The complex relationship between myths and music is here investigated.
Myths and stories offer a window onto medieval and early modern musical
culture. Far from merely offering material for musical settings,
authoritative tales from classical mythology, ancient history and the
Bible were treated as foundations for musical knowledge. Such myths were
cited in support of arguments about the uses, effects, morality and
preferred styles of music in sources as diverse as theoretical
treatises, defences or critiques of music, art, sermons, educational
literature and books of moral conduct. Newly written literary stories
too were believed capable of moral instruction and influence, and were a
medium through which ideas about music could be both explored and
transmitted. How authors interpreted and weaved together these
traditional stories, or created their own, reveals much about changing
attitudes across the period.
Looking beyond the well-known figure of Orpheus, this collection
explores the myriad stories that shaped not only musical thought, but
also its styles, techniques and practices. The essays show that music
itself performed and created knowledge in ways parallel to myth, and
worked in tandem with old and new tales to construct social, political
and philosophical views. This relationship was not static, however; as
the Enlightenment dawned, the once authoritative gods became comic
characters and myth became a medium forridicule. Overall, the book
provides a foundation for exploring myth and story throughout medieval
and early modern culture, and facilitating further study into the
Enlightenment and beyond.
KATHERINE BUTLER is a seniorlecturer in music at Northumbria University;
SAMANTHA BASSLER is a musicologist of cultural studies, a teaching
artist, and an adjunct professor in the New York metropolitan area.
Contributors: Jamie Apgar, Katie Bank, Samantha Bassler, Katherine
Butler, Elina G. Hamilton, Sigrid Harris, Ljubica Ilic, Erica Levenson,
John MacInnis, Patrick McMahon, Aurora Faye Martinez, Jacomien Prins,
Tim Shephard, Jason Stoessel, Férdia J. Stone-Davis, Amanda Eubanks
Winkler.
