Belonging with Songs: Anthropology of Medieval French Chansons

Why do we sing? How does singing shape how we see ourselves and how we relate to one another? Emma Dillon takes up these universal questions in the context of a medieval song community. Her talk explores Medieval French songs (trouvère songs) as a social practice, linked to specific people and families from Northern France and to other forms of social activity. She offers a case study of twelfth-century trouvères (using new recordings of their songs), and shows how songs, charters and seals foster a sense of belonging to a community. Her talk also introduces the UKRI-funded project, Musical Lives, which takes further the possibility of song-centred histories through interdisciplinary collaboration with scholars and performers.

Emma Dillon is Professor of Music at Kings College London and an active member of the Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies. Her research focuses on European musical culture from the 12th to the 14th centuries. Her work falls at the intersection of musicology, sound studies, medieval studies, and the history of material texts. Her books include Medieval Music-Making and the Roman de Fauvel and The Sense of Sound: Musical Meaning in France, 1260-1330.

This event is co-sponsored by The University Seminars, Columbia Maison Française, Department of Music and the Medieval and Renaissance Studies program.

Host or Publisher CU Maison Française