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Ronsard, the lyric sonnet, and the late sixteenth-century chanson

Ronsard, the lyric sonnet, and the late sixteenth-century chanson
Ronsard, the lyric sonnet, and the late sixteenth-century chanson
Music was an important metaphor for Ronsard, and references to music and musical instruments are frequently found in his poetry. His writings about music are few, however. In his article ‘Ut musica poesis: Music and Poetry in France in the Late Sixteenth Century’ Howard Brown has referred to two of the most explicit examples of such writing: the preface to Le Roy and Ballard's Livre de meslanges (1560) and the passage from Ronsard's Abbregé de l'art poëtique françois (1565) on the desirability of union between poetry and music. Such passages are important in illuminating poets' attitudes towards music and in demonstrating ways in which the relationship between text and music could be conceptualised in the sixteenth century. They are frustratingly vague, however, about how the poets' ideals should be achieved, and they leave many practical questions unanswered. Did poets have any influence on composers' choices of texts? Did movements in poetic circles ever affect the pitches or rhythms of musical settings – that is, could poets influence the way music sounded?
1474-0559
65-84
Brooks, Jeanice
4b254837-1e36-4869-9695-17000b6c5ff9
Brooks, Jeanice
4b254837-1e36-4869-9695-17000b6c5ff9

Brooks, Jeanice (1994) Ronsard, the lyric sonnet, and the late sixteenth-century chanson. Early Music History, 13, 65-84. (doi:10.1017/S0261127900001303).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Music was an important metaphor for Ronsard, and references to music and musical instruments are frequently found in his poetry. His writings about music are few, however. In his article ‘Ut musica poesis: Music and Poetry in France in the Late Sixteenth Century’ Howard Brown has referred to two of the most explicit examples of such writing: the preface to Le Roy and Ballard's Livre de meslanges (1560) and the passage from Ronsard's Abbregé de l'art poëtique françois (1565) on the desirability of union between poetry and music. Such passages are important in illuminating poets' attitudes towards music and in demonstrating ways in which the relationship between text and music could be conceptualised in the sixteenth century. They are frustratingly vague, however, about how the poets' ideals should be achieved, and they leave many practical questions unanswered. Did poets have any influence on composers' choices of texts? Did movements in poetic circles ever affect the pitches or rhythms of musical settings – that is, could poets influence the way music sounded?

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Published date: 1994

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Local EPrints ID: 69211
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/69211
ISSN: 1474-0559
PURE UUID: feed8f0f-ae45-43b3-9fd6-cfcfdd470cba

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Date deposited: 23 Oct 2009
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 19:28

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