* COLLOQUIA MEDIEVALIA * Masculine and Feminine Voices in a Pair
of Lais by
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Abstract:The lais of Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377) occupy an important place in his oeuvre, yet they have received little attention from musicians and scholars. The talk examines masculine and feminine voice in two lais that appear as a pair in the earliest of Machaut's "complete works" manuscripts. Employing conventional rhetorical topoi, the male lover presents himself as a virtuoso poet, describing but never addressing his beloved. The lady, on the other hand, presents herself not as poet but as speaker, addressing her lover directly and mourning his absence in vivid, even extravagant imagery. The exaggerated rhetoric is reflected in the musical setting by such devices as accelerated declamation, sequential repetition, and rising tessitura. While we cannot draw conclusions about Machaut's assumed female voice based on the lais alone, heightened rhetoric and direct address may have been intended to represent extravagant emotion in the tradition of the female lament. The talk will be illustrated by images from the manuscript and a recorded performance. |