Teaching

(a) Handouts (jump to (b) Courses Taught)
Nearly all of these materials were made for the graduate and undergraduate classes I teach at Princeton. I tend to use them only once or twice, because I like the making of new handouts more than the convenience of reusing any from the last time. But it's a shame to let them go to waste, so here is a selection. There are many more handouts to be found by clicking one of the links on the left panel.

Alleluia Pascha nostrum, Comparisons Between Nine Early Sources.
Alleluia Ymera agias (Winchester), Worksheet.
Another Look at the Kyrie of Tinctoris.
Benedicta sit, Example from Anon. De organo (10th/11th cc.).
Chronology of the Early Sequence.
Birth of the Motet: The Clausula Dominus.
Clemens non Papa, Erravi sicut ovis (c. 1550), Complete Score and mp3; Recomposition Exercise of mm. 10-19 (mp3); three Recomposed Versions, with mp3.
Clemens non Papa’s Troubles in Bruges and Elsewhere (1540s and 1550s).
Introduction of Plainchant in Britain.
Early Texts on the Authentic Antiphonal, in Parallel Presentation.
Enchiriadis Style Organa in the Lost Chartres MS, Worksheets.
Fourteenth Century Attitudes to Dress and Music.
Hamlet, Bad Quarto vs Good Quarto.
Josquin des Prez, Benedicta es celorum regina (c.1515-1520)
Kyrie I of Missa Une mousse de Biscaye, Original, and “Broken” in Late 15th-c. Style; Notated on p. 3 of This Handout.
Magister Joris Henricxzone, Laisse moy t’emmener from the Duivenvoort fragment (mp3).
Magnus Liber organi, Transmission of M12 and M51, after Roesner.
Much Ado About Nothing, Music and Courtliness.
Musical Treasures of Franchinus Gaffurius.
“My Troubadour Photo Album” (Booklet).
Notre Dame School, MLO O10 and O11, Musical Units: Their Recurrence in the Same Source, Transmission from One Source to Another.
Old Roman Chant, Slide Show.
Organum duplum, Viderunt omnes and Its Notation.
Othello, The Willow Song: Side-By-Side Comparison.
Pervading Imitation in Gomberts Motet Ave regina celorum.
Questions About the Troubadour Vidas.
Romeo and Juliet, “Music With Her Silver Sound.”
Salaries at the Schola cantorum.
Singers at Metz in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries.
Sonnet 8, Being Many, Seeming One.
Sonnet 128, The Sound of Dead Wood.
The Merchant of Venice, Prodigies of Nature.
The Merchant of Venice, Gernutus the Jew.
The Taming of the Shrew, The Music Lesson, Two Versions.
The Taming of the Shrew, A Music Tutor in Love.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Food of Love.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, “Who Is Sylvia?”;
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Metaphor and Decorum.
Twelfth Night, The Food of Love.
Twelfth Night, Manningham’s Diary.
Twelfth Night, The Puritans and Music.
Tractus Deus deus meus, Verses Aligned, With Translation.
Understanding the Style of Josquin’s Missa Une mousse de Biscaye
Winchester Organum, Alleluia Pascha nostrum, Worksheet.


(b) Courses Taught (back to (a) Handouts).

When I had my job interview at Princeton in 1995, I could tell from the recurring questions among faculty members that there was one overriding concern: can he teach anything else besides Renaissance music? They ended up taking the risk of hiring me, and I had five years till the tenure application to prove that I could. Like many things one learns as an assistant professor, the habit of exploring previously unfamiliar topics has stuck. It’s been a constant source of happiness in my life.

a. General
Introduction to Music (MUS 103), 2017, 2019, 2020 (2×).
Musikgeschichte im Überblick II, Universität des Saarlandes, 2014, 2021.

b. Theory and Cultural History
Introduction to Textual Criticism (MUS 517), 2023.
A Historical Enquiry into Musical Understanding (MUS 431), 2007.
A History of Consonance and Dissonance (MUS 431), 2013.
A History of Western Musical Aesthetics (MUS 335), 2000-2002.
Music, Gender and Sexuality from Middle Ages to Present (MUS 334), 1998.
Species Counterpoint (MUS 205), 2011.

