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

MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE MUSIC CONFERENCE 2007 – WIEN, 7.-11. AUGUST ABSTRACTS
tions. The nexus that permits us to understand the full significance of the relevant musical
compositions is provided, sometimes thinly sometimes very amply, by the personal
histories of the composers. Most compelling in this connection are the known interests
and designs of their patrons and the patterns of imitation in the Susanna pieces themselves,
where we find it reflecting the broad scope of interest in Mary’s cause.
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SPILKER, John D. (Florida State University)
Rex autem David et al: The Transformation of Absalom during the Sixteenth Century
Freitag/Friday, 10.8., 17.00 Uhr, MuWi, HS 1
My recent research has brought to light over two hundred musical settings based on
David’s lamentation for his son Absalom that date from the ninth century into the
twenty-first century. These pieces exist as part of tradition of composers choosing to set
these similar sacred texts. This paper traces the medieval origins of this tradition and examines
the changing function of these musical settings during the sixteenth century by
evaluating the various texts used by sixteenth-century composers.
Ultimately, the texts of David’s lamentation derive from the Bible (2 Samuel 18:33
and 2 Samuel 19:4). The first musical setting, Rex autem David, originates from medieval
antiphonals and its function was liturgical. One other known musical setting from the
medieval period, an anonymous fourteenth-century polytextual motet, Doleo super
te/Absalon, fili mi, unites the text of David’s lament for Absalom with David’s similar lament
for his friend Jonathan. During the sixteenth century, several Catholic composers
used the text of the liturgical antiphon, Rex autem David, for polyphonic motets. It is likely
that these settings were used to replace the liturgical monophonic antiphon. In contrast to
these liturgical settings, other sixteenth-century composers wrote Latin polyphonic motets
based on the biblical accounts of David’s lamentations and poetic interpretations of those
texts. Since these settings do not use a liturgical text, scholars have suggested that their
function was to mourn the death of the son of an important historical figure. The tradition
of David’s lamentations that developed during the sixteenth-century crossed political,
religious, and linguistic boundaries in Europe. These trends of transformation demonstrate
that this sacred Latin text transcended its original liturgical function, serving other
purposes through its ability to speak directly to the human condition across time, place,
and specific circumstances.
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