Unlocking the sound of British song: vernacular practice in the thirteenth century

Abstract

This study aims to address the gap in our understanding of a small body of vernacular songs preserved in insular clerical environments of the high medieval period. As a result of the imbalance of surviving material from Britain and the Continent, the insular songs have long evaded consideration as stylistically distinct, instead being compared to Continental models which are an unsuitable fit for function and performance practice. The Middle English songs have proven particularly vulnerable to division and categorisation on terms which overlook their distinct melodic style and often homiletic preservation contexts. A systematic analysis of this repertoire has not previously been undertaken, and thus no reason to actively treat the songs as a distinct compositional genre has yet presented itself. The basis of this research is a syllable-by-syllable breakdown of the melodic treatment of poetic text in Middle English and Anglo-Norman high medieval song. Analysis in this manner reveals that not only did a Middle English song tradition flourish independently of Anglo-Norman and Latin song in Britain, it also remains somewhat traceable.

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