Margaret Bent
Encyclopedia
Margaret Hilda Bent CBE
, FBA (née Bassington) (b. 23 December 1940) is an English musicologist.
She was educated at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Acton School and Girton College, Cambridge University (where she read Music, was Organ Scholar, and is now an Honorary Fellow), receiving her BA in 1962 and Ph.D in 1969. She taught at Cambridge
and King's College London
after 1963, and became a lecturer at Goldsmiths' College in 1972. In 1975 she was appointed professor at Brandeis University
and in 1981 at Princeton University
, and served as department Chair in both. Bent was president from 1984-86 of the American Musicological Society
, of which she is now a Corresponding Member. She returned to England in 1992 as the first female Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford University, where she is now an Emeritus Fellow.
Bent's study of the Old Hall Manuscript (both her 1969 dissertation and the edition, co-edited with Andrew Hughes
, published in the Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae
, 1969–73) ), was a key work in scholarship on early English music. Her research centres on English, French and Italian music of the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries and includes work on the medieval motet
. Her studies of John Dunstaple, Philippe de Vitry
, Guillaume de Machaut
, the Roman de Fauvel
, musica ficta
and music and manuscripts in the Veneto, have all been highly influential; she was a pioneer in musical paleography and source studies. She co-founded and co-directed the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (http://www.diamm.ac.uk/), serves on many editorial boards of journals and publication series, and contributed articles to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Her publications address technical matters of music theory, techniques of counterpoint, analysis, musica ficta, text-setting, and other issues that bridge notation and performance in early music, descriptions of new sources, aspects of musical transmission, stemmatics, and manuscript studies, interfaces with literary, historical and biographical questions.
Her awards include the Royal Musical Association’s Dent medal, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship, the F. Ll. Harrison medal of the Society for Musicology in Ireland, the Claude V. Palisca
award of the American Musicological Society
, and honorary doctorates from the universities of Glasgow, Notre Dame and Montréal. She is a Fellow of the British Academy
, Academia Europea, the Royal Historical Society
, a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
(1994), a Corresponding Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America
, a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the School of Advanced Study
, London University, and was appointed CBE in 2008. She was the recipient of a Festschrift
: Citation and Authority in Medieval and Renaissance Musical Culture: Learning from the Learned: Essays in Honour of Margaret Bent. Ed. Suzannah Clark and Elizabeth Eva Leach. (Boydell and Brewer, 2005).
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
, FBA (née Bassington) (b. 23 December 1940) is an English musicologist.
She was educated at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Acton School and Girton College, Cambridge University (where she read Music, was Organ Scholar, and is now an Honorary Fellow), receiving her BA in 1962 and Ph.D in 1969. She taught at Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
and King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
after 1963, and became a lecturer at Goldsmiths' College in 1972. In 1975 she was appointed professor at Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
and in 1981 at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, and served as department Chair in both. Bent was president from 1984-86 of the American Musicological Society
American Musicological Society
The American Musicological Society is a membership-based musicological organization founded in 1934 to advance scholarly research in the various fields of music as a branch of learning and scholarship; it grew out of a small contingent of the Music Teachers National Association and, more directly,...
, of which she is now a Corresponding Member. She returned to England in 1992 as the first female Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford University, where she is now an Emeritus Fellow.
Bent's study of the Old Hall Manuscript (both her 1969 dissertation and the edition, co-edited with Andrew Hughes
Andrew Hughes
Andrew Hughes may refer to:*Andrew Hughes , Fijian Commissioner of Police*Andrew Hughes *Andrew Hughes, musicologist, see List of University of Toronto people*Andrew Hughes...
, published in the Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae
Corpus mensurabilis musicae
The Corpus mensurabilis musicae is a collected print edition of most of the sacred and secular vocal music of the late medieval and Renaissance period in western music history, with an emphasis on the central Franco-Flemish and Italian repertories...
