UCL - Paléographie et langages de la musique ancienne

[MUSI2460]

[15h] 5 credits

This course is taught in the 1st semester.

This two-yearly course is taught in 2009-2010, 2011-2012,...

Teacher(s): Anne-Emmanuelle Ceulemans

Language: French

Level: Second

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods

Aims

Introducing the students to musical palaeography and pretonal musical languages, from the origins of musical notations (Carolingian period) until the 16th century.

Main themes

Following topics will be studied: the notation of plainchant and polyphony; the modes of Western music; the theory and evolution of counterpoint, from the beginning until the end of the 16th century.

Content and teaching methods

The first part of the course addresses plainchant in its various aspects: notational, evolutional, and theoretical. The second part of the course is dedicated to polyphony. It presents its basic working principles, its main contrapuntal rules, and shows different notational systems, especially from the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.