"The Waning of the Middle Ages"

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews the book "The Waning of the Middle Ages" by Johan Huizinga, which discusses music in the Middle Ages. The paper describes the book as impacting the overall knowledge of our history of medieval life and culture in Flanders, Burgundy, and France. The paper suggests that relying too heavily on Huizinga's criticisms of medieval music does a great disservice to the music of the 14th and 15th centuries.

From the Paper:

"Many modern musicologists, in the spirit of Huizinga, have had trouble with the lack of song development and the repetitiveness of medieval songs. However, medieval music should not be listened to with prejudicial ears. Huizinger also criticized medieval culture in general, leading to an overly pessimistic vision of life in the 14th and 15th centuries in Europe. All aspects of courtly life, from its songs to its chivalric pageants, were moribund, stagnant, and overly stylized, according to Huizinga. Huizinga also wrote with hyperbole, exaggerating the contrasts inherent in medieval life without acknowledging the "extraordinary creative energy of Western musicians during the middle ages," (p. 149)."

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