c. American and Rock Music
Music in the United States (MUS 260), 1998, 2000-2003, 2012.
History of African-American Music (MUS 354), 2001.
Music in Antebellum America, 1800–1860 (MUS 342), 2001-2002.
Urban Blues and the Golden Age of Rock (MUS 264), 2003-2004, 2006, 2010, 2016-2019.
Rock Music, 1970–2001 (MUS 265), 2006.

d. Music after 1600
Introduction to Baroque Music (MUS 220), 1996.
Bach and Handel (MUS 303), 1996.
Music in the Classical Period (MUS 236), 2003, 2019.
Mozart’s Operas (MUS 305), 2005.
Beethoven (MUS 301), 1999.
Introduction to Romantic Music (MUS 204), 1996.
Piano Music in the Romantic Period (MUS 333), 1996.

e. Middle Ages
The World of the Middle Ages (MED 227), 2006.
Music in the Middle Ages (MUS 314), 1998.
Music in the Middle Ages (MUS 230), 2005, 2009-2010, 2015-2016, 2021-2022.
Charlemagne and the Authentic Antiphonal (MUS 512), 2020.
The Roots of Western Polyphony (MUS 512), 2016.
Winchester Polyphony, 850-1100 (MUS 512), 2022.
Anglo-Saxon Polyphony, 1150-1300 (MUS 512), 2009.
The Ars Antiqua (MUS 512), 2010.
Anonymous 4 and the Riddle of the Magnus Liber Organi (MUS 512), 2017.
The Calamitous Fourteenth Century (MUS 512), 2015.
The Roman de Fauvel (MUS 512), 2013.
Guillaume de Machaut and the Ars Nova (MUS 512), 2021.
History of Counterpoint and Composition I: Up to the 1440s (MUS 525), 2007.

f. Renaissance
Music in Late-Medieval & Early-Modern Europe (MUS 315), 1997.
Music in the Renaissance (MUS 232), 2001, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2014-2016, 2022-2023.
Polyphonic Mass Composition in Europe, 1440-1540 (MUS 525), 2020.
The Masses of Josquin des Prez (MUS 525), 2013, 2015-2017; also taught at Penn in 2015.
The Fifteenth-Century Motet (MUS 525), 2007.
Seminar in Renaissance Music (MUS 525), annually or biennially in 1995–2012.
Music & Shakespeare (MUS 357), 2022-2023.
History of Counterpoint II: 1440s to 1520s (MUS 525), 2008.




Translations

The following translations were made chiefly for graduate seminars. There’s lots of books, articles, and historical sources that I’d like to schedule, but the chief competence of many students often lies in languages that are more urgently needed for their research. So I translate what I cannot reasonably expect everyone of us to read.

(a) Historical Texts (go to (b) Foreign-Language Scholarship)

anon., De organo on Early Organum (10th/11th cc.).

anon., Musica enchiriadis (mid-9th c.), with Commentary.

Ekkehard IV, Casus Sancti Galli (early 11th c.), Selections.

Franco of Cologne, Ars cantus mensurabilis (c.1280).

Jacobus of Liège, Compendium de musica (early 14th c.).

Jacobus of Liège, Speculum musicae, Book VII (1320s).

Jacobus of Liège, Tractatus de consonantiis (early 14th c.).

Johannes Boen, Ars musicae (early 14th c.), on Mensural Notation.

Johannes Boen, Musica (1357), on the Monochord Part 1.

Johannes Boen, Musica (1357), on the Monochord Part 2.

Johannes de Muris, Ars practica musicae (early 14th c.), on Mensural Notation.

John XXII, papa, Papal Bull Docta sanctorum patrum (1324/1325).

Leo IV, papa, Letter to Honoratus (c.850), on Gregorian Chant

Notker and Martianus on Alphabet Letters.

