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Lacunae Ciconiae : Lost voices in the works of a Liégeois musician ca 1400

Responsable(s)


Partenaires

Marina Toffetti, Universita di Padova (UNIPD)

Bart Demuyt, Universiteit leuven (KUL) / Alamire Foundation

Patrizia Bovi, Associazione Musicale Micrologus

Pierre Bornachot, CRR Ambronay

Julia Craig-Mcfeely, DIAMM

Date de début: 2019


Présentation du projet

This project aims at reconstructing missing voices in the oeuvre of Johannes Ciconia (ca.1371-1412) and musicians of his circle. Several compositions either securely attributed to Ciconia, or having a close affinity with his style, survive only in damaged sources and have come down to us not as complete works, but as fragments. Fragmentary music tends to be neglected by researchers and performers, because of the problems posed by music that is either incomplete or has become illegible to the naked eye. Our project focusses on the reconstruction of this fragmentary music, using hybrid intelligence to propose performable editions of a number of pieces and re-evaluating their place in Ciconia's oeuvre. This work will also allow for a deeper exploration of the art (sciencia) and praxis (ars) of the late-medieval composer. 

A first phase of the project has run in 2019-20 entailing an in-depth analysis of the corpus of compositions surviving intact, producing a library of musical loci communes, and the use of these for the reconstruction of a selection of incomplete pieces ascribed or attributed to Johannes Ciconia. The project has combined traditional music analytical methods with digital approaches, using the MIT-developed application Music21. This approach has allowed us to make faster and more exhaustive comparisons between our corpus of complete pieces and the incomplete compositions. Furthermore, the team has applied and expanded upon existing methods of digital photographic reconstruction, to recapture musical information on particularly damaged parchment folios. This has not only allowed us to propose several corrections to the existing edition of Ciconia's works, it has also produced a number of plausible candidates for reconstruction among pieces in equally damaged sources. 

The current phase of Lacunae Ciconiae (2022-2024) builds on earlier results obtained by the project, employing state-of-the-art imaging technology, and developing tools of digital musical analysis, specifically for repertoire. In the semi-oral culture of polyphonic music-making at the turn of the fifteenth century, the compositional process cannot satisfactorily be investigated without regard for the oral transmission and mental components of composition and improvisation. A small-scale 'living lab' ensemble (working title: LacunaLab) will conduct practical experiments in these areas, guided by the principal investigator.  

Conférence "Lacunae Ciconiae, voix perdues dans l'œuvre d'un musicien liégeois vers 1400"
Vendredi 30 octobre 2020 à 17h, salle de la Bourse, Genève

Voir la conférence live sur Youtube