Exploration of the music-dramatic forms of the tenth through fifteenth centuries, with particular focus on twelfth-century works. Tackling a problematic but fascinating historiography that viewed medieval drama as either a de-formation of ancient theater or as a seedbed for the modern stage, seminar participants cultivate critical and analytical tools for studying these repertories on their own terms. Special attention given to recent scholarship on non-mimetic modes of representation in medieval music, and to music’s participation in the fictive, narrative, spectacular, voiced, or impersonated elements of plays, representations, and liturgy.