Petrus dictus Palma ociosa, Compendium (1336), on Discantus simplex.

Philippe de Vitry, Ars contrapuncti (presumably 1330s).

(b) Translations of Foreign-Language Scholarship (back to Translations)

    Frobenius, Wolf, “Zum genetischen Verhältnis zwischen Notre-Dame-Klauseln und ihren Motetten,” Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, 44 (1987): 1–39.

    Frobenius, Wolf, “Zur Datierung von Francos ‘Ars cantus mensurabilis’,” Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, 27 (1970): 122–127.

    Galán, Jesús Martín, “Un fragmento polifónico de ‘Ars Antiqua’ en Castilla: transcripción y fuentes paralelas,” Revista de musicología, 13 (1990): 579–614.

    Hofmann, Klaus, “Zur Entstehungs- und Frühgeschichte des Terminus Motette,” Acta Musicologica, 42 (1970): 138–150.

    Holschneider, Andreas, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3 of Die Organa von Winchester: Studien zum ältesten Repertoire polyphoner Musik (Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1968).

    Huglo, Michel, review of Die Organa von Winchester: Studien zum ältesten Repertoire polyphoner Musik by Andreas Holschneider, Revue de Musicologie, 54 1968): 251–253.

    Huglo, Michel, “Les débuts de la polyphonie à Paris: les premiers ‘organa’ parisiens,” Aktuelle Fragen der musikbezogenen Mittelalterforschung , Forum Musicologicum, 3 (1982): 93–163.

    Lera, Luigi, “Grammatica della notazione di Notre-Dame,” Acta Musicologica, 61 (1989), 150-174.

    Lug, Robert, “Das ‘vormodale’ Zeichensystem des Chansonnier de Saint-Germain-des-Prés,” Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, 52 (1995): 19–65.

    Meyer, Christian, “Le De synemmenis et sa tradition: Contribution à l’étude des mesures du monocorde vers la fin du XIIIe siècle,” Revue de Musicologie, 76 (1990): 83–95.

    Pesce, Enrico, “Sulla legittimità della cosiddetta ‘notazione modale’: commento critico alla ‘Grammatica della notazione di Notre-Dame, di Luigi Lera,” in Musicam in subtilitate scrutando: Contributi alla storia della teoria musicale, eds. Curatela Maria Teresa Rosa-Barezzani, Daniele Sabaino, and Rodobaldo Tibaldi; Studi e Testi Musicali 7 (1995), 89–110.

    Reckow, Fritz, “Proprietas und perfectio: Zur Geschichte des Rhythmus, seiner Aufzeichnung und Terminologie im 13. Jahrhundert,” Acta Musicologica, 39 (1967): 115–143.

    Wiora, Walter, “Zwischen Einstimmigkeit und Mehrstimmigkeit,” in Walther Vetter, ed., Festschrift Max Schneider zum achtzigsten Geburtstage (Leipzig: Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1955), 319–334.

    Ziino, Agostino, review of Die Organa von Winchester: Studien zum ältesten Repertoire polyphoner Musik by Andreas Holschneider, Nuova rivista musicale italiana, 4 (1970): 158–60.

Research Tools and Source Studies

Bio-Bibliography of Singers For the Years 1450-1500.
Chronological Stratigraphy of the Works of Josquin.
Magister Lambertus, Ars musica, Synoptic arrangement of the Sources.
Scribal Hands in Notre Dame Sources.
Transmission patterns in 13th and 14th-Century Polyphonic Sources.
Reconstruction of the Worm-Eaten Fragment Worcester Cathedral Q19.
Philippe de Vitry, Ars nova (c.1315-1320), source comparison.


