Born in 1291 and died in 1361, Philippe de Vitry is an author of musical and poetic compositions little known to the general public. Yet he enjoyed prime renown in his time: magister, man of letters in the service of the French court, prelate and bishop of Meaux, this man embodied all the medieval figures of the scholar.
The one Petrarch addressed as a ‘poet unparalleled in France’ also remains associated with the musical movement known as Ars nova, of which he is one of the major theoreticians, poets, and composers.
For three years, the Foundation has dedicated itself to the rediscovery of medieval music, in particular by supporting the Royaumont Foundation in its professional training and research program ‘Singing the motets of Philippe de Vitry’. As this latter project comes to an end in 2023, it is the opportunity to bring together specialists from various disciplines (singing, poetry, composition, mathematics, Latin, declamation, history…) to pinpoint the art and science of Philippe de Vitry in all their subtlety.
Organized jointly by the Haute École de Musique (David Chappuis) and the University of Geneva (Cédric Giraud), this international symposium aims to situate the composer in his century and measure the influence he may have exerted there, by exploring the part of singularity and representativeness that any life offers.
It takes place from November 29 to December 1, 2023 at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva. It is the theoretical counterpart of the ‘Medieval Meetings of Royaumont’, focused on musical practice, which will take place on March 8 and 9, 2024.
The symposium presents over 3 days the communications of 14 international researchers, in addition to the interventions of David Chappuis and Cédric Giraud.
Among the topics discussed are: Philippe de Vitry’s ties with the University of Paris (Jacques Verger, Institut de France); his relationship to royal service (Olivier Canteaut, Ecole Nationale des Chartes); the satire of the Roman de Fauvel (Jean-Claude Mühlethaler, University of Lausanne); philosophy (Christo Grellard, EPHE/PSL), literature (Yasmina Foehr-Janssens, University of Geneva) and sciences (Sabine Rommevaux-Tani, CNRS, Bordeaux) of his time; the Latin of his motets (Pascale Bourgain, Institut de France, AIBL) and the influence of the Parisian dialect (Olivier Bettens, CMPV Project).
The day of Thursday, November 30, 2023 concludes with the concert Douce playsence by the medieval music ensemble Arborescence at the Auditoire Calvin, directed by David Chappuis.