Performance of Medieval Monophony: Text and Image as Evidence for Musical Practice, edited by Kristin Hoefener and Claire Taylor Jones, Textus & Musica 7 (2023)
This issue of Textus & Musica, «Performance of Medieval Monophony: Text and Image as Evidence for Musical Practice», explores textual and visual sources related to the performance of medieval monophonic song, providing insight into historical contexts and practices. Monophonic song is fundamental to medieval musical culture, but many questions related to its performance still need to be explored further. Medieval music manuscripts document the evolution of monophonic music and its performance practices over time; however, they only capture a fraction of the story. Other sources, such as architectural remains, artwork, and textual accounts, provide complementary perspectives on how monophonic song was experienced and practiced.
This issue brings together research from an international conference held at the Nova University of Lisbon in January 2023. Scholars from different disciplines examine medieval monophonic song performance, including liturgical practices, visual depictions, normative literature, and artistic representations across medieval Europe and Byzantium. The contributions explore various aspects of monophonic singing, from musical and textual interpretation to the embodied experience of performers, revealing a rich interplay between text, music, and performance practice.