Musicology Commons^™

Hildegard: A Trailblazer?, Emilie Schulze

Musical Offerings

Hildegard von Bingen, a Christian mystic, influenced theology, philosophy, and music during the Middle Ages. Some people today claim her as a forerunner for women’s rights because her works gained such prominence people assume she had the authority to teach men in the church. However, this assertion places unnecessary strain on Hildegard, misreading her works and her place within the structure of the medieval Catholic church. Hildegard’s writings did not seek to equalize men and women. Rather, in her life and in her works, she appealed to her humility, virginity, and close relationship with the Holy Spirit to minister. This …

A New Approach: The Feminist Musicology Studies Of Susan Mcclary And Marcia J. Citron, Kimberly Reitsma

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One of the currently prevalent analytic approaches in academia is feminist theory and criticism. Its combination with musicology has influenced the field for the past four decades. The goal of the new approach, loosely termed “feminist musicology,” has been to discover, analyze, discuss, and promote the representation of women and the “feminine” essence in various disciplines of music. Today, feminist musicology is highly researched, published in books and journals, and presented as scholarly papers at various musicological conferences around the world. This new approach introduces the ideologies of feminism to the study of music.

Susan McClary and Marcia J. Citron …

The Rhetoric Of The Troubadours, Mary C. Abraham

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The medieval troubadours were no wandering musicians, casually improvising their songs as they strolled from town to town, but trained artists who lovingly crafted their songs to please and woo their listeners. The art of rhetoric deeply affected the art of the troubadour. First, the art of rhetoric divided composition of a speech into five well-defined parts. The troubadours consciously molded their songs according to these parts. Second, the medieval troubadour theorists then developed a system of genres, adding their own layer to the ancient art of rhetoric. Each genre demanded a specific topic, such as love, and a peculiar …