust to
rhetoric: it is concerned with constructing a text with the greatest possibility of persuasion
as well as with eloquent delivery. Already by the middle of the 16 th century theorists were
beginning to compare the performance of a piece of music with an oration, as most clearly
demonstrated by Nicola Vicentino in his L’antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica (1555).
And Gallus Dressler in his Praecepta musica of 1563 was one of the first to compare the
structure of a musical piece with that of an oration, seeking thereby to achieve an ultimate
expression of the affect of the text. Burmeister in his Musica Poetica of 1606 compiled a list
of rhetorical figures for music, the majority of which were contrapuntal devices. In order
to demonstrate how these might be used, he made a cursory analysis of Lasso’s In me transierunt
irae tuae. Based on his work, this paper will present a complete analysis of the work,
demonstrating how the contrapuntal and other figures were used – in conjunction with
other structural and modal devices commonly referred to by theorists of the time – to express
the text persuasively. Such an understanding of the inherent underlying structure of
a piece, of what was meant by the choice of rhetorical (contrapuntal) figures, is a prerequisite
for its eloquent, moving performance.
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SMITH, Jeremy (Departmen of Music, University of Colorado, Boulder)
„A Parable in Many Men’s Opinion“: Mary Queen of Scots as Susanna in Counter-
Reformation Music Propaganda
Samstag/Saturday, 11.8., 9.45 Uhr, KuGe, SR 1
This paper will demonstrate that the biblical story of Susanna was employed by champions
of Mary Queen of Scots as a propaganda tool, in portraiture, political tracts, and especially
music. Though Mary’s story has been much studied and expounded, the connection
with the Susanna theme has surprisingly been overlooked.
The most prominent piece of propaganda to introduce this theme was an extensive
polemical tract by John Lesley, Bishop of Ross. Following upon missions that took him
from London to the Netherlands, Rome, Prague, Munich, Regensburg, and Paris, Lesley
settled in Rouen where he coordinated an international conspiracy on Mary’s behalf. In
remarkably parallel fashion, there appeared publications and compositions on the Susanna
theme by Ferrabosco, Faignient, Palestrina, Lassus, de Monte, and especially the celebrated
English composer, William Byrd. Byrd wrote two settings of the Susanna story to
commemorate Mary’s martyrdom in close coordination with international efforts to do
likewise. In 1603, James I, her son, came to the throne of England and initiated a campaign
to vindicate his mother’s honor. The Susanna theme thus emerged once again.
The evidentiary base of the political framework surrounding the outpouring of
Susanna qua Mary music is to be found in state papers, ecclesiastical records, diplomatic
documents and espionage reports that have been preserved in official documentary collec-
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