Oracy, literacy, and the music of Adam de la Halle: The evidence of the manuscript Paris, BN f.fr.25566 [thesis]

341 Pages·1996·10.5 MB·English

by  Dorothy Kaye Keyser

INFORMATION TO USERS
This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI
films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some
thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may
be from any type of computer printer.
Hie quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the
copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality
illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins,
and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete
manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if
unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note wiD indicate
the deletion.
Oversize materials (e.g^ maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by
sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and
continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each
original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in
reduced form at the bade of the book.
Photographs inchided in the original manuscript have been reproduced
xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9" black and white
photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations
appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly
to order.
A Bell & Howell information Company
300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA
313/761-4700 800/521-0600

Keyser, Dorothy Kaye, Oracv. literacy and the music of Adam de la Halle: the
evidence of the manuscript Paris. Bibliotheaue Nationale f.fr. 25566. Doctor of
Philosophy (Musicology), August, 1996, 323 pp., 2 color plates, 24 figures, 20 musical
examples, 5 charts.
Although an impressive number of scholars have embraced the use of an
oral/literate model for explaining characteristics of musical traditions,, this approach
has also received substantial criticism. Both the oral/literate model itself, and its
applicability to music, have been questioned in a broad range of venues. It is the
contention of this author that, even after several decades of academic conflagration, a
stubborn residue of utility remains. It seems difficult to deny that, over time, the use a
writing system could produce fundamental changes in styles of expression, which
might then be observed in surviving artifacts.
The music of the thirteenth-century Artesian trouvere Adam de la Halle in the
manuscript Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale f.fr. 25566 seems ideally suited as the subject
for such a study. Adam himself was doubly educated, at once literate in the alphabet,
musical notation and literate of the Latin educational system and orate in the
vernacular poetic and musical traditions of his time. In his music, Adam bridged the
gap between the vernacular and the Latin musical repertoires, writing both courtly
lyrics and learned polyphony. The music in F.fr.25566, which contains a
contemporary “Collected Edition" of Adam's works in both traditions, is the work of a
single music scribe. The fortuitous collaboration of a single scribe with a single
composer on a musical collection encompassing a cross-section of thirteenth-century
styles and idioms make this repertoire uniquely appropriate to a comparison of musical
oracy and literacy.
Chapter 2 of this dissertation addresses the validity of the oral/literate model and
its applicability to music. Chapter 3 places Adam within a cultural context, with
particular emphasis on the schooling available to him. Chapter 4 deals with the
manuscript tradition and the evidence of the physical artifact. Chapter 5 uses the
perspective established by this examination of context to consider the interaction of the
orate and the literate in Adam’s music.
ORACY, LITERACY, AND THE MUSIC OF ADAM DE LA HALLE:
THE EVIDENCE OF THE MANUSCRIPT PARIS,
BIBLIOTHfcQUE NATIONALE F.FR.2S566
Dorothy Kaye Keyser, BA., M.A., M.M.
APPROVED.
Major Profi
Minor Professor
Committee Member
Committee Member
Dean of the College of Music
Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies

ORACY, LITERACY, AND THE MUSIC OF ADAM DE LA HALLE:
THE EVIDENCE OF THE MANUSCRIPT PARIS,
BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE F.FR.25566
DISSERTATION
Presented to the Graduate Council of the
University of North Texas in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
By
Dorothy Kaye Keyser, B.A., M.A., M.M.
Denton, Texas
August, 1996
UMI Number: 9638476
UMI Microform 9638476
Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.
This microform edition is protected against unauthorized
copying under Title 17, United States Code.
UMI
300 North Zeeb Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Copyright by
Dorothy Kaye Keyser
1996
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation would have been impossible to complete without the help and
support of numerous individuals, only a few of whom can be named here. I would
particularly like to acknowledge:
The Musicology and Theory faculties of the College of Music of the University
of North Texas, as well as the faculty and staff of the College as a whole.
Dr. Morris Martin, Dr. Mark McKnight, Dr. Kenneth Lavender, and the
librarians and staff of the University of North Texas Music Library and Rare
Books Room.
The librarians and staff of the Mansucript Division of the Bibliotheque
Nationale, Paris, in particular Prof. Francis Avril and Prof. Patricia Stimemann.
The members of my committee: Dr. Lester Brothers, Dr. Thomas Clark, Dr.
Malena Kuss, Dr. Kenneth Lavender, and especially Dr. Cecil Adkins.
My family: my father Harold. Keyser, my mother Mildred, my brother Fred
Keyser, his wife Kate and their daughters Vanessa and Jennifer.