Pierre de la Rue and Musical Life at the Habsburg-Burgundian Court

by Honey Meconi

Overview

For twenty-four or more years composer Pierre de la Rue (d. 1518) provided music for one of the leading musical institutions of his day, the grande chapelle of the Habsburg-Burgundian court. Serving successive rulers Maximilian I, Philip the Fair, Juana of Castile, Marguerite of Austria, and the future Charles V, La Rue surpassed a dozen composer colleagues in his creation of polyphony to meet the needs of the court and its extravagant liturgy. This study, the first ever in English, traces La Rue's life and career, explores aspects of his compositional output, and recounts the reawakening of modern scholarship to his unique contributions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198165545
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/22/2003
Pages:	412
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Honey Meconi is Director of Medieval Studies at Rice University in Houston, Texas. She was an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow of the University of Pensylvania and Music Fellow of Villa I Tatti in Florence, Italy. Dr Meconi's shorter writings have been published widely including with the Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Journal of Musicology, Early Music, Journal of the American Musicological Society, and numerous others. She is currently editing Early Musical Borrowing for Garland in their series "Criticism and Analysis of Early Music".

Table of Contents

ContentsList of FiguresList of TablesList of Musical ExamplesList of AbbreviationsA Note on NamesI. BiographyA. Who Was Pierre de la Rue? B. Early YearsC. Peter vander StratenD. The Habsburg-Burgundian Chapel under Maximilian, Philip, and Juana: 1492?-1508E. The Chapel Under Marguerite and Charles: 1508-1516F. Retirement: 1516-1518II. The Grande chapelle and Musical Life at the Habsburg-Burgundian CourtA. Structure and Duties of the ChapelB. La Rue's ColleaguesC. Music Available at the CourtD. La Rue's Significance at CourtIII. Aspects of Sacred MusicA. Observations on the Structure and Chronology of La Rue's MassesB. Examples of Borrowing in La Rue's Sacred MusicC. Liturgical Functions of La Rue's Sacred MusicIV. Aspects of Secular MusicA. OverviewB. Two ExamplesC. Problems of AuthenticityD. ObservationsV. Patterns of InfluenceA. Ockeghem and JosquinB. Dissemination of Music and the Josquin GenerationsC. Literary and Theoretical CitationsD. Growth of a ReputationE. Who is Pierre de la Rue?Appendix A: Chronology of EventsAppendix B: Chronology of SourcesAppendix C: Literary and Theoretical CitationsAppendix D: Catalogue of WorksBibliographyIndex of Manuscripts and Printed SourcesIndex of Compositions by or attributed to La RueGeneral Index

Editorial Reviews

"It will long stand as the essential guide to La Rue, even as it opens the doors to deeper appreciations of his life and art.... It draws together in an encyclopedic way many details about La Rue's life and works, synthesizing both old and new findings. But it does so in ways that recognize that the story of La Rue's life and art is in some ways an open text, subject to new findings and new perspectives. For all these reasons the book will surely be welcomed by all serious students of Renaissance music."—Music & Letters

"Meconi's book...provides fascinating insights into La Rue's world, adduced from the most meticulous consideration of archival documents, musical sources, and literary references."—Notes

From the Publisher