6 | 2022 – Varia

ARTICLES

The Manuscrit du Roi, a Songbook that the Prince of Morea Guillaume de Villehardouin Probably Never Knew
By Vladimir Agrigoroaei
The article calls into question the identification of the Manuscrit du Roi (Paris, BnF, f. fr. 844) with a gift offered to Guillaume de Villehardouin on the occasion of his third and last marriage to Anne/Agnes, daughter of the despot of Epirus. The ambiguous presence of two pieces attributed to a prince de le mouree at the head of the collection, followed by texts attributed to a cuens dangou, can lead to the identification of several other sponsors and addressees, yet these other identifications cannot be in any way preferable to other identifications, in a context different from that of Frankish Morea and Angevin Naples.

NOTES

New Research on Fourteenth-Century Music
By Giacomo Ferraris
On Feb. 21st-22nd 2021 a graduate student conference on medieval polyphony, organised by the Department of Musicology and Cultural Heritage of the University of Pavia, campus of Cremona, took place online. In this short review, we briefly describe the contents of each paper, while trying to identify some common trends and some contact points between the different contributions that may point to potentially fruitful research directions for the younger generation of medieval musicologists. 

Interview with Brigitte Lesne (Ensemble Discantus) on Female Dominican Chant
By Kristin Hoefener
In this interview, we discuss a number of themes: firstly, the relationship between musicologists and musicians – which is particularly important in the field of early music – and secondly, research and interpretation. This last question requires a definition of the terms «interpretation» and «performance», which have little by little become like two sisters in the language of French musicology. The term «performance», borrowed from English, covers two fields in the context of early music: historically informed performance, linked to the practice of music, and the more conceptual «performance studies».

An Extraordinary Songbook? Notes on a Recent Book about the Chansonnier du Roi (with Edition of its «Additions»)
By Federico Saviotti
The analytical review of a recently published book on the Chansonnier du Roi (Paris, BnF, fr. 844) containing a new complete edition of its «additions» is the occasion to point out some elements of this largely famous and studied songbook which still deserve appropriate philological scrutiny.