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What is Isorhythm?
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AbstractThis chapter interrogates the term isorhythm (= ‘equal rhythm’) and traces its origin and application in early twentieth-century musicology, arguing that it has been misapplied to musical phenomena that are either not equal, or where the identity is not confined to rhythm. These common usages distort the historiography of the motet and imply more uniformity than is justified by the rich range of techniques and strategies encountered. Permutations of color and talea and different tenor manipulations yield much more variety than common text-book definitions of ‘the isorhythmic motet’. It is proposed that the term be dropped, although ‘isorhythm’ remains a valid descriptive term of more limited application. The chapter is a very slightly adapted version of a previously published paper on the history and limitations of the modern term; a preamble takes account of recent work by Lawrence Earp and Anna Zayaruznaya.
Title: What is Isorhythm?
Description:
AbstractThis chapter interrogates the term isorhythm (= ‘equal rhythm’) and traces its origin and application in early twentieth-century musicology, arguing that it has been misapplied to musical phenomena that are either not equal, or where the identity is not confined to rhythm.
These common usages distort the historiography of the motet and imply more uniformity than is justified by the rich range of techniques and strategies encountered.
Permutations of color and talea and different tenor manipulations yield much more variety than common text-book definitions of ‘the isorhythmic motet’.
It is proposed that the term be dropped, although ‘isorhythm’ remains a valid descriptive term of more limited application.
The chapter is a very slightly adapted version of a previously published paper on the history and limitations of the modern term; a preamble takes account of recent work by Lawrence Earp and Anna Zayaruznaya.