Old Sources in new Sauces: John Joubert and the Analysis of Ancient Materials in Modern Music

Gotham, Mark

Abstract

Anyone who has had sustained contact with Anglican choirs probably knows music by John Joubert; anyone who hasn’t probably doesn’t. This article begins by considering the starkness of those divisions between different kinds of canons, framing this in terms of “local” canons that each serve a particular purpose. The local canons of this kind for teaching music theory and history tend to serve a demonstrative role and to prioritize clear-cut examples at the expense of music that handles a wider range of materials in a more complex way. This introductory discussion contextualizes and motivates an analytical vignette on a short piece by Joubert which has a firm standing in the relevant performance canon (Anglican choirs), but which is unknown beyond that. I argue that music theory pedagogy might benefit from adopting this example to get at important but analytically complex issues concerned with post-common-practice uses of pre-common-practice modal materials.

Citation

Gotham, M. (2023). Old Sources in new Sauces: John Joubert and the Analysis of Ancient Materials in Modern Music. Intégral: The Journal of Applied Musical Thought, 36, 153-162

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 23, 2024
• Journal: Intégral: The Journal of Applied Musical Thought
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 36
• Pages: 153-162
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2273153
• Publisher URL: https://www.esm.rochester.edu/integral/36-2023/gotham/