International Conference "On the relationship of imitation and text treatment? The Motet around 1500"
Was held at Bangor, Thursday 29 March to Sunday 1 April 2007.Conventional wisdom has it that the years around 1500 witnessed a paradigm shift in the composition of polyphonic music. In an article published in 1979 with the title "On the relationship of imitation and text treatment in the Age of Josquin", Ludwig Finscher has defined the parameters of this stylistic shift and focused them around two musical techniques – text declamation and imitation – and around one composer: Josquin Desprez. The aim of the conference "On the Relationship of Imitation and Text Treatment. The Motet around 1500" was to test Finscher's hypothesis by discussing a number of related questions: text choices and text declamation; the perceived shift from 'structural' cantus firmus texture to free imitative counterpoint; the question of 'personal style' within the boundaries of clearly defined stylistic norms. As it turned out, the conference’s most notable achievement came in detailed analysis of motivic and contrapuntal structures, advancing understanding of the way in which the texture of music of this period actually worked and changed. The keynote speaker for the conference was Professor Joshua Rifkin (Boston); invited speakers were Bonnie Blackburn (Oxford), Warwick Edwards (Glasgow), David Fallows (Manchester), Sean Gallagher (Harvard), Leofranc Holford-Strevens (Oxford), Christian Thomas Leitmeir (Bangor) and Rob Wegman (Princeton); there were a total of 32 papers over three days. The proceedings of the conference will be published in the "D'épitome Musical" series of the Centre Supérieures de la Renaissance (Tours) with Brepols Publishers.