, 1969–73) ), was a key work in scholarship on early English music. Her research centres on English, French and Italian music of the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries and includes work on the medieval motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
. Her studies of John Dunstaple, Philippe de Vitry
Philippe de Vitry
Philippe de Vitry was a French composer, music theorist and poet. He was an accomplished, innovative, and influential composer, and may also have been the author of the Ars Nova treatise...
, Guillaume de Machaut
Guillaume de Machaut
Guillaume de Machaut was a Medieval French poet and composer. He is one of the earliest composers on whom significant biographical information is available....
, the Roman de Fauvel
Roman de Fauvel
The Roman de Fauvel, translated as The Story of the Fawn-Colored Beast, is a 14th century French poem accredited to French royal clerk Gervais du Bus, though probably best known for its musical arrangement by Philippe de Vitry in the Ars Nova style...
, musica ficta
Musica ficta
Musica ficta was a term used in European music theory from the late 12th century to about 1600 to describe any pitches, whether notated or to be added by performers in accordance with their training, that lie outside the system of musica recta or musica vera as defined by the hexachord system of...
and music and manuscripts in the Veneto, have all been highly influential; she was a pioneer in musical paleography and source studies. She co-founded and co-directed the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (http://www.diamm.ac.uk/), serves on many editorial boards of journals and publication series, and contributed articles to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Her publications address technical matters of music theory, techniques of counterpoint, analysis, musica ficta, text-setting, and other issues that bridge notation and performance in early music, descriptions of new sources, aspects of musical transmission, stemmatics, and manuscript studies, interfaces with literary, historical and biographical questions.
Her awards include the Royal Musical Association’s Dent medal, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship, the F. Ll. Harrison medal of the Society for Musicology in Ireland, the Claude V. Palisca
Claude V. Palisca
Claude Victor Palisca was an internationally recognized authority on early music, especially opera of the renaissance and baroque periods, and was Henry L. and Lucy G. Moses Professor Emeritus of Music at Yale University...
award of the American Musicological Society
American Musicological Society
The American Musicological Society is a membership-based musicological organization founded in 1934 to advance scholarly research in the various fields of music as a branch of learning and scholarship; it grew out of a small contingent of the Music Teachers National Association and, more directly,...
, and honorary doctorates from the universities of Glasgow, Notre Dame and Montréal. She is a Fellow of the British Academy
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
, Academia Europea, the Royal Historical Society
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...
, a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(1994), a Corresponding Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America
Medieval Academy of America
The Medieval Academy of America is the largest organization in the United States promoting excellence in the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts...
, a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the School of Advanced Study
School of Advanced Study
The School of Advanced Study, a postgraduate institution of the University of London, is the UK's national centre for the promotion and facilitation of research in the humanities and social sciences...
, London University, and was appointed CBE in 2008. She was the recipient of a Festschrift
Festschrift
In academia, a Festschrift , is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing...
: Citation and Authority in Medieval and Renaissance Musical Culture: Learning from the Learned: Essays in Honour of Margaret Bent. Ed. Suzannah Clark and Elizabeth Eva Leach. (Boydell and Brewer, 2005).
Books
- The Old Hall Manuscript: a Paleographical Study (dissertation, U. of Cambridge, 1969)
- (ed., with Andrew Hughes) The Old Hall Manuscript, Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, 1969-73)
- (ed.) Fifteenth-Century Liturgical Music II: Four Anonymous Masses. Early English Church Music, vol. 22 (London, 1979)
- Dunstaple (London, 1981)
- (ed., with Anne Hallmark) The Works of Johannes Ciconia (Monaco, 1985)
- (ed.) Rossini, Gioachino. Il Turco in Italia (Pesaro: Fondazione Rossini, 1988)
- (ed., with A. Wathey) Fauvel Studies: Allegory, Chronicle, Music, and Image in Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS français 146 (Oxford, 1998)
- Counterpoint, Composition, and Musica Ficta (London and New York, 2002)
- Bologna Q15: The Making and Remaking of a Musical Manuscript: Introductory Study and Facsimile Edition (Lucca, 2008).