German Instrumental Music Of The Late Middle Ages : Players, Patrons And Performance Practice

Polk, Keith

ISBN 10: 0521612020 / ISBN 13: 9780521612029

Published by Cambridge University Press, 2005

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 3340251-n

Bibliographic Details

• Title: German Instrumental Music Of The Late Middle Ages : Players, Patrons And Performance Practice
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521612020
• ISBN 13: 9780521612029
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This book describes instrumental music and its context in German society of the late middle ages - from about 1350 to 1520. Players at that time improvised, much like jazz musicians of our day, but because they did not use notated music, only scant remnants of their activity have survived in written sources, and much has been left obscure. This book attempts to reconstruct an image of their music, discussing the instruments, ensembles, and performance practices of the time. What emerges from this study is a fundamental reappraisal of late medieval culture. A musical life is reconstructed which was not only extraordinary in its own time, but which also laid the foundations of an artistic culture that later produced such giants as Schütz, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.

Book Description

This book describes instrumental music and its context in German society of the late middle ages.