IMC 2006: Sessions

Emotionality is a particularly challenging topic in medieval music history. Because music as a discipline had since antiquity formed part of the mathematical quadrivium (of the artes liberales), dicussions of proportions and the - abstract - idea of harmony remained the main musical topic for most theoreticians throughout the Middle Ages. The impact of music, however, was a recurring theme, and there was an uneasy relationship between music as the medium for the divine angelic praise, and the inherent seductive potential of music, which had already worried St Augustine around 400. The theme has been cautiously but casually dealt with by musicology. It remains difficult, partly because of the scarcity of sources addressing the topic, and partly because the topic is methodologically delicate. The Music and Emotions sessions will take up this theme through a number of individual topics.

Abstract paper -b: Susciter l’émotion est pour le troubadour un enjeu considérable. S’il réussit, il gagnera les honneurs du seigneur de la cours. Pour cela, il devra maitriser l’art de trobar. Comment s’exprime concrètement l’art de trobar dans les mélodies de troubadours ? Quels sont les mécanismes musico-poétiques stimulant l’émotion de l’auditeur lors de la performance? Nous aborderons ces questions en illustrant nos propos à l’aide d’exemples issus de la poésie lyrique des troubadours.