Overview

This lecture will use computational methods to explore the role of the poetic-musical culture of medieval Islamic Iberia (or al-Andalus) in the development of the troubadour tradition. Due to the paucity of musical sources both from al-Andalus and from the first generation of troubadours, all scholarship on the topic to date has been speculative, using isolated case studies of the lyric texts to extend conclusions drawn from textual analysis into the musical domain. Da Rosa Guimarães will use results of a computer-aided comparison to explore if there is in fact a connection between the music of the Moroccan nūba (a suite-like genre than can be traced back to al-Andalus) and that of the troubadours, clarifying historical questions about the heritage of Moroccan Andalusi music and the musical exchange between the troubadours and al-Andalus along the way.

About the Speaker

Verónica da Rosa Guimarães holds a PhD in musicology and medieval studies from the CUNY Graduate Center. Her dissertation explored the emergence of troubadour melody using a combination of documental research, cultural history, algorithmic analysis, and evolutionary theory methods. This interdisciplinarity continues to be a defining aspect of Verónica’s approach to her research questions, which focus on medieval Occitan song and on the multicultural context in which it developed. She is particularly interested in the cross-cultural circulation of melodies associated with troubadour poetry. Verónica’s additional research interests include music perception and cognition, film music, and music evolution.

Event Details

Time:
Thursday, September 21, 2023
4-5 p.m. EDT

Location:
Franke Family Digital Humanities Laboratory
Sterling Memorial Library
120 High Street, New Haven, CT 06511

Registration

All are welcome to attend! Please note that registration is required. To register, visit the Eventbrite page for the talk.

This talk is co-sponsored by the DHLab, the Department of Music, and the Medieval Studies program.

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