PARALLEL PERFORMANCE TRAITS IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN TRADITIONAL MEDITERRANEAN SONG

Abstract

Three quotations spark off the present paper. The first is by the philologist Paul Zumthor: ?Medieval literature can be more aptly compared with folklore... than with modern literatures?1. The second quotation is by the literary and musical scholar John Stevens with reference to song writing in the Middle Ages: ?In plain language, the musician did not set the words of the poem to music; he set its pattern?2. The implications of that observation were developed subsequently by its author3 and have sparked off some discussion, none of which was accessible in Ceau?escu's information-starved Romania to folklorist Speranza R?dulescu who mirrored Stevens's words in uncanny fashion, and unwittingly provided my third quotation, when in private conversation with me in 1987 on her country's traditional song she remarked how ?The words have their pattern projected on the music?. With that chance remark it finally dawned on me how much more there is yet to be played for in the admittedly difficult and dangerous game of drawing parallels between medieval and modern traditional performance practice. Published research has centred on the search for models?some more appropriate than others?for the use of instruments, improvisation and ornamentation techniques, and types of voice timbre in the performance of