Videos

anon., Missa O Venus bant a5, Gloria (c.1500).
Earliest Known Example of Counterpoint Ever (1336).
Hermann Finck, Motet Te maneat semper (1556).
Ippolito Camaterò di Negri, Vultum tuum deprecabuntur a6 (1574).
“Escape From Slavery,” lyrics by Henry Box Brown, narrating how he escaped slavery by having himself shipped in a box to the North. The music is that of the minstrel song “Uncle Ned” (1848) by Stephen Foster. Created for a project “Make You Own Shadow Puppets and Tell the Story of Henry Box Brown” which my wife Helene organized at various grade schools in New Jersey. See Past Times.
From the same project, Henry Box Brown's hymn of thanksgiving “I Waited Patiently,” which he sang immediately after he was released from the box. Having only one soloist with a basos continuo, I tried to work it out in the style of Handel, whose piano reductions I always like. Fun exercise, even if it doesn't sound like Handel at all.
Ippolito Camaterò di Negri, Puer natus est a5 (1574).
Jacob Obrecht, Agnus Dei (c.1495).
Jacobus Clemens non Papa, Erravi sicut ovis a4 (c.1550).
Jean Richafort, Motet Quem dicunt homines (c.1510).
Josquin des Prez, (c.1505) Missa Rosina , Credo.
Josquin des Prez, Missa Quem dicunt homines, Agnus Dei III (c.1515).
Marchetto of Padua’s Directed Progression.
Middle-Dutch “Market Cries” Motet, Late Fourteenth Century.
Most Beatiful Song of the Fourteenth Century: Solage’s Pluseurs gens voy (on MIDI).
Mozart Quits His Job in Salzburg (1781); Clip from the French Miniseries Mozart (my subtitles).
Mozart Encounters The Art of Fugue, Clip from the French Miniseries Mozart (my subtitles).
Nicolas Gombert, Missa Quam pulchra es (1532): Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei.
Petrus dictus Palma ociosa’s Flowers of Mensural Music (1336).
Reconstruction of a Fourteenth Century Organ, in Stockholm.
Twelfth-Century Polyphony Heard by Vikings in the Ninth.
Terzen und Dreiklänge in pythagoreischer Stimmung.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, “Who Is Sylvia?” (my own attempt at Elizabethan Style).
Wolfgang and Johann Christian Bach; clip from the French Miniseries Mozart (my subtitles).



MUS 103 Introduction to Music (2017-2020)

I give MUS 103 a special place here, because the memory of it is so dear to me. People say that music appreciation courses are best taught by those who have been in a department the longest. When I took on this class in 2017, I decided to invest the experience of 40 years as a musicologist into making this the best course I could offer.    I decided to create a fresh course because I couldn’t find existing textbooks in which music appreciation was taught responsibly. Those I’ve seen don’t seem to know how quickly they can get past the eight centuries between 800 and 1600.    The publishers’ motto seems to be the one mocked by Benedetto Marcello in his Teatro alla moda of 1724:

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“the modern poet shall not have to have read, nor to ever read, the ancient Latin and Greek authors. For the ancient Greeks and Latins never read the moderns either.”    Yet the historical truth is the opposite: European music in the Medieval and Renaissance periods owed nothing to music after 1600. But music after 1600 owed just about everything to the Middle Ages and Renaissance.    It’s these latter periods that invented the cadence, sharps and flats, the triad, notes and staves, counterpoint, the chromatic keyboard, the full-size church organ, keys playable with fingers rather than hands, and so many other things that subsequent centuries could take for granted.

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These inventions are interesting for their own sake: when were they invented, and why?    Should students be kept ignorant of their development, which has benefited us to this day? How many of them do not enjoy recordings of Josquin, Machaut, the troubadours, Taverner, etc., and are eager to learn about their history? How many students do not take part in Collegia musica, or create their own ad hoc ensembles? I took it as my responsibility to establish a more enlightening balance between the 800 years of music history before 1600, and the 400 years thereafter.

