Fortune's demesne: the interrelation of text and music in Machaut's Il mest avis (B22), De fortune (B23) and two related anonymous balades*
Machaut's balades Il mest avis (hereafter B22) and De fortune (hereafter B23), adjacent in the music section of the Machaut manuscripts, form a diptych on the theme of Fortune. In relation to each other, their poetic texts offer complementary perspectives on the power of Fortune: B22 is static, detached in tone, a clerk commentating in a public sententious statement upon the political manifestations of Fortune; conversely, B23 is personal and dynamic, a spurned lady's personal testimony to the power of Fortune to change happiness into sorrow. Despite these contrasts, the two poems share a diction markedly different from that of the twenty-one balades that precede them in the music section.
Music before 1600
Nowhere in musical analysis is the tension between the two theoretical positions of considering music in the context of its external circumstances or examining its internal substance so apparent as in the study of the medieval and early repertoire. This volume seeks to bridge the gap between the historical humanistic study of the period's music and the application of analytical techniques more often found in criticism of later music. The chapters investigate a range of musical styles as well as a fair cross section of the ways in which music composed before 1600 is currently being analyzed. The book brings together critics from two camps: historians who seek to explain the nature of medieval and Renaissance music by reference to contemporary contexts, and more abstractly minded analytical scholars. In his introduction Everist explores the possibility of fusing the two approaches. Introduction by Mark Everist 1 Medieval Lyric by Leo Treitler 2 An Early Thirteenth-Century Motet by Norman E. Smith 3 Guillaume de Machaut: De toutes flours by Sarah Fuller 4 The Lamento di Tristano by David Lidov 5 Guillaume Dufay: Alma redemptoris mater (II) by Saul Novack 6 Josquin des Prez: Salve regina (a 5) by Cristle Collins Judd 7 Orlande de Lassus: Si bona suscepimus by James Haar 8 Anthoine de Bertrand: Las! pour vous trop aymer by Jean-Michel Vaccaro 9 William Byrd: Mass for Five Voices by David Stern
The Politics of Truth: Power in Nietzsche’s Epistemology
This article concerns first a curiosity found in Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Antichrist. In the midst of a heated attack on Christianity, Nietzsche detours into a discussion of epistemology. I argue that this turn indicates the importance of epistemology, and illustrates its political and moral character. The weak, who cannot tolerate uncertainty and shades of gray, seek to impose an epistemology of clarity and certainty. At the same time, the strong, who revel in ambiguity, seek to enjoy the richness and subtlety of a non-dichotomous view of the world. This is a political struggle because the weak cannot allow the strong’s epistemology to exist, let alone prevail. It is not surprising, then, that Nietzsche talks about epistemology in the midst of attacking Christianity: its view of truth is essential to its mission of taming the nobles. Here, I consider Nietzsche as a political thinker in a different light. Political battles are fought far beyond the halls of government. Nietzsche is a political thinker; one, however, who looks at politics in an uncommon way.