Syllabus Part I and Part II Twenty-four lectures in English: 1. Music and the Brain [51:46] 2. That Same Song [57:00] 3. Cosmic Harmonies [53:47] 4. The Measure of Sound [52:56] 5. Colorful Tones [59:06] 6. Imperfect World [1:01:30] 7. Sweet Savor [1:00:16] 8. The Art of Composition [56:39] 9. Music & Letters [1:06:55] 10. The Gaze of Orpheus [27:53]

11. Sounds of Strife [14:35] 13. The Decline of Magic [47:26] 14. Matter and Form [38:47] 15. Bel Canto [55:16] 16. Ancients and Moderns [47:35] 17. Storm and Drive [33:38] 18. Sonata Forms [45:16] 19. Musical Understanding [1:08:01] 20. Romanticism [33:33] 21. Program Music [1:09:00] 22. Deliquescence [52:55] 23. Modernism [55:29] 24a. Made In America I [38:53] 24b. Made In America II [22:24]

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Twelve lectures in German: 1. Betört von Musik 2. Immer das gleiche Lied 3. Der kosmische Reigen 4. Musik gemessen und geschnitten 5. Farbenfrohe Töne 6. Eine unvolkommene Welt 7. Klingende Süße 8. Die Kunst des Komponierens 9. Im Anfang war das Wort 10. Der Blick des Orpheus 11. Die Verlust des Zaubers 12. Materie und Form

Miscellaneous Videos: Pronunciation of Foreign Names: before 1700 and after 1700 ‘Mmm Whatcha Say’: The Death of Lully Bach and the Guardians of the Galaxy Cavalli and the GotG Chopin and the GotG Palestrina and the GotG Solage and the GotG Roy Harris and the Great American Symphony Polyrhythm in Mission Impossible 12th-c. Polyphony Heard in the 9th

Various

Thought Experiments
    How a Dutch follower of Machaut might have set “Strawberry Fields” in the second half of the 14th century.
    Five-part motet in late 15th-century English style, with “Strawberry Fields“ as cantus firmus. Click here for the score. Written for MUS 525 (2007), where we applied the late-Medieval method of “breaking” whole notes in all voices (countering). At measure 27 I ran out of time, so from 2:00 onwards one hears only those unbroken chords. Hindsight (15 years later): not enough variety in the bass. This voice can support several chords on and below the cantus firmus, like unison, third below, fifth below and octave below. There should been more changes between them on the same cantus firmus notes. Also, the top voice could have been plotted with a greater sense of direction.
    Five-part setting of “God Save the Queen” (Reginam salvet Deus) in the style of the Eton Choirbook, 1490s (score).
    Three recompositions of mm.10-19 of Clemens non Papa’s four-part motet Erravi sicut ovis (1550s). For more on this, click on “Renaissance” in the left panel.
    “Who Is Sylvia?” (Two Gentlemen of Verona): my best effort at a setting in Elizabethan style.
    What if Beethoven had used a different four-note motive in The Fifth?

The Binchois Game.
The game was invented by David Fallows. Dennis Slavin wrote an article about it. Obviously I wanted to play it together with the grad students, in a Renaissance seminar I taught in 2007.

“Back to the Source: Charlemagne and the Authentic Antiphonal.”
Video registration of the keynote address I held at the EMAIG Biennial Conference Music, Theory, and Their Sources, Newberry Library, Chicago, 30 June 2020.

“A Few Simple Rules for Polemicizing Without Overheating.”

“Fragments or Modules? The Puzzle of Brian Wilson’s Smile,”
Paper read at the Analytic Round Table The SMiLE Album, National Conference of the Society for Music Theory, M.I.T., Boston/Cambridge, 11 November 2005.

Fred Fisher, “There Ain’t No Sweet Man (That’s Worth the Salt of My Tears),” arr. Tommy Satterfield, 1928.
Some time in the early 2010s I heard the recording of this song with Bix Beiderbecke and the Paul Whiteman Orchestra (1928). I was completely smitten. It's the genius arrangement of Tommy Satterfield, about whom I have been able to find very little — not for want of persistence. After a week of playing the clip almost constantly, I felt like I wanted to capture the sheer magic of the song by transcribing it. There were no scores in circulation as far as I could tell. So that's how this came about. For the recording from which I made this transcription – with the help of the slow-down function in CoolEdit – see this video. For me it remains a captivating piece. And no, I haven't captured